2023 Lexus RX 350 and it's the latest version of the Lexus RX

this is the new 2023 Lexus RX 350 and

it's the latest version of the Lexus RX

the RX is one of the most popular luxury

SUVs on the planet and now there's a new

one fully redesigned with some big

upgrades over the old model and today

I'm going to review it and show you all

the quirks and features of the new Lexus

RX

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all right I'm gonna start the quirks and

features the new RX with getting in

where you'll instantly notice one

difference compared to the old model the

new model's door handle is electronic

what I mean by this is you go to grab

the handle but instead of pulling on it

there's a little button on the inside

you press that and the door pops open

electronically which is interesting now

same deal on the inside where you don't

have a traditional door handle to get

out instead you have this which looks

like a door handle but rather it's a

button you push on it and the door pops

open electronically and then you open it

the rest of the way now just in case

you're anxious about this and worried

you might get stuck inside your new RX

if the electronic popper fails there is

a Fail-Safe you can also pull on this

door handle button the opposite

direction and then it acts as a

mechanical handle sort of as a backup so

you can get out even if the electronic

isn't working but anyway next up climb

inside the new RX and the first thing

you notice especially if you're familiar

with the old model is it's very

different in here a little bit more

relaxed cleaner a little bit simpler and

more modern than the outgoing RX model

definitely a totally redesigned interior

in here and probably the most obvious

change comes to the center screen which

is massive you can see this huge Center

infotainment screen here dominating the

cabin and taking virtually all of your

in-car functions into the screen now

this new infotainment system replaces

the remote Touch system that was in most

of the old RX models that system was

terrible used a little mouse and

controller to select things it wasn't a

touch screen until the very end of

production it was just a disastrous

system that didn't work this replaces it

and it's much better this new

infotainment is fantastic and I think a

lot of people are going to like it the

main things I like about it number one

very responsive to the touch so you tap

on it there's no lag there's no delay it

just does what you want like you'd

expect from a smartphone it also is very

intuitive you don't have stuff buried in

menus hard to find everything's pretty

easy to figure out where it is and it's

all relatively simple and easy now what

like that said there are a couple of

drawbacks of this infotainment system

one is the fact that you can't do two

things at once and a lot of cars you can

have your navigation system on half the

screen and your music on the other half

but not here and that means if you want

to change the song you're listening to

but the navigation system is directing

you somewhere you got to go off the map

go to the music change the song then go

back to the map and it's kind of

disappointing you have to do that

especially with such a large screen the

other drawback of this infotainment

system is that the 360 degree camera in

this car is disastrous you press the

view button here to get a 360 view

around the car and this is all you get

this sort of egg-shaped view that takes

up a small portion of the screen and you

cannot direct where it goes you can't

move it left right up down like in most

other cars you can only pause it as it's

moving around the car at its own pace a

disastrous 360 camera system not sure

why they even bother but that's what you

have now one thing I like about this

infotainment system the climate controls

are integrated into the screen which I

usually complain about but here they are

always fixed in place regardless of what

screen or menu you're on the climate

controls will always be where you expect

them this is nice it allows Lexus to

save some money instead of making little

buttons for every climate function and

it allows you to always know where all

your climate functions are since they

never move you also with the climate

controls have this cool little wheel to

change the climate temperature and it

displays the temperature inside the

wheel on a screen little red and blue

background which looks kind of cool and

a little bit quirky and by the way

speaking of quirky for the climate

controls one interesting item here is

your car probably has automatic climate

control for the air temperature well

this has automatic climate control for

the heated steering wheel and the heated

and cooled seats you can put those items

in Auto and then the car itself will

decide hey it's cold turn on the heated

steering wheel so you don't have to

lower yourself to pushing a button since

your car does that automatically for you

now that is quirky but the rest of this

car is not particularly quirky Lexus

isn't really known for doing anything

totally out of the box or weird and so

there aren't that many quirks in this

interior but I did find a few including

the gear selector which is rather odd

the way this works is you move this gear

selector part over and down if you want

