Lexus NX 2022 review: 350h Luxury long-term | Part 3

So, how efficient is this hybrid SUV? And a premature farewell...

We’ve sung the praises of Toyota hybrid systems in the past multiple times, with the RAV4 being the standout example in the past - and, you guessed it, the powertrain here is almost exactly what you get in that SUV.

Warning - this will be a bit technical.

As such, the Lexus NX350h makes use of a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that runs on the more efficient Atkinson cycle, and the petrol engine itself can produce up to 140kW of power at 6000rpm and 239Nm of torque from 4300-4500rpm.

But you’ll rarely, if ever, use just the petrol engine on its own - because the design philosophy for the hybrid powertrain used here is that everything works hand-in-hand.

So, in addition to the petrol engine, there are a few other elements to this series-parallel powertrain, including an electric motor on the front axle, producing 134kW and 270Nm. Then for the AWD models, like this one, there’s an additional 40kW/121Nm electric motor on the rear axle. There’s a lithium-ion battery pack, which can be regenerated by the brake system or the petrol engine, and you can run on EV alone depending on the driving situation.

The Lexus was a terrific travel companion, offering a comfy ride, great power and good predictability. (image: Matt Campbell)

And if you thought you could just add all those figures together to get an idea of the total system output, you’d be wrong. Toyota/Lexus never offers up a combined torque figure… but with a combined 179kW of power, this is the most powerful hybrid four-cylinder Lexus ever.

It’s also well and truly more than the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, which pumps out 163kW in AWD trim. 

It works identically to that hybrid system - the petrol engine and electric motors will cut in and out as the system deems necessary. If you plant your foot, you can access the power of the electric motors and petrol engine combined, and it is properly fast. The 0-100km/h claim is 7.7 seconds - and you’ll feel the electric motors pull you away from a standstill before the petrol engine kicks in and adds its bit to the equation.

You’ll rarely, if ever, use just the petrol engine on its own. (image: Matt Campbell)

Meanwhile, if you’re gentle on the throttle, you’ll see the little green EV symbol pop up on the dashboard a lot. 

My partner Gemma spent most of this month with the Lexus, commuting from our place in the lower Blue Mountains to the CBD three days a week, as she’s studying part-time. That meant she was doing a lot of highway kays, and also dealing with quite a bit of stop-start traffic per day, because the course runs 9:00am to 5:30pm… just the absolute ideal times to commute on Sydney’s M4 motorway into and out of town.

Thankfully, she reported that the Lexus was a terrific travel companion, offering a comfy ride, great power and good predictability when the weather was a wash-out.

There’s a lithium-ion battery pack, which can be regenerated by the brake system or the petrol engine. (image: Matt Campbell)

What she didn’t enjoy quite as much was the low-speed manoeuvrability and vision from the driver’s seat. She reckoned a surround-view camera would have helped out a lot especially dealing with the tight parking spaces in the multi-storey carpark she was using, and even though the NX has surround parking sensors that didn’t help as much as it could have.

Alas, the NX found itself too close to one of those pesky car-park pilons when Gemma parked it, and on instruction from Lexus Australia, we took the car back earlier than planned.

Gemma was devastated, and not just because of the incident. She really had gotten to like the NX, and so had I. It had formed a nice family companion over the months we’d had it, at first seeming a bit too small for our family, but with just us three humans (sorry, dogs), it was a good size and offered a practical and efficient drive.

My partner reckoned a surround-view camera would have helped out a lot, especially in tight parking spaces. (image: Matt Campbell)

Acquired: 28 April 2022

Distance travelled this month: 1354km

Odometer: 6144km

Average fuel consumption this month: 5.6L/100km (measured at the pump)