Mitsubishi ASX vs Lexus UX200

What's the difference?

The Mitsubishi ASX ES Street can more than handle being an urban dweller. The Street style pack makes this model stand out and the cabin is practical enough that it’s a good alternative for smaller families in the city. I get why the ASX is popular and I like the basic and traditional nature of this model on most fronts but not for the safety and tech. Not in this day and age against all of the well-equipped rivals it faces.

The Lexus UX 200 F Sport really steps up in the urban context. It’s big enough, energetic enough (especially using the Sport setting and the CVT’s manual mode), and delivers good value for the price. We’d like more boot space, a little more room in the back seat, and the Remote Touch media interface deposited in the bin. But overall it’s a great premium option for young families or active couples in the city.

The ES Street doesn’t change the ASX fundamentals but it is styled differently and the Street package adds a black front spoiler and tailgate protector with red accents, black door handles, stainless steel door scuff plates, and decals across the side panels and rear. 

The interior sees almost no changes from the ES grade but the traditional plastic gear shifter and steering wheel are swapped out for an aluminium and leather-trimmed gear shifter and leather-wrapped steering wheel, which is a nice upgrade.

The dashboard is headlined by the tried and true (and old) 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system but this is a vehicle that likes tradition.

You have lots of physical buttons, dials and even a handbrake. There’s no push-button starter or digital instrument panel. If you want to move or change something, it’s going to be manual adjustment. It’s basic but there is something charming about that.

Design is a key differentiator for Lexus, with a love-it-or-hate-it polarising design language standing the brand’s current products apart in pretty much any car park.

The exterior takes a classic SUV profile and adorns it with an arresting mix of angles outlining everything from the signature ‘spindle grille’ and gaping front air vents to the jagged headlights, and wheel arch overfenders.

A dark chrome finish on key exterior trim elements, as well as the standard 18-inch alloy rims, adds to the premium look..

The rear is a riot of different shapes and surfaces, the full-width tail-light standing proud of the body like a low-relief sculpture, and the surface of the rear hatch door chamfered and contorted through multiple planes.

The back bumper is blinged up with more dark chrome, and features a diffuser style section underneath it.

The interior will be instantly recognisable to any current Lexus owner, the relatively complex, multi-layered dash design finished in a uniform grey, spiced up by the odd splash of brushed metal and our car’s standard white ‘leather accented’ trim. 

The broad 10.3-inch multimedia screen is neatly integrated alongside a compact instrument binnacle housing a crystal clear configurable digital instrument display above the centre stack, and all the controls are clear and easy to use, with one exception. 

The Lexus ‘Remote Touch’ pad used to manage multiple media and vehicle functions is torture. Despite available adjustments for speed and sensitivity, even on its most benign setting it is maddeningly over-reactive and inaccurate.

The size of the cabin is the most practical aspect of it and it is spacious for the class. Both rows enjoy decent head- and legroom and it's fairly easy to get in and out of from the front row but the back row has narrow door apertures.

The cloth seat upholstery on the seats looks nice but fatigue can set in early on a long trip due to a lack of lumbar support for the front and a lack of heavy padding overall.

The individual storage up front is great for the class with a deep middle console and glove box, two big cupholders, as well as a large drink bottle holder in each door. There is also a storage tray in front of the gear shifter for smaller items like a phone or sunnies.

Storage is minimal in the rear with two cupholders in a fold-down armrest and one single map pocket... and that's it for amenities in general. There's no directional air vents or USB ports in the back.

However, there is plenty of room for two car seats, if you had a couple of kids in tow.

Technology feels and looks outdated with the only charging options being two USB-A ports and two 12-volt sockets up front. It would be nice to see faster USB-C ports and a charging pad for the price.

The 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system hasn’t changed. It’s simple to look at and operate. It can catch the light, which makes it hard to see at times while on the go but is otherwise responsive.

It’s easy to connect to the wired Apple CarPlay and Bluetooth but the phone call quality was hit and miss. Sometimes it sounded tinny and sometimes it crackled.

Rounding out the cabin, the boot offers good capacity for the class at 393L and you can bump it up to 1193L if you fold the rear row. The boot aperture is wide and the level loading space means it’s super easy to fit larger items in.

