Ford F150 vs Lexus RX350

What's the difference?

The Ford F-150 Lariat LWB is a big comfortable, purpose-built work and adventure machine – but it’s better suited to load-lugging, towing and touring, than it is to hard-core 4WDing.

Despite that – and its less-than-ideal payload – there’s a lot to like about the Lariat, especially its on-road performance, 4.5 tonne towing capacity and factory-backed warranty.

If you’re serious about buying a US ute the F-150 should be in your sights.

The RX is a big SUV that doesn't always look, or drive, like one, and – in 500h guise especially – can put a smile on a driver's face, too.

Gone are the cabin quirks and the polarising design elements (well, mostly...), and in their place you'll find a solid, premium-feeling family offering without much in the way of drawbacks.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The long-wheelbase F-150 Lariat is 6184mm long (with a 3994mm wheelbase), 2030mm wide, 1995mm high and has a kerb weight of 2555kg.

With a stretched wheelbase and chunkified body everywhere you look, this F-150 looks and feels massive but, really, this is not a whole lot bigger than a Ranger, 300 Series LandCruiser, or a new-gen Patrol. It does, however, have an undeniably in-your-face presence.

For reference, the Ranger is 5370mm long, 1920mm wide, and 1880mm high; the LC300 (Sahara ZX) is 5015mm long, 1980mm wide, and 1950mm high; and the Patrol is 5165mm long (all variants), 1995mm wide (all variants) and 1940mm/1955mm high.

The Lariat’s 20-inch chrome-like alloys, shod with Pirelli Scorpion ATR all-terrain light truck tyres (275/60R20) cap off this US pick-up’s bulky style.

A lot of its notable design features are thoroughly functional rather than noteworthy because of their looks, so rather than include them in this section you'll find them in ‘Practicality’ (below).

Honestly, the Lexus RX looks far more powerful, and cohesive, in the metal than it does in some photos, and in the right colour (we're fond on the deep black or the copper-rose hues), it looks downright fetching.

That Predator-shaped front-end is massive, but the way the Spindle grille kind of bleeds in the body work at the nose of the vehicle is a neat trick, and the whole design ethos gives the RX a sportier, more modern, and more intimidating, energy from almost every angle.

Perhaps the most clever element though is the wave-like design piece that links the rear window with the boot, somehow managing to shrink almost-five-metre SUV (visually, at least), and leaving the RX looking more sporty than hulking.

The door handles are cool, too. They’re fixed, and you just touch them to open the door, with a similar system used once inside to get out again.

Inside, Lexus has gone for a clean, modern-feeling space, and, thankfully, there isn't a Remote Touch trackpad in sight. Instead, you can choose between two screen sizes – 9.8- or 14.0-inch – which kind of dominate the dash, while the air-con controls are digital and interactive, too.

It must be said, though, some interior treatments feel far more special than others, and while Lexus in Australia isn't spilling on specifics for our market just yet, the top-spec models will almost certainly feel more plush than the cheaper ones.

The interior of the F-150 is cavernous, but it’s functional and comfortable with a definite premium look and feel about it all.

From the front of the cabin to the rear, this space is geared towards being practical.

For one, the multi-media system is easy to pair to your phone and operate. Just allow yourself a few minutes before you set off in the Lariat for the first time so you can get your head around how to navigate your way through the system.

There’s ample storage space – including a deep centre console*, cupholders and bottle-holders for everyone, as well as the usual glove box (times two) and seat pockets for rear-seat passengers.

*In a stroke of Ford genius, the auto shifter power-folds forward into a recess, giving you room to unfold the lid of the centre console and turn that large surface into a picnic table or work desk.

Space is further maximised in the rear 60/40-split seat as it has a fold-out storage area underneath it, or the seat itself, if not in use, can be stowed away to free up even more room in the cabin.

The stretched Lariat’s tub is 2005mm long and 1656mm wide with 1285mm between the wheel-arches – so it will fit an Aussie pallet, or a quad bike, camping gear etc. 

This load space also has a 12-volt outlet, night lights, a tub camera (which I couldn’t get to work), a durable-looking spray-in tub liner, as well as fixed tie-down points at each corner and four sidewall-mounted tie-down points (two on each inner wall).