to go into drive or over and up if you

want to go into reverse or just over to

the left if you want to go into neutral

now you can also select a manual mode if

you're in drive and pull the gear

selector down and then you can manually

shift using the pedals on the steering

wheel if you want to go into park this

little p button in the gear selector

area will do that now Lexus and Toyota

have been using this gear selector in

various Hybrid models for a while now

but this car isn't hybrid powered and

it's Incorporated here kind of unusual

but that's what it has next up on The

Quirk front I love this Centaur console

lid you can press a button open it up

and then the driver has access but the

cool thing is you close it and the

passenger can do the very same thing

press a button and now they have access

it's openable from both sides equally

which is kind of a cool magic trick

inside the new RX both passengers have

easy access to the center console and

next up also in this Center vicinity you

have an off-road mode here this little

button shows a car with a tree and some

rocks and that puts your Lexus RX in

off-road mode and when you press that

icon and the gauge cluster comes on

showing the same thing the tree and the

rocks for all the times you're gonna

off-road your Rx which is pretty much

never you may be wondering what is the

off-road mode do I don't know but I

assume nothing next up also quirky in

this center console you have cup holders

here of course but the front cup holder

can be adjusted you press this little

push button in the bottom of the cup

holder Rises up to accommodate different

size cups so you can choose exactly

whether you want a taller cup or maybe a

smaller cup or a mug and you can adjust

the cup holder size to correspond and

next up another interesting quirk in

here is that the rear view mirror is

also a camera you can see it's a mirror

right now but if I flip this switch it

becomes a camera showing what's behind

you more and more cars are offering this

so it's not that quick or interesting

but one usual piece here is that the

camera is mounted inside the car you can

see it here mounted on the inside of the

tailgate which is unusual virtually

every other car I've seen with this rear

view camera as a mirror thing they mount

it outside but the benefit here is that

on a rainy day like this your camera

won't get obscured with water because

it's inside the car so you can easily

see behind you even if it's wet outside

pretty cool idea and next up another

interesting item in the new RX is over

on the steering wheel you can see there

are areas of controls like you have in

most cars but here there are two sets of

Arrow buttons that have no labeling at

all no icons so how do you know what

they do the answer is they do various

things depending on what you're

adjusting and it all shows up in the

heads up display so check this out I'm

going to address the adaptive cruise

control system and the heads-up display

actually shows me what each little arrow

button does as it relates to the

Adaptive crew system as I press the

arrows the car responds just like it

says it would in the heads up display

which is cool but I go to a different

menu and now you can see it's showing me

that the arrows have completely

different functions that do different

stuff and this is all projected directly

in front of me in the heads up display

corresponding to what I'm actually

changing and it's the same deal over on

the left side the arrows have one

function as you can see but then I press

a menu button on the steering wheel and

now they have an entirely different

function and different operation now

this is cool for a couple reasons number

one because it allows Lexus to have

fewer overall buttons in here the

interior is not as cluttered because the

same buttons can do different things and

it's also cool because it's projected

directly in front of you rather than on

the gauge cluster where you take your

eyes off the road you can see exactly

what you're pressing and what it will do

as you're looking at the road which

makes it safer and that's a cool touch

and by the way since we're talking about

the steering wheel let's discuss the

driver Assist Technology which you

activate on the steering wheel and this

car it's pretty good which is to say

that it will speed up Slow Down based on

traffic in front of you and it goes

around curves on the freeway it's all

pretty excellent it does a good stop

doing it also the steering wheel is

capacitive touch meaning you don't have

to jiggle the wheel to let it know

you're paying attention you can just

rest your hand there and the car will

drive which is nice the drawback of this

system is the lane changing function

technically it offers it put on your

turn signal and it will change lanes but

I found this system to be so

conservative that it is essentially

non-functional non-usable you put on

your signal and it won't change lanes if

there's a car like parked three miles

away it's a disaster and it's not really

usable as a result you'll have to change

your own Lanes but otherwise the driver

assist attack works well but anyway next

we move on to the back seat in the new

Lexus RX and I have to say it's

reasonably roomy back here Headroom

could use a little bit more another inch