The rear row also has a 60/40 split and there’s a space-saver spare tyre underneath the floor. While the ES Street doesn’t get a powered tailgate, the lid isn’t heavy to operate.

It might be a relatively compact SUV in the wider world, but at a bit less than 4.5 metres long, slightly more than 1.8m wide, and just over 1.5m tall, the Lexus UX is fairly sizeable if your natural habitat is the urban environment.

But it’s far from oversized, and the UX has a tight space ace up its sleeve in the form of a 10.4m turning circle. It might sound like a large arc, but that’s a full metre less than the only marginally longer Lexus NX, and considerably inside the bigger Lexus RX’s radius. 

And the difference between a clunky three-point turn, and a swift U-turn in a tight traffic environment is massive. So, gold star there.  

On the inside, day-to-day practicality in the form of cabin storage runs to a pair of cupholders in the front centre console, with a (Qi) wireless charging mat ahead of them, a decent glove box, as well as generous door bins with enough space for full-size bottles.

A large lidded storage box between the seats contains two USB ports, an ‘aux-in’ socket, and a 12V outlet. It also features the Lexus party trick of hinging open towards the driver or passenger depending on which side button you've pressed. Clever.  

There’s a fold-down centre armrest with twin cupholders in the back, but there are no storage pockets on the front seatbacks, or bins in the doors.

Speaking of which, the rear door apertures are tight, making it more of a struggle than it should be for anything above average size adults to get in and out.

Rear headroom is good, although legroom is tight, and shoulder room will be squeezy for grown-ups. That said, twin air vents in the rear of the front centre console is a welcome addition in a car of this size, as are two USB charging ports to keep devices topped up and occupants happy.

Boot space is 371 litres (VDA) with the rear seats upright, which is modest. The small and medium suitcases from our three-piece set fitted in, but there wasn't much space left over. The bulky CarsGuide pram will squeeze in… just. And of course, the second-row backrest split-folds 60/40 to liberate extra capacity.

There are tie-down anchor points at each corner of the cargo floor, a 12-volt power outlet, strategically placed bag hooks and bright lighting, but don’t bother looking for a spare wheel, the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tyres are run-flats.

There’s a button on the key fob that seems to indicate it remotely opens the rear cargo door, but in my experience it remained a non-cooperative mystery. 

Towing capacity is the same, rather lightweight 750kg whether the trailer you’ve connected is braked or unbraked.

At $53,450, before on-road costs, the UX 200 F Sport is a premium, 2.0-litre compact SUV lining up against some sharp competition in the form of Audi’s Q3 35 TFSI Launch Edition ($52,750), the BMW X1 sDrive 2.0i M Sport, ($51,750), the Mercedes-Benz GLA 180 ($48,690), and Volvo’s XC40 T4 Inscription ($51,990). All four-cylinder, and front-wheel drive, except for the all-wheel drive Volvo.

The 200 is the entry-point to a three-level UX model range, and F Sport is the highest of three specification grades (above ‘Luxury’ and Sports Luxury’).

Fifty grand is a significant financial threshold, and when you’re lining up against a batch of big name European competitors, the standard equipment list is critical. And the 200 F Sport comes to the party with an impressive number of boxes ticked.

Aside from the active and passive safety tech detailed in the safety section below, the UX 200 F Sport features a leather-accented F Sport shift lever and heated steering wheel, power-adjustable steering column, leather-accented seat trim, eight-way power-adjustable, heated and ventilated F Sport front seats, Qi wireless phone charging, active cruise control, keyless entry and start, dual-zone climate control air (including ‘Lexus Climate Concierge’ management of climate, front seats, and the steering wheel), 18-inch alloy wheels, illuminated entry, and F Sport alloy-accented pedals.

Also included are bi-LED headlights (with auto levelling and adaptive high beam), LED fog lights, LED tail-lights, adaptive variable suspension, five drive modes (Eco, Normal, Sport, Sport+, Custom), a rear performance damper, paddle shifters, an 10.3-inch multimedia screen, 7.0-inch digital driver information display, reversing camera, parking sensors (front and rear), satellite navigation (with live traffic updates), eight-speaker audio (with digital radio), and voice recognition for media and other functions.