Remember I mentioned some design features that err on the side of practical rather than pretty? I’m talking about this F-150’s chunky side-steps, which serve an obvious practical function, and its remote-controlled and power-assisted tailgate (a nifty feature), its fold-out step (a real handy addition) and the accompanying slide-out guide pole for something secure to hold onto as you climb in and out of the tub – well, that’s what we used it for anyway, whether that’s its intended purpose or not.

Bonus usage points for the raised ruler markings on the inner wall of the tailgate and the two G-clamp fitting positions at each side of the tailgate’s top edge.

The Lariat even has a keyless entry system with a keypad on the exterior of the vehicle (front passenger door). Punch in your permanent access code and bingo, you're in!

The entire RX range now rides on Lexus' GA-K platform, which is lighter (-40kg), more rigid, and offers a lower centre of gravity (-15mm) than the model it replaces.

The RX is wider (+25mm to 1920mm), lower (-10mm to 1695mm), but no longer (still 4890mm) than the outgoing model. But Lexus has lengthened the wheelbase (+60mm to 2850mm) to earn some extra backseat space for rear riders.

And it must be said, there is lots of room for backseat riders. Sitting behind my own 175cm driving position I had more than enough knee room, and enough head room, and a general feeling of airy spaciousness.

Elsewhere you get the usual practicality perks, with two cupholders up front, two more in the pull-down seat divider that splits the rear seat, and there are two ISOFIX attachment points in the back seat, too.

Charging is handled by a four USB ports, and depending on the trim/spec balance Lexus in Australia shoots for, you should at least find vents with temp controls for backseat riders, too.

Lexus is yet to confirm the luggage space specs for the new RX, but given it’s only being offered with five seats, and that there’s been no change to the vehicle’s length, you can expect a fair bit of room for bags in its auto-opening boot.

This is an arbitrary seven out of 10, here. Because we don't yet know how many trim levels the new RX will launch in, how much each will cost, or what you'll get for your investment.

What we do know is that the RX will launch with three powertrain options: an all-new turbocharged hybrid, a second, more conventional hybrid, and a turbo-petrol engine. There’s a plug-in hybrid version available overseas, but we ain’t getting it. Or at least, not yet.

In terms of specific trims and equipment levels, you’ll need to wait until closer to the RX’s launch in early 2023 for the full skinny. But you can expect a choice between a 9.8-inch or 14.0-inch central touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an eLatch door system with fixed handles that unlatch at the push of button inside and out, as well as more high-tech safety kit (thanks to Lexus Safety System 3.0) than you can shake a radar at.

The F-150 has a 3.5-litre twin-turbo petrol V6 producing 298kW at 6000rpm and 678Nm at 3100rpm, and that’s matched to a 10-speed automatic transmission.

This is an impressive set-up – the long wheelbase F-150 is punchy off the mark, smooth and refined at highway speeds – it just trucks along – and overall it offers a comfortable and controlled driving experience.

This top-spec F-150 – the Lariat – also has full-time 4WD and an electronic rear diff lock.

Its selectable driving modes include 'Sport', 'Eco', 'Tow/Haul', 'Normal', 'Slippery', 'Deep Snow/Sand' and 'Mud Ruts'.

Let’s start with what we’re not getting at launch. Internationally, there's a new plug-in hybrid variant that pairs a 227kW hybrid system with a 18.1kWh lithium-ion battery for an EV driving range of more than 65kms, but fight though Lexus in Australia did, it couldn't secure the model for our market at launch. It wants it though, and badly. So watch this space. 

Instead we get three options, including the RX 350h, which pairs a 2.5-litre petrol engine with Lexus' existing hybrid system to produce a total 180kW and 316Nm. It's paired with a constantly variable transmission and will be offered in two- or all-wheel drive.

There’s also a turbocharged 2.4-litre petrol engine on offer in the RX 350, good for 205kW and 430Nm, and paired with an eight speed automatic and AWD.

But the powertrain I really, really like lives in the RX 500h F Performance, and pairs a 2.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor up front, and a second at the rear axle, for a total of 273kW and 551Nm.

The all-new hybrid system has been designed with turbocharged engines in mind, and features a single electric motor at the front, and a bigger rear motor, with the latter able to provide real driving power to the rear tyres - and contribute to a sprint to 100km/h of just 5.9secs.

