BMW 540i vs Lexus LBX

What's the difference?

Not all superheroes wear capes, and we're proud to report the 530e does its bit for green motoring without feeling the need to shout about it. And with no price or specification penalty, it's easier being green than ever before, and the pricing of this BMW really puts the cat amongst the canaries.

The LBX is a small car which offers a few big surprises. Yes! For the most part, the Lexus luxury promise remains intact even on its smallest car, but it’s also unique in this luxury space.

Not only is it smaller and more keenly priced than its key rivals, but the efficiency focus of its drivetrain almost seems at odds with its athletic abilities which make it quite fun to drive, giving it an interesting split personality.

So long as you’re okay with its limited back seat though, I think the LBX will delight existing Lexus owners and those new to the brand alike.

Our pick of the range is the base Luxury 2WD - it has everything you need at such a notable entry price, with the Sport Luxury features not adding enough for me to justify the extra spend.

Crucially, there's nothing weird about the way the 530e looks. While some green cars look like they've been designed by one of the kids from 3rd Rock from the Sun, the 530e looks much the same as the rest of the range, save a few tiny but telltale giveaways - like the e-drive badging outside, and what looks like a bonus fuel flap tucked in behind a front wheel that houses the whole plug-in bit.

And we really, really like it. It's elegant and statesman-like from every angle, and looked especially important in the deep-blue colour of our test vehicle. It's not over-designed, with body creases used sparingly, and the occasional glint of polished silver that rings the windows and the grille adds a final sense of shininess to an understated design. 

Inside, there's more going on than you might normally find in a BMW. The hugely complicated digital display screen now includes everything from battery charge, power usage to the usual assortment of speedometers and petrol readouts. 

It doesn't feel overdone or crazily festooned, but there's more at play here than in your usual BMW.

The dash is busy, too, with a wide screen emerging from a centre stack that also houses a CD player and a digital aircon setup, which in turn sits above a complex centre console from which you can alter driving settings, control the multimedia or cycle through electric modes. It doesn't feel overdone or crazily festooned, but there's more at play here than in your usual BMW.

Elsewhere inside, the seats are beautifully designed, with a quilted leather highlight through the middle, while the gloss-black strip that lines the dash hides a dual strip of ambient interior lights that also runs across all four doors.

Okay, so you know the Toyota Yaris Cross? Would you believe the LBX uses the same platform and much of the same drivetrain components? I wouldn’t blame you if you thought this luxury SUV wasn’t related at all, because Lexus has done a sensational job of making the LBX look every bit a part of its brand.

Gone are the endearing but dorky lines of the Yaris Cross, replaced by something curvier, wider, and certainly more sporty.

The Lexus signatures are all present, including the ‘spindle’ grille which fades away into the bumper, slender light fittings and purposefully shaped bonnet.

The real sell is the side profile, with wheels which really fill the arches, a strong contour over the rear axle, and a roof which descends to a compact tailgate to sell its athletic stance.

It looks good in the pictures, but better in the metal.

The same goes for the interior. Despite the LBX being the smallest and most affordable Lexus, it feels every bit the part in the cabin. The seats are typically plush, the wheel and switchgear is all the same as it appears in this car’s larger siblings, and the soft synthetic leather or suede trims continue completely throughout the doors and down the centre console. Attention to detail is present in the contrast stitching, textures and shapes on all the interior surfaces, and the ‘Tsuyasumi’ grained pattern around the console.

It also feels modern. Gone are the outdated tech items of previous-generation Lexus products, and the cabin is also largely free from the maximalist design ethos which have only served to hinder the brand in the past. The trendy ventilation design motif which runs across the top of the dash unifying the design is interrupted by only the instrument cluster, and is very nicely executed. Safe to say, I very much like the look and feel of this cabin.

As the world's motoring tastes shrink faster than a lap-banded Clive Palmer, it's easy to forget the joys of the full-size sedan, but the space for passengers and luggage in the 5 Series will have you questioning your downsizing ways.

Upfront, there's plenty of room between front-seat riders, who will also share two smallish cup holders, along with room in each front door for bottles. There's also a dedicated wireless charge pad (which, because of its tight design, is crazy difficult to actually remove your phone from), but you'll also get two USB points and a power outlet that's hidden in the sizeable centre storage bin as standard fit.

Backseat riders get heaps of space, both in width and in leg room behind the front seats. And there's twin air-con temp controls and twin power outlets, too. But middle-seat passengers will be forced to sit with their legs on either side of the raised tunnel, which will definitely impact on comfort.

The boot's still sizeable, despite shrinking slightly to house the battery/fuel tank setup

Best to ditch the fifth passenger, then, and deploy the pull-down seat divider, which also houses two cup holders. Finally, there are three ISOFIX attachment points, one for each seat in the back.

