Lexus LBX vs Deepal S07

What's the difference?

Lexus has managed to combine two cars in one. A fast, impossibly fun back-road blaster perfect for weekends on your favourite winding roads, and a competent, compact city SUV that will easily handle urban runabout duties every day of the week.

It’s this duality that struck me the most. I would happily live with the Lexus LBX Morizo RR. 

If you need a bit of space, maybe look elsewhere. But if you’re passionate about dynamic driving, and value comfort and a premium experience, this little rocket is hard to beat.

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

The Deepal S07 has the makings of a great family friendly EV, but with some quirks that really need to be ironed out.

The regular LBX is a spunky little car with a lot of road presence. I’ve been a fan of the exterior design since first seeing one in the metal. Short overhangs, nuggety proportions, well designed tail-lights and a pert rear end - it all works for me.

For the Morizo RR, Lexus has wisely exercised some restraint when it comes to exterior flourishes. It is nowhere near as wildly styled as the Yaris GR, for example. And that makes sense. This is, after all, a Lexus. 

It’s a smart move, too. It’s subtle but still has intent. 

The Morizo RR gains styling tweaks unique to the grade including 19-inch forged aluminium wheels, red brake calipers, a different front and rear bumper design, a rear spoiler, air intakes front and rear and a dual exhaust.

Inside, the main differences are the inclusion of red stitching, sports seats, some unique inserts, and the use of synthetic suede on the centre console, dash and doors.

The LBX interior design is functional and premium with nice materials throughout. 

If you’re left a little underwhelmed from the bland same-sameness of so many new SUVs, I reckon you’d like the Deepal S07 in the metal. Because boring it ain’t.

It’s sharp and purposeful and full of lovely creases and angles, and it stands out on the road — especially in this 'Sunset Orange' colour.

Deepal says it was designed in Turin, Italy, but I'm not sure that matters much. I mean, being in Italy doesn’t guarantee design success – just look to the modern Lancia range for proof – but I guess it’s something for a newish Chinese brand to hang its hat on.

Inside, the design is lovely, too. I like the materials used, the extended dash and the size of the central screen (though it tilting towards you or the passenger is probably overkill). And the flat-bottom wheel is a nice touch.

I'd like to know where the air con was designed, though. It feels massively underwhelming on a piping hot Sydney day. The main outlet is at the bottom of the dash, which is perfectly positioned to chill absolutely nothing, and you can’t really change the direction of the vents, either. Or, at least, I couldn't figure out how to.

The LBX is a compact little SUV so if you’re after something to fit a family of four, look elsewhere. But if you don’t need the space, it’s a great city car.

Up front it’s easy to find the right driving position thanks to all of the adjustability of the seat and steering wheel.

Those sports seats are supportive and hug the body, but not too much as some of Lexus’ European rivals do. They’re also very comfortable - almost edging firm but never uncomfortable.

The Lexus multimedia system is functional and has an easy-to-navigate menu set-up, but lacks any pizzazz. Better graphics would help with engagement.

Storage wise, there’s a wireless charger slot at the bottom of the centre stack, a cupholder with a narrow slot for another device next to it, and a deep but narrow secure central storage bin with another cupholder.

You might not fit big bottles into the door bins as it’s pretty tight.

I wasn’t sure about Lexus’ one-touch interior and exterior door handles when they first rolled them out, but I now think it adds a classy point of difference to its rivals.

That second seating row is tight, especially for taller folk. I had just enough legroom (but plenty of toe room) sitting behind my 183cm (6'0") driving position, but I wouldn’t want to sit back there for a long road trip. Headroom, however, is ample. My noggin didn’t even scrape the headliner. You’d struggle to fit three adults back there but a couple of kids should be fine.

Amenities include a pair of USB-C ports and two map pockets, but the rear row lacks any adjustable air vents or a fold-down centre arm rest. And the bottle holders in the rear doors won’t fit much at all. 

The rear row folds 60/40 and if you need to haul lots of luggage or shopping, you’ll definitely need to lower that rear row because the boot is small.

Lexus says it can swallow 266 litres, which is tight. There’s no spare wheel of any kind, just a tyre repair kit.

At just over 4.7m long and 1.9m wide, with a 2.9m wheelbase, the Deepal is a sizeable proposition, which means good passenger room and decent luggage space.

Starting at the boot, you’ll find 445 litres with the rear seats in place, but with the seats folded flat that number grows to 1385 litres. There’s a frunk up front, too, that holds another 125 litres.

In the back, the room is ample for full-size adults. When sitting behind my own 175cm driving position, I had more than enough knee and headroom to sit comfortably. 

There’s also a heavy pulldown divider that’s home to twin cupholders, and there are two more up front, and USB connection points galore. Bonus points for the back seat riders being able to adjust their own air temps, too.

It’s easy picking in the Deepal range, given there’s one model with just the one trim level, simply called the S07.

It’s currently $58,521 drive-away in NSW, or $53,900 before on-road costs. And that’s probably about right. You can get an entry-level Kia EV5 for $56,770, though with less range and kit, or the XPeng G6 Standard Range for $54,800, though that’s before on-road costs. The new Model Y is a bit of a jump, at $63,400 on the road.

For that you get 19-inch alloys, a fixed sunroof with a sun shade, LED lighting all around and a powered boot. 

Inside, there’s a giant 15.6-inch touchscreen that can swivel towards the driver or the passenger, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 14-speaker Sony stereo and wireless device charging.

There’s dual-zone air con, the seats (heated and ventilated up front) are trimmed in synthetic leather and there’s an interior camera with gesture control, so you can use a kind of sign language to take a photo, control the stereo or answer or hang up the phone. It's weird and makes you look like a turkey, which is why I used it once and once only, but you might like it.