No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto connectivity here, though, as Lexus sticks with its own media/audio connection set-up.

Our test example was fitted with an optional moonroof ($2500) and premium ‘Cobalt Mica’ paint ($1500), for an as-tested price of $57,450.

Other colours available are: 'Khaki Metal' (green), 'Carnelian' (orange), 'White Nova', 'Mercury Grey', 'Premium Silver', 'Titanium' (silver), 'Onyx' (black), 'Graphite Black', and 'Caliente' (red). 

The ES has a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that produces 110kW of power and 197Nm of torque.

That's plenty enough for urban driving but don’t expect any feeling of zippiness.

The ES Street is a front-wheel drive and has a continuously variable transmission (CVT) but you can option a manual transmission on the base GS grade, if that’s your vibe.

Sitting under the UX 200’s bonnet is the 2.0-litre (M20A-FKS) four-cylinder petrol engine. It’s an all-alloy, naturally aspirated (non-turbo) design producing 126kW at 6600rpm and 205Nm at 4800rpm.

Versions of this engine are also used in the Toyota Corolla, RAV4, and Camry, the relatively new (2018) unit featuring dual ‘VVT-i’ (Variable Valve Timing-intelligence) managed by an electric motor on the intake side and conventional hydraulic actuation on the exhaust side, plus a combination of direct- and port-injection, as well as electronic throttle control.

Drive goes to the front wheels via a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), with a conventional first gear added to aid take-off, and ‘steps’ to mimic normal ratios accessible via wheel-mounted paddles. More on those in the driving section.

The official combined cycle fuel consumption figure is a low 7.6/100km and my real-world use came out at 9.1L after a fair mix of urban and open-road driving. While not super surprised with the outcome, I was hoping for better efficiency.

Based on the official combined fuel cycle and 63L fuel tank, expect a theoretical driving range of up 829km – which is great for such a small SUV.

Claimed fuel economy for the combined (ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban) cycle is 5.8L/100km, the UX 200 emitting 132g/km of CO2 in the process.

This time around we had several weeks with the car, staying mainly within the urban environment (thank you COVID-19), with some brief freeway running thrown in, and we recorded an average of 8.9L/100km, which is a solid miss on the factory claim, but still good enough to deliver a range well in excess of 500km between fills.

Another plus is a minimum fuel requirement of 91 RON ‘standard’ unleaded, and you’ll need 47 litres of it to fill the tank.

The ES Street delivers adequate power to make it feel within the realm of fun in the city but it starts to feel lacklustre once you hit the open road. Put your foot down and the engine whines pitifully but you never worry about not getting there - it just likes to complain.

The suspension is on the right side of firm to get road feedback but not be bothered by it. You will feel bumps but not wince when you go over them. 

However, the ASX feels very light when you have heavy winds and the car moves around a lot at higher speeds, which I found to be unnerving at times.

Surprisingly, the ASX offers a pretty refined cabin experience in terms of noise. There is a constant low hum from the engine but wind and road noise aren't too bad and you can easily chat and listen to music without feeling like your senses are battered at the end of a trip. 

The ES Street is a fairly comfortable cruiser in tight city streets with responsive steering and a small footprint. This makes it easy to park and while the reversing camera isn’t the best quality, you know where this car starts and ends, so it’s not a big deal.

This was my second time in a UX 200 within the last 12 months, but this time the loan period extended to around six weeks, covering the time much of the globe was in lockdown in response to the coronavirus.

So essential trips around town were the only ones being taken. But more time behind the F Sport’s wheel highlighted some of this UX 200’s dynamic strengths, particularly aspects of the continuously variable transmission (CVT).

This Toyota designed CVT has the advantage of a conventional first gear to give the UX some extra urgency from step-off. And when you’re predominantly in stop-start traffic (although there wasn’t too much of it), that’s a big help. 

Like all CVTs, in set-and-forget Drive mode, this unit aims to keep the engine in its operating sweet spot, constantly balancing performance and economy goals; the downside being a droning engine noise. For those old enough to remember manual gearboxes it feels like a constantly slipping clutch.

But slip into ‘Manual’ and the CVT is able to mimic ratio points, and using the wheel-mounted paddles to shift between them lifts driver engagement massively, even in the compacted urban context.