The boot's still sizeable, despite shrinking slightly to house the battery/fuel tank setup (the tank has been moved further back to accomodate the batteries), and can be adjusted to be a flat load area if you'd like, offering up to 410 litres with the rear seats in place.

There’s a bit of a catch though, because while this car’s Toyota relation is spacious for a small SUV, the LBX has sacrificed much of this in its pursuit of luxury and design.

The cabin, which is adorned with dark trims in both grades feels about as small as the car looks from the outside, and while it’s a comfortable place to sit, it is notable how my knee sits hard up against the centre console piece, which is mercifully clad in soft material.

Storage options are okay with some notable limitations. There are bottle holders and pockets in each door, although they only just fit our test bottle, and there’s only a single cup holder holder in front of the shifter, with a little tray next to it which might be good for wallets, keys or phones. 

There is a second cupholder, which is revealed if you slide the centre armrest piece back. To be fair, it’s a better cup holder solution than I’ve seen in some compact cars lately, and the LBX nearly makes up for it with a rather large and EV-like storage pass-through underneath the console itself.

CarPlay is wireless, which is a nice touch, but there are also USB-C ports sticking out from the front of the console should you need them.

The LBX has a handful of shortcut buttons and a single dial for controlling volume. While some climate functions like fan speed and recirculation need to be controlled via a dedicated area at the bottom of the touchscreen, there are also physical toggles for temperature for each climate zone, a sync button, a front and rear defogger button, and an ‘auto’ button for quick fuss-free use.

The software suite, like all current Toyota and Lexus products is a bit ordinary. It’s quick and simple, but maybe a bit too simple. There’s no home screen, and the majority of menus are a bit scant of features. At least Apple CarPlay worked seamlessly and looked great in my time with the car.

The back seat offers very limited room. This is compounded by the fact the rear door doesn’t open very far, so it’s not only tight once you’re in, but it’s hardly easy to get into either.

I can’t imagine it’s easy to fit child seats or negotiate with loading pets into this space. It also doesn’t offer massive room for adults.

I’m 182cm tall and my knees are pretty much touching the seat in front when set to my own driving position. I also have just enough headroom, although the padded finishes in the door continue, and the seats themselves proved reasonably comfortable.

There’s also limited amenities available to rear seat passengers. A single large bottle holder in the door managed to fit our test item (albeit, on an angle), and there’s no drop-down armrest for additional cup holders in the centre position. There are also no adjustable air vents on the back of the centre console, with only dual USB-C ports and pockets on the backs of the seats offered to rear passengers.

To me it seems as though this car is intended predominantly for childless couples rather than those with families thanks to the limitations of the rear seats.

At least the boot is half-way decent, although there’s a significant caveat. The 2WD versions get an impressive 402 litres thanks to a deep floor and a relatively wide area, while the all-wheel-drive crops this space down to a decidedly less impressive 315 litres thanks to the presence of an additional electric motor on the rear axle. Unfortunately, both grades only get a repair kit under the floor in lieu of a spare wheel.

As though a harbinger for what is to come from Lexus in the near future, the LBX arrives in three hybrid-only variants across just two trim levels.

It also kicks off from a new and more accessible price-point for Lexus, of just $47,550 plus on-road costs for the Luxury 2WD grade. From there, it works its way up to $52,990 for the mid-spec Sports Luxury 2WD, and at the top of the range sits the Sports Luxury AWD at $56,990.

Pretty straightforward stuff to begin with, but we expect there’s more to come from the LBX nameplate in the future with the likes of the go-fast Morizo RR concept, which it seems is likely to be headed for production for those who were looking for something approximating a GLA45 rival.

For now though, the LBX, particularly at its keen starting price, already undercuts key rivals like the aforementioned Mercedes-Benz GLA and outgoing Audi Q2, although it manages to be notably smaller than these rival offerings from Germany. Other contemporaries, like Genesis and BMW simply don’t offer anything comparable, with their smallest SUV models being the GV60 and new, larger X1 respectively.

Lexus has always been a bit of a torchbearer for value in the luxury space, too, and despite its dimensions, the LBX packs a great set of standard equipment across its two trim levels, with a handful of notable exceptions.

The entry-level Luxury scores 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, tail-lights and foglights; auto-dimming wing mirrors with auto folding, and tinted windows, alongside such interior luxuries as synthetic leather interior trim, a 9.8-inch multimedia touchscreen with voice recognition, sat-nav and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a wireless phone charger, ambient interior lighting, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, a surround-view parking camera, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry and push-start ignition, eight-way power adjustment for the driver’s seat, a power tailgate and heated front seats.

