Lexus RX 350 2009 Review

...but they haven’t forgotten that people are looking for safety and comfort as well.

Lexus claims credit for having pioneered the luxury SUV category with the first RX, which arrived here in 2003 and became a best-seller.

“RX is the core of the Lexus family and has not only defined the segment but established what a luxury SUV should be,” says the vehicle’s chief assistant engineer Takeaki Kato.

Going on sale in March, this is the first all-new RX in five years, but even in that relatively short time the market has changed hugely and other brands are clawing at the pie.

To fight back, Lexus has given the new vehicle a better body, more space and comfort, and crammed it with a host of high-tech features.

Exterior

Built of 42 per cent high-tensile steel, the RX 350’s stronger, more rigid body sits lower, longer and wider, with 55mm added to the front track and 65mm to the rear, on a wheelbase that has grown 25mm – giving it a larger footprint and lower centre of gravity to make it more stable, helped by the undertray channelling air for downforce. However all this strength comes with a weight penalty of about 130kg, bringing the total to around two tonnes.

The body design — which reduces drag to a low 0.33COD to improve economy – streamlines the Lexus face into sharpened lines that fold along the bonnet and flanks to the fastbacked rear, with flared arches, chiselled doors and pronounced character lines along the sides adding impact.

Chrome accents, slanted three-dimensional light clusters and spoked alloys – 18” on the Prestige model and 19” on the Sports and Sports Luxury – complete the look.

Even the odd little signature black touch button has vanished from the door handles, and now just the lightest touch anywhere on the handles themselves unlocks the vehicle.

Interior and equipment

Dividing the redesigned cabin into what Lexus refers to as a `crossover cockpit’, with its strong swoop line across the dash, is a large centre console for storage and the `remote touch’ controls, the relocating of which has allowed the nav screen to be deeper recessed away from light for a clearer image.

This works a bit like the `knob’ systems seen in the German prestige brands, but uses a central control more similar to a mouse — plus menu and map buttons – that apparently reduces the time your eyes are off the road by up to 30 per cent. In addition to the usual nav and other controls, the system allows you to change things like the exterior light unlock sequence, and height of the heads-up display system.

Furthering the safety aspect on the Sports Luxury grade are adaptive high-intensity headlights that twist around corners, and the standard reversing camera being joined by a wide-view side one.

All levels get hill-start assist and parking sensors and the Sports and Sports Luxury levels also get the pre-crash system that prepares you and the car for impact.

And to guide more economical driving, an `eco’ indicator reads your speed, revs, pedal angle, shift position and range, coupled with the selected mode, and lets you know when you’re in the `zone’ ... although on the test drive this curiously proved to be anything up to 30l/100km.

There are three memory settings for the driver’s seat and steering column, and a range of settings on the programmable smart card

The 12-speaker in-dash six-stacker CD/DVD system seems to be compatible with every format available, but also has a jack for auxiliary music players, and the Sports Luxury level gets the brilliant 15-speaker Mark Levinson surround sound system with optional 7.1 channel Dolby digital ability.

There are storage nooks all through the cabin, including some confidence-building sturdy cupholders, large bottle spaces and a hollow under the centre console for handbags and the like. Luggage capacity is 446 litres but taking up the full-size spare wheel option eats about 22 litres of that.

To improve road manners the underpinnings have been redesigned and recalibrated, with a 30mm lower floor and a new trailing-arm double-wishbone independent rear suspension, coupled with a redesigned MacPherson strut independent front with improved geometry and damper rates.

A torque sensor feeds data to the speed-sensitive steering for better response, while the new Vehicle Dynamic Integrated Management (VDIM) includes integration of the anti-skid brake system plus brake-force distribution and brake assist, plus the usual traction control.

Safety

Lexus expects to get a crash rating of five stars here, after getting that result in US, Japan and Europe testing. And to this end they spent about $US30million on passive safety development, and on top of that crashed 233 cars in the testing phase.