In terms of outright performance, a kerb weight nudging 2.0 tonnes and a peak torque number (205Nm) that doesn’t arrive until a lofty 4800rpm goes a long way towards telling the UX 200 F Sport acceleration story. Lexus claims 0-100km/h in a reasonably brisk 9.2sec. 

The UX is underpinned by the ‘Lexus Global Architecture – C’ platform (a Lexus name for Toyota’s TNGA chassis architecture) and suspension is by struts at the front and trailing wishbones at the rear, with the F Sport featuring adaptive variable suspension and a rear performance damper, the latter designed to improve chassis rigidity and minimise vibrations.

Overall ride comfort is really nice, although the standard 18-inch alloy rims are shod with 225/50 Dunlop SP Sport Maxx run-flat tyres and they’re relatively noisy, with an accompanying tendency to follow irregularities in the road surface.

Dial up the Sportier drive settings and everything tightens up appreciably, so if you’re that way inclined, the sport part of the F Sport’s personality is there to be explored.

The electrically assisted steering delivers decent accuracy and road feel, With some momentum up, the UX 200 F Sport feels balanced and predictable, putting it’s power down nicely, if you decide to break away for a brisk B-road run.

Braking is by ventilated discs at the front (305mm) with solid rotors at the rear (281mm), and stopping power is reassuringly firm.

As mentioned earlier, a tight 10.4m turning circle makes parking easy, supported by a high-quality reversing camera and proximity sensors front and rear. 

Under the heading of general observations, the driver’s seating position is great - comfy and secure, a one-touch up and down function on all windows is a nice… touch, and the configurable instrument cluster (which includes the central dial physically sliding into different positions) is functional and fun.  

The Lexus UX scored a maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was assessed in November, 2018. 

Active (crash avoidance) tech includes expected features like ABS, EBD, BA and stability and traction controls, while the standard ‘Safety Sense+’ system includes the ‘Pre-collision system’ (Lexus-speak for AEB) with pedestrian and daytime cyclist detection, traffic-sign recognition, active cruise control, evasive steering assist, ‘Lane Tracing Assist’, active high beam control, blind-spot monitoring, and a reversing camera, as well as ‘Rear Cross Traffic Alert’, and a tyre inflation warning system.

But then to help minimise injury if an impact is unavoidable, the UX boasts eight airbags (driver, front passenger , driver's knee, side, cushion and curtain side) as well as a forward collision warning and pre-collision braking system. Impressive.

There are also three top tether points for baby capsules/child restraints across the rear seat, with ISOFIX anchors in the two outer positions.

The ASX comes with a five-year/100,000km warranty, which can be extended to 10 years/200,000km, provided the vehicle is exclusively serviced by Mitsubishi dealers and on schedule. It's a warranty that is hard to beat, although MG just announced a 10-year/250,000km warranty and that's not conditional on where it is serviced.

The ASX also comes with 10 years of capped-priced servicing and the average cost is $502 per service.

Servicing intervals are reasonable at every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.

From its arrival in Australia in the late ‘80s, Lexus has made the ownership experience a high priority. In some areas it’s still at, or near the top of the after-sales class, but in others the grades are slipping. 

For example, the standard Lexus warranty in Australia is four years/100,000km. When you have both luxury newcomer, Genesis, and the most established of them all, Mercedes-Benz, at five years/unlimited km, that offer is off the pace.

Sure Audi, BMW, and others are at three years/unlimited km, but the game has moved on for those brands, too. Plus, the mainstream market standard is now five years/unlimited km, with some at seven years.

On the other hand, the ‘Lexus Encore Privileges’ program provides 24-hour roadside assistance for the duration of the warranty, as well as access to owner events and special offers.

A flat tyre during our time with the UX offered a glimpse of that experience, with a flat-bed arriving to take the wounded F Sport away, returning it the next day, ready to roll. Very nice.  

Service is scheduled for 12 months/15,000km (whichever comes first). The first service is free, the second is $631, the third $523, and the fourth $631.

A Lexus loan car is provided while your pride and joy is in the workshop, or a pick-up and return option (from home or office) is available. You’ll also receive a complimentary wash and interior vacuum. Not bad.