Meanwhile, the Sports Luxury gets a 18-inch alloys in an alternate design, additional contrast trims on the rear pillar, interior trims in a blend of synthetic leather and suede, genuine leather trims for the steering wheel and shifter, power adjustment for the steering column with paddle shifters and a heated steering wheel function; haptic feedback controls on the steering wheel, multi-colour ambient lighting, a head-up display, an ‘engine sound enhancement’ with active noise cancellation, a 13-speaker Mark Levinson audio system, and an ‘Advanced Park’ feature where the car can park itself.

Both grades also score two-tone paint schemes, and the safety suite on both is also formidable (more on that later).

It’s good value kit at this price-point and free of the usual option-pack rigmarole which comes on many luxury rivals. There are some bits and bobs missing, though. Lexus is usually famous for the inclusion of a sunroof, which doesn’t appear on either grade here. There’s also no ventilated seats or heated seats in the rear, and if you were hoping to option bigger wheels, you can’t do that either.

Drift around in pure EV mode and you'll be relying on the 530e's 83kW and 250Nm electric motor, which will provide what BMW refers to as "between 28 and 32 real-world kilometres".

Run out of range, or simply use too much throttle, and the 2.0-litre petrol engine comes into play, adding 135kW and 320Nm to the mix. All up, that's 185kW and 420Nm - respectable numbers by any measure, and enough to match the petrol-powered 530i's zero to 100km/h sprint of 6.2 seconds.

That power is fed through an eight-speed automatic transmission before being sent exclusively to the rear wheels, where it belongs.

The LBX has a very modern-sounding if not premium drivetrain, consisting of a 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine boosted by one or two electric motors.

On tap is just 67kW/120Nm from the engine, which is assisted up to a combined 100kW with the aid of a 69kW/185Nm electric motor.

Opting for the top-spec all-wheel-drive version adds an additional 4.7kW/52Nm motor on the rear axle.

Interestingly, power for the electric motors is provided from not a lithium-ion battery, but a nickel-metal hydride one. Sounds old-school, but this is an innovative new NiMH design, which is more efficient and has a higher power output.

It’s a cool bit of tech, but hardly provides the turbocharged thrills of most of its premium rivals, with 0-100km/h sprint times arriving in a smidge under 10 seconds (9.2 seconds for the 2WD or 9.6 seconds for the AWD). See more in the driving section of this review.

Like a Facebook relationship status, it's complicated. The 530e will sip a claimed combined 2.3 litres per hundred kilometres on the claimed/combined cycle, which is amazing for a car this size. Better still, it seems genuinely achievable - at the vehicle's launch, our own Richard Berry recorded a stunning 2.0 litres per hundred kilometres on a short test route.

But that's with a full load of battery charge on board. For our week with the 530e we were unable to actually plug it in (living in Sydney, I can't afford a garage), so once the initial battery charge had been used we were back to mostly petrol power. Unlike some other plug-in hybrids we've driven, we found it very difficult to recharge the battery to any meaningful level using regenerative braking, so once we were flat we stayed flat. If we had plugged it in, it would have been a two-hour recharge using a specialised wall unit, or about four hours using a normal plug.

As a result, though, our fuel use was closer to 7.0 litres per hundred kilometres after some considerable real-world testing.

Of course, this trim three-cylinder hybrid set-up is designed not only for the smooth hybrid drive experience, but also to keep your fuel bills low.

To that end, the LBX has an ambitiously low official/combined fuel consumption number of 3.8L/100km regardless of variant, so not only is it an affordable luxury car, but it will save you significant amounts of money on fuel over its lifetime. The LBX can even drink base 91RON fuel, which is rare in this segment.

In our brief test drive we saw more like 5.0L/100km, but the cars were being driven hard and at higher speeds than usual.

It is also set to help the brand be smiled upon by the incoming new vehicle efficiency standard, which in its initial form looks to cap CO2 emissions at 140g/km, with the LBX producing just 85g/km in 2WD form, or 87g/km in AWD form.

A 36-litre fuel tank suggests a maximum cruising range of around 947km.

There's so much to like about the way the 530e sets about saving the world, and that's mostly because it doesn't shout about it, either to the driver or the outside world.

It's very much an underpants inside its pants superhero, which makes us like it even more. Set off in EV mode, and the 530e will drift silently away from the curb, burning battery power over fuel for as many as 30(ish) kilometres. But equally important, the shift from green to gas is largely imperceptible, with the petrol engine joining in willingly when you ask it to - usual via a prod of your right foot.

It is so effortlessly smooth that you need to really pay attention to notice the eight-speed 'box changing gears at city speeds, and it's commendably quiet, whichever drive mode you're in.

Downsides? Well, it doesn't feel quite as sharp as it's conventional-engined siblings. The batteries add around 230kg in weight, which never helps, and it all feels a little softer and a little less dynamic, even with Sport mode engaged. BMW assures us the adaptive suspension setup and tune is identical, but the 530e feels noticeably softer when you tackle a twisting back road. And that encourages you to use your right foot a little more, which in turn negates the whole electric thing in the first place.