or two but legroom knee room hip room

it's all pretty good back here

especially for a midsize SUV in the rxsi

it's a decent space for rear passengers

aside from that not really much to talk

about in the back seat this is after all

a new Lexus RX not too many crazy new

details but you do have the same

electronic door poppers back back here

that you had up front press the button

and you can climb out other than that

nothing too surprising back here you

have a climate control feature although

really you can just change the

temperature you can't change the fan

speed the car will decide that for you

you also have a couple USBC ports back

here for charging which is nice and one

tiny little drawback of the cup holder

is integrated into the center armrest

meaning you can't have a cup holder if

you have a middle passenger so you have

to choose between whether you want three

people back here or whether you want cup

holders not really a big deal though a

lot of cars do that no real problem and

next up we move around to the back of

the new RX there are a few items to talk

about for one this light bar that goes

across the entire back end the light

bars are becoming more and more common

in the car industry and they have now

made their way to Lexus and the new RX

more interestingly though is the badging

back here old RX and other Lexus models

had the Lexus L emblem in back but

that's gone they've replaced it with the

Lexus script back here instead no emblem

employment just Alexis I guess maybe to

increase their brand awareness or

Identity or just to move in a more

modern New Direction but it is

interesting but anyway next up we move

on to the cargo area in the new Lexus RX

and I have to say nothing particularly

interesting or unusual back here again

Lexus RX there's not that many Surprises

with this vehicle it's the fifth

generation of the RX and they figured

out how to refine it to give us what we

want without making any daring changes

so this is the cargo area pretty

standard stuff one interesting item

worth noting you can put down the back

seats from the cargo area you press

these little buttons over on the side

and you can see the seats automatically

fold down which is nice to see now

they're not power operated meaning you

can't fold them back up from the cargo

area you have to do that manually but

it's still nice to see seats that can

fold down in the back of a mid-sized

luxury SUV that's not a feature you

always get but the new RX has it and

next up we move under the hood in the

new RX which is actually one of the most

interesting Parts about this car because

there are four different engine options

in the new RX that's not something you

often see in a mid-sized luxury

crossover that's pitched to non-car

enthusiasts four different engine

options but there really is something

for everyone with the new RX so let's go

through them this is the RX 350

non-hybrid and that's the base model and

I suspect it's going to be the majority

of sales the most affordable best value

model it has a turbocharged

four-cylinder about 275 horsepower

pretty good now next up you have the RX

350h which is essentially a hybrid

version of this exact vehicle using the

same powertrain but hybrid it's about

250 horsepower and it comes standard

with all-wheel drive now from there you

can upgrade to the RX

450h plus and the plus means that it's a

plug-in hybrid model Lexis hasn't

announced full details about this for

the US market but in other markets this

car has around 300 horsepower and a

fully electric range of about 40 miles

before the gasoline powertrain kicks in

and can take you further so that is a

plug-in hybrid version it's not

available yet but it's coming soon and

then at the very top of the new Lexus RX

range there is a performance version

surprisingly it's called the RX 500h and

it's a hybrid four cylinder which

doesn't sound very performance-y but it

has

367 horsepower and about 410 pound-feet

of torque which is pretty healthy

numbers for a Lexus RX it's pretty quick

Lexus IS 0-60 in under six seconds 5.8

5.9 0 to 60 for a Lexus RX so a little

bit of a sporty version of this car

offered as well in addition to the

standard model and the fuel efficient

versions and finally the last thing I

want to discuss with the new RX is the

design the style the way it looks this

is particularly important because I

always felt that the old RX was really

ugly just not an attractive car too many

creases and cuts and gouges that massive

Grille it just felt radically over

styled to me and I never liked it never

grew on me but this new one is a lot

better frankly it looks a lot cleaner

more modern simpler they've gotten rid

of a lot of the over styled stuff it's

just a nicer looking more modern more

attractive design for the new RX going

away from the ugly weirdness of before

and back to a sort of more conventional

and nice looking design now one

especially interesting change for the

new RX is that the Grille has actually

gotten smaller compared to the outgoing

model Lexus has gotten a lot of

criticism for its increasingly massive

grills but they've made this one a

little smaller which suggests maybe

they're going to go back to sort of more

mainstream designs and not as

ridiculously oversized grills now one

interesting number with the new RX is