Lexus calls it an 'eAxle' motor, and it can deliver some 76kW to the rear tyres. It pairs with a 'DIRECT4' all-wheel drive system which the brand says improves "handling, controllability, and feel."

Fitting, then, that it features on the RX 500h F Performance, which also introduces a new go-fast tier for the Lexus brand (though one you can expect to see more frequently in the near future), and which sits between the existing F Sport and the top-tier, full-fat F models.

The brand says things like bigger brakes, performance components and the highest power outputs will be reserved for the F Performance models. And so it is with the RX 500h F Performance, which welcomes six-piston front brakes, adaptive variable suspension, dynamic rear steering and 21-inch wheels.

The Ford F-150 Lariat LWB has an official fuel consumption figure of 12.5L/100km (on a combined, urban/extra-urban, cycle).

I recorded 14.8L/100km on this test which included a lot of high- and low-range 4WDing although the F-150 was never working hard.

This F-150 has a 136L fuel tank, so, going by my on-test fuel-consumption figure, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 920km from a full tank. 

If you calculate driving range using the official fuel-consumption figure that number extends to 1088km from a full tank.

Let’s start with the pure-petrol RX 350, which will sip a claimed 8.8 litres per hundred kilometres on the combined cycle, and will demand premium petrol. The RX 350h is more fuel efficient, demanding 6.4 to 6.7 litres per hundred kilometres on the combined cycle.

But the most impressive is the RX 500h, which Lexus says will need 8.2 to 8.5 litres per hundred kilometres — making it more efficient than the petrol-powered RX 350, despite producing an extra 68 kilowatts of power and 121 newton metres of torque.

F-150s are imported to Australia from the USA as left-hand-drive vehicles and reengineered to right-hand-drive by Melbourne-based RMA Automotive, at the company’s production facility.

The utes undergo an exhaustive transformation including changes to steering, driver displays, air con, as well as software upgrades, to mention a few, all aimed at making them capable of excelling in Aussie conditions.

And RMA Automotive has done an impressive job.

The F-150 is, by its very nature, a big vehicle with a steel ladder-frame chassis and a lengthy wheelbase, but it suits Aussie conditions, especially with Aussie-tuned steering, great on-road ride and handling and that 4500kg towing capability built into it. 

It's well-controlled with a solid, planted feel on sealed surfaces, the steering has a nice weight to it in all conditions, acceleration is smooth (and punchy when needed) and the 10-speed auto offers clever management of this big vehicle. 

It’s also very comfortable and quiet in the cabin. You can just barely register the low-level rumble of the twin-turbo V6 as you truck along stretches of highway and rural backroads.

All in all, on-road this is an almost perfect open-road touring vehicle. The bonus is, as a Lariat driver, you have access to a whole suite of driver-assist tech which specifically includes stuff geared towards making the task of towing safer, more controlled and, as a result, more enjoyable than it otherwise may be.

However, when you get this big ute off road, you quickly discover it has limitations. Those limitations don’t come close to ruining the F-150’s potential as an adventure machine, but this is a substantial vehicle so it has to be driven with real consideration, real care, and you have to know the off-road parameters in which this ute works best.

If you drive anything more severe than light-to-medium-duty off-roading you're risking damage to this ute’s side steps or underbody. 

The F-150’s size is not a factor when the tracks are nice and wide, but when the tracks become narrower, more treed-in, it becomes more difficult to navigate through those routes. 

The Lariat’s suspension – IFS (twin wishbone) with coil springs at the front and live axle on leaf springs at the rear – is well set up to soak up lumps and bumps on sealed surfaces and even on gravel tracks, but it is less capable of doing the same job during low-range 4WDing.

It becomes very bouncy, when you’d be excused for expecting that longer wheelbase would offer a bit more stability and control through shallow to moderate ruts, but it really is a wild ride. 

Beyond that, though, visibility is great, the driving position is commanding, steering at low speeds is well-weighted and precise and throttle response is impressive.

While there’s little to nit-pick in terms of the four-wheel drive system onboard this ute, the traction control system is somewhat clunky.

When the terrain becomes more challenging, that off-road traction control system just seems to whirr and click and clunk away with lacklustre application – it’s not exactly smooth or seamless. 