One of the great joys of BMWs has always been their ability to transform from cosseting comfort to rear-drive rocket when you want them to, and you can't help but notice the 530e isn't quite up to that challenge. But if your intentions are mostly city- and freeway-based, then this plug-in BMW is almost indiscernible from its petrol-powered sibling.

It quickly became obvious the LBX is not to be underestimated from behind the wheel. One might assume sharing its TNGA-B underpinnings with the Yaris Cross would mean the LBX would have the same kind of compliant but tame drive experience, but as it turns out, this is not the case at all.

Instead, the littlest Lexus is sharp, agile, light and purposeful, and even, when you push it, a little cheeky.

The brand tells us right now, an LBX is Toyota boss Akio Toyoda’s daily driver (the man responsible for the Gazoo Racing sub-brand), and the thing certainly has his fingerprints on it. Not only is the steering accurate and responsive, but the chassis behaves in kind. When you expose it to a few curves at speed you can even get it dancing around like it’s some kind of genuine sports machine. It’s very impressive.

While it’s capable to steer though, it’s certainly not quick. The three-cylinder hybrid combo, in either grade doesn’t exactly propel the LBX with enthusiasm. You can absolutely bury your right foot in the firewall, and very little begins to happen at the wheels. The electric motors pull you along but run out of puff quickly, and the engine takes half a second too long to pick up the slack and get things moving. It doesn’t really hold a candle to the kind of turbocharged performance we’ve become accustomed to from this car’s Germanic contemporaries.

To make matters worse, the three-cylinder engine, known for its overbearing gruff tone entering the cabin in the Yaris Cross when distressed, is still noisy here, although Lexus has put a notable dent in it thanks to additional sound deadening, and in the Sports Luxury grade, active noise cancellation (which wasn’t as effective as I hoped).

However, like any Lexus hybrid, it is a finely tuned instrument at commuter speeds. The hybrid system’s upgrades over the version in the Yaris Cross are notable, allowing better acceleration time using the electric motor, meaning more smooth electric driving and less time using the gruff engine.

The ride is also mostly compliant in both specs (there’s slightly different rear suspension in the all-wheel-drive version), with a slightly hard edge to the rear on only the most challenging road imperfections. It sells the quiet cabin promise at lower speeds for the most part too.

Interestingly, the all-wheel-drive adds a significant boost to the amount of electric drive available, but it also feels heavier and less playful than its 2WD equivalent.

The LBX, then, is a car with an odd split personality. It’s keen and capable when it comes to carving up corners, but its hybrid drivetrain feels much more suited to the daily commute. You can have a better performer, but it’s hard to get a car as ready for trimming fuel consumption in the daily grind.

The LBX is equipped with both radar- and camera-based safety equipment, granting both trim levels the standard array of expected active items, including freeway-speed auto emergency braking (with cyclist detection), lane-keep assist with departure warning, blind-spot monitoring with both front and rear cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control with stop-start functionality, traffic sign recognition, safe exit warning and driver attention alert.

Its connected services suite is also able to call for SOS in the event of airbag deployment and can track a stolen vehicle via GPS.

Despite its size, the LBX packs eight airbags (dual front, side, and curtain, with a driver’s knee airbag and a centre airbag), but at the time of writing it was yet to be rated by ANCAP.

Like the rest of the 5 Series range, the 530e falls under BMW's three-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. There are no set service intervals, either, with BMW using what it calls 'condition-based' servicing. In other words, the car will tell you when it requires a trip to the service centre.

The batteries are covered by a separate warranty covering six years or 100,000km.

Even the LBX comes with Lexus’ signature ‘Encore’ array of ownership benefits which includes a complimentary loan car during service or a pick-up and drop-off valet service, a complimentary car wash at service time, 24-hour roadside assist, coverage for towing or mechanical assistance, fuel discounts at Ampol locations, as well as invitations to “lifestyle events”, including offers with hotel partners, drive experiences, concerts, drive days and golf events.

These program benefits last three years, at which point an owner can now subscribe to Encore at a cost of $1899 for 12 months.

The LBX is also the first Lexus vehicle to be offered in what the brand calls a ‘usership’ experience - a full-service program which combines the cost of the vehicle, registration, insurance, servicing, and even optionally, fuel in one tidy monthly repayment, going one step further than the regular lease arrangement. At the end of the agreed period the ‘user’ can then return the car, lease it again, or upgrade to a different model or new car.

For everyone else, the LBX has a five-year and unlimited-kilometre warranty and five years of capped price servicing, fixed at $595 every 12 months or 15,000km whichever comes first.