that the overall length is 2.4 inches

shorter than the outgoing model but the

wheelbase is 2.4 inches longer than the

outgoing model that means there's two

and a half more inches between the

wheels which means more passenger space

more room for occupants the reason I

bring this up now is is that the old

model was essentially wasting space with

its weird front end it was all style and

it looked stupid now they've eliminated

a lot of that and put more space into

the passenger room where I expect people

will actually care about it more all

right driving the new Lexus RX now two

quick things before I get started number

one this is the pre-production cars

people always watch videos I do in the

rain and they say you got the car all

wet this car will be crushed it's a

pre-production model it will not be

released to the world the other thing

worth mentioning I already did a review

of the new Lexus RX but really it was

just like a walk around to kind of show

what was going on now I'm able to drive

it and so that's different and hence the

second video so let's talk about the

Driving Experience of this car as you

might expect it's well exactly as you

might expect it drives like a Lexus RX

in fact I always think it's funny when

the automakers let us have a preview of

the car and not drive it yet when it's

something like this it's not like the

Driving Experience is going to be

groundbreaking or earth-shattering and

indeed that is not the situation here uh

it drives just as you would expect a

Lexus RX to drive we've had this car now

for however many generations they've all

been fairly similar and this one is no

real difference so what does that mean

functionally well uh it handles okay

predictably and nicely but not like fast

speedily excitingly in any way it just

handles as you'd expect which is to say

fine

steering handling is all very

predictable there's a lot of body roll

on Corners if you go too hard through a

corner there's a lot of understeer if

you go too hard through a corner you

know this is the F Sport version which

is supposed to be like sporty and

exciting but at the end of the day it's

not all that sporty and exciting it's a

Lexus RX it's intended to appeal to a

mass-market audience not car Enthusiast

now I am curious how the RX 500h will be

and if that will be sportier and more

exciting more engaging but this

certainly isn't with that said one

upgrade over the outgoing RX that I'm

impressed with is the ride quality I

always felt the outgoing RX was fine but

not necessarily quite as luxury car are

as I felt it should be there was more

you felt more body it just it was a

little bit rougher than I always thought

it should be this new one is a lot nicer

it's got a lot more comfortable ride

than before it feels very comfortable

more insulated from the road over bumps

and just generally less sound that sort

of thing

um so I think it's a little bit more

calm and comfortable in here but I

wouldn't say it's sportier or anything

like that other than those things that

are worth mentioning there's not much to

this new Lexus RX in terms of Driving

Experience to really differentiate it

from the previous model or other kind of

mid-sized luxury SUVs this particular

version is not what I would call fast

270 horsepower whatever it is it's not a

large number and the engine feels pretty

taxed when you really want to go for it

but it's the base model and there are

other versions with more power if that's

what you're looking for however I

suspect most people will end up with

this and they won't get that much

performance out of it it's just not a

performance vehicle and it's it's not a

performance vehicle it's not intended to

be and it is not delivered as well but

you do get all the Buy boxes check that

people wanted a mid-size luxury

crossover you set up reasonably High you

have a comfortable ride quality a

comfortable interior roomy in here the

visibility is not ideal in the Lexus RX

because the way the rear end kind of

slopes down but that's just the way it

is and you do have large mirrors and of

course a lot of cameras and sensors and

beepers to kind of make up for that

stuff but generally speaking this

vehicle drives like you would expect a

Lexus RX to drive it's not particularly

engaging interesting entertaining but

it's very nice very luxurious and it's

the default choice for a lot of people

so as a result they have to make it this

way to be very appealing to a wide group

of people and it is and it's good and so

that's the new 2023 Lexus RX this is one

of America's most beloved luxury SUVs

and now there's a new one it's not

exactly the most exciting or thrilling

car in the world but you will soon be

seeing them everywhere and now it's time

to give the new RX a Doug's score

and the Doug score is here 54 out of 100

which places the RX here against rival

luxury SUVs it doesn't look like it

performed very well but that's because

the Doug score is biased toward

performance vehicles in reality the rx's

daily score is right on par with many

rivals but because it isn't very

exciting it drops down in the weekend

categories truthfully the new RX is an

excellent crossover just not a

particularly desirable one if you're a

car Enthusiast looking for something fun

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