The fit-out includes ten airbags as standard, including first-in-class dual SRS front-seat knee airbags and new rear-seat SRS side (torso) airbags, plus new active front-seat head restraints, seat pre-tensioning seatbelts with force limiters.

Pricing and sales

The price tags start at $81,900 for the Prestige – a new addition to the range – with the Sports level costing $88,900 and the top-spec Sports Luxury coming in at $97,900. Lexus expects to move about 230 a month. But where the previous model sales were 95 per cent top spec, they expect the extra features of the new entry level to see it claim 30 per cent of sales, with 45 per cent going to Sports and just 25 for the Sports Luxury.

Drivetrain and economy

All levels get the same improved 3.5-litre dual VVT-i petrol V6 engine, with slightly increased outputs and improved economy. The engine now develops 204kW (up one kW) of power at 6200rpm and 346Nm (up four Nm) of torque at 4700rpm, with 90 per cent of that being available in a flatter curve between 2300-6100rpm.

Lexus claims a 3.5 per cent improvement in economy with an official figure of 10.8L/100km, compared with 11.2 for the outgoing model. At the end of our run we were up into the 14l area, but we’d admittedly been pushing the limit a little.

The RX 350 gets a new six-speed sequential transmission – gaining an extra slot over the previous one. It’s shorter (and also six kilograms lighter) which has allowed the engine to be set lower for a better centre of gravity.

The box drives the front wheels under normal circumstances, with the on-demand all-wheel drive system – controlled by an electromagnetic coupling in the rear differential housing — cutting in when needed, but disengaging from the rear wheels when you’re braking so it doesn’t hinder the ant-skid and stability features. The all-wheel function can be locked in manually at speeds up to 40km/h, but over this level will automatically revert to the front axle only.

Driving

From most angles, the RX 350 is now a fairly good looking vehicle from inside and out. There’s still a bit of boxiness from the square-on view at the back, but the fastback rear has been calmed down and the folds of metal around the nose and creases down the sides give it a handsome presence.

The cabin is spacious and well-fitted out, with the high console divider’s `double cockpit’ effect amplified by the smart layout of the centre stack. And where we’ve loathed most of the other knob-controlled nav systems, the mouse-driven remote touch was easy to use. You can adjust the settings to give more `feedback feel’ when it hits on a function, so that once your brain imprints the order they’re in, there’ll be almost no need to take your eyes off the road to adjust the nav, audio or any of the features.

With the acoustic windscreen and the wiper mountings being optimised, there’s almost nothing in the way of wind rush from those areas, but you’ll still get quite a bit from the big wing mirrors. However apart from that the cabin is very quiet.

At least, that is, until you stand on the pedal. When you push it hard, the engine is surprisingly vocal. And there were times we wanted to push it very hard indeed. There’s no doubt it’s well up to the job of hauling the SUV around once you get it going – even with the extra weight – but there’s no sense of urgency off the line.

And despite the 90 per cent of torque being on tap at 2300rpm, and you really need to spur another 500 out of it to get the best response. The sequential shifter is easy to use, but with the focus on having so many other controls on the steering wheel, it’s a shame they couldn’t be joined by paddle shifters. However Lexus Australia says they asked the same question, and were told by Japan that research indicated that family buyers didn’t want them. Pity.

The RX 350’s road manners are excellent, and most of the time it behaved similarly to a well-sorted big sedan. On damp mountain roads, at challenging speeds, it hung on well. But although it sat reasonably flat through the corners, this was where it reminded you that you were in a much larger lump of metal than the normal family car.

However, that’s not the normal habitat of this SUV, which is likely to be relegated mostly to `leafy suburb’ treks with a load of kids lounging on the leather and bickering about what’s on the audio system. And for this kind of duty, if the price tag is no problem, the RX 350 is the right tool for the job.

Engine: 3.5-litre V6

Power: 204kW@6200rpm

Torque: 346Nm@4700rpm

Transmission: Six speed sequential automatic, low speed flex lock-up torque converter

Drive: Active torque control all-wheel drive, electronic rear diff coupling

Economy: (official) 10.8l/100km (tested) 14.3l/100km