The F-150 has the kind of off-road angles you’d expect for a vehicle this large: approach angle is listed as 24 degrees, departure angle is 26.3 and the ramp-over is 19 degrees.

Ground clearance is listed as 225mm and wading depth is 600mm.

The tyres – Pirelli Scorpion ATR all-terrain light truck tyres (275/60R20) – aren’t that good for off-roading, either, even though they’re marketed as all-season tyres.

Bigger tyres and an aftermarket suspension lift would go some of the way to help sort out the F-150’s issues with less-than-ideal rubber as well as poor ground clearance and off-road angles.

For such a big ute, payload is an underwhelming 710kg; for reference, the Ram 1500 (878kg) and Chevrolet Silverado (757kg) offer more, and even mainstream dual-cab utes, such as the Ford Ranger (966kg (kerb weight)/1010kg (min kerb weight) offer better payloads.

Towing capacity is 750kg (unbraked) and a noteworthy 4500kg (braked). GVM is 3265kg, and GCM is 7765kg.

Right, let’s cut to the chase here. I like the way the all-new RX family drives, pretty much across the board. If that’s all the information you want or need, feel free to check out here and move on to the next sub-heading.

Still here? Ok, then let’s go a little deeper.

None of the powertrains on offer feel under-powered in the RX range, which is a good start, but they all do their jobs a little differently. 

The RX 350 is probably the most familiar, with a traditional automatic and that well-known petrol-powered punch. It’s not the most powerful engine on offer here, but it’s more than enough to get the RX up and moving — but, for mine, it can feel a little thrashy (or like it’s straining a little too hard), when you really start to push it, but such is the price you pay for a four-cylinder engine pushing a large SUV.

Next up is the RX 350h, which Lexus reckons will be the best-selling model in Australia. Lexus and Toyota have been doing hybrid powertrains for some time now, and the system fitted to the new RX is predictably solid-feeling, though it too has its drawbacks – namely that the constantly variable transmission can drone on and on under constant acceleration, and even the commendably insulated cabin can’t block it out completely.

So if this is a Goldilocks’ scenario, then the just right has to be the RX 500h, which blends its powerful powertrain with a traditional-feeling automatic to deliver plenty of performance and a tight, engaging drive experience that makes it feel as though the big SUV is somehow shrinking around you from behind the wheel, courtesy of the best performance kit (brakes, adaptive suspension, etc).

But to be honest, no matter the RX, the thing that really stands out here is its on-road dynamics. The car doesn’t really wobble about, there’s not much in the way of body roll, and it feels tight and confidence inspiring, no matter the model - but especially the rear-wheel-steering equipped 500h.

The RX also does a commendable job of locking the outside world outside of the cabin. Where you want it to be a calm and sedate family hauler, it can be that. But it can also put a smile on your face on the right road, too.

And that, I think, is something to be celebrated. And also not something we’ve come to associate with Lexus over the years. But that’s now beginning to change. Long live F Sport Performance, then.

The Lexus RX welcomes the brand's Lexus Safety System 3.0 setup, which means more high-tech kit than you can shake a radar at.

What appears where on the Australian lineup remains to be seen, but internationally the RX will offer things like Advanced Park, remote parking from your smart phone, Safe Exit Assist that will actually prevent you opening the doors should the cameras detect pedestrians or cyclists, and Pre-Crash Safety, which scans intersections for bikes, people or cars, and activate alarms and the brakes should it sense a collision.

That, and things like Front Cross-Traffic Alert, active cruise, Lane Departure Warning and Lane Tracing Assist, road-sign recognition and Lane Change Assist, should see Lexus shooting for a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

The F-150 has a five-year/unlimited km warranty and you may pick up roadside assistance for up to seven years but it's worth noting not all Ford Dealers participate in providing the latter.

Servicing is scheduled for every 12 months or 15,000km. Capped price servicing applies to the first four scheduled services and, at time of writing, was listed as $429 a pop which isn't outrageous for a vehicle of this magnitude.

The Lexus family is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is about bang-on in the premium-vehicle space. 

While servicing details are yet to be confirmed, the previous RX required a trip to the service centre every 12 months or 15,000kms, and it will fall under the brand’s capped-price servicing program, and the Lexus Encore program, which offers all sorts of perks to owners.