Powering the LBX Morizo RR is an excellent 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine, which is the same unit found in the Toyota GR Corolla and Yaris hot hatches.

The Lexus loses some power and torque compared with those models so the outputs are 206kW and 390Nm. The Toyota cousins offer 221kW/400Nm each.

This engine is paired with an eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission and it has electrically controlled all-wheel drive with a Torsen limited-slip differential.

You can race from zero to 100km/h in just 5.2 seconds.

The S07 is powered by a single 160kW/320Nm rear-mounted electric motor and it's rear-wheel drive. That’s enough output, says Deepal, to push the S07 to 100km/h in 7.9 seconds — not bad for a two-tonne-plus SUV.

While the hybrid versions of the LBX are known for their fuel efficiency, it’s less of a focus for the Morizo RR performance model.

It has an official combined (urban/extra-urban cycle) fuel figure of 9.2 litres per 100 kilometres, which is more than twice the figure of the hybrid.

CO2 emissions sit at 209g/km and the LBX has a 50-litre fuel tank. You will need to fill up on the expensive stuff though as the Morizo RR requires 98 RON fuel. Theoretical range between fills is around 540km.

The 79.97kWh ternary lithium battery delivers a claimed driving range of 475km. It is, however, set up for just 92kW DC fast charging, which means going from 30 to 80 per cent will take just over half an hour. That’s at an appropriate DC fast charger, of course. Your 7.0kW AC home wallbox will take 11 hours, or eight hours if you can draw 11kW.

I had high expectations for the LBX Morizo RR and I’m pleased to say they were met.

What a phenomenally capable little car.

Lexus is at pains to point out that its mechanical cousins - the Toyota GR Corolla and Yaris - are motorsport bred and therefore more raw and hardcore.

The premium brand knows it needs to be able to attract new buyers with a car like this, while also satisfying its loyal base.

Lexus did this by building a hot hatch (okay, it’s an SUV) that you can easily live with day to day.

I spent an enjoyable few hours behind the wheel of the Morizo RR on a stunning Autumn day in Victoria’s Yarra Ranges driving on some incredible roads. The twists, bends, undulations and more showcased how tight this car is.

First up that engine is an absolute gem, and I don’t miss the extra kilowatts found in the Toyota models. There’s very little turbo lag and the LBX picks up pace quickly but in a focused, fun manner.

The engine note is also a delight to behold, especially when you push it hard. Although on coarse chip roads a fair bit of road noise creeps in, to the point that it's boomy.

The transmission is a perfect pairing for the engine, too, offering slick shifts without holding gears unnecessarily. I didn’t miss the manual box found in the Toyotas, either. But the paddle shifters and a true manual mode (it won’t shift unless you flick the paddle) adds to the experience.

The brakes are strong but not too pinchy and the steering is as sharp as you’d hope, while offering just enough weight. 

Then there’s the grip. The all-wheel drive system “automatically distributes the front-rear torque according to road conditions and grip”, according to Toyota.

That AWD grip always inspires confidence during dynamic driving in a car like this and the LBX sticks to the tarmac like nobody's business. Despite some damp sections of road higher up the ranges, no slip was detected. It feels glued to the road.

If that’s not enough, the Lexus surprises with its compliant and even comfortable ride quality. Many hot hatches (or hot SUVs) have a firm ride due to a chassis set-up geared to performance driving. 

Somehow Lexus has ensured the damping settings shield the occupants from the worst bumps. Only deep potholes make their presence felt.

And that’s the beauty of this car. It feels so beautifully engineered, with a clear focus on performance, but it’s not a brutal experience. You never feel like you could easily lose control in this thing. You can punt it into a tight bend and feel confident it will stay the course.

Binging, bonging safety systems aside, the Deepal S07's drive experience is relatively peaceful.

It can feel heavy, and isn't dynamically perfect through tighter bends, and even in the city the suspension - which does a good job ironing out most road imperfections - can clang over sharper, bigger stuff, especially if you're too enthusiastic with a speed bump.

But provided you're not asking too much of it on some twisting pass, and you're gentle enough over really big bumps, the S07 behaves much as you'd expect a big, wafty electric SUV might.

That is, with a smooth flow of power, steering that isn't overly direct, but not overly sharp either and with comfort the order of the day.

There are some annoying quirks, though, that would seem easy enough to iron out. The safety systems are often intrusive – and other Chinese brands can get them to be far less annoying – but I also found the tech and user interface annoying and fiddly, which again would be easy enough to fix.

Handing out a low score for a five-star ANCAP car seems harsh, but bear with me.

All the major bases are covered, the standard spec including auto emergency braking (AEB) with car-to-car and 'vulnerable road user' (pedestrian, backover, cyclist, motorcycle) detection, blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning, lane keeping assist and more. And there are front, front side (chest), side curtain and front centre airbags.

But the single biggest drawback of the Deepal experience has to be the most annoying, infuriating active (crash-avoidance) safety systems I’ve ever come across. Honestly, it has to be experienced to be believed.

For one, whenever I wear sunglasses it gives me an “occlusion” warning, which I genuinely had to Google, but that’s nothing compared to the driver attention monitor, which seems rigged to go off if you so much as blink, sending chimes binging and bonging throughout the cabin, increasing in number like a bomb about to go off.

And if you have to turn them off every time you get in, you have to wonder if they have any business being there at all.

So yes, it wears a maximum five-star ANCAP rating from assessment in January this year, but it’s a tree falling in the forest, kind of vibe, like if a car has every active safety system known to man, and you want to switch them off every time you get in, is it any safer than a car that doesn’t have any systems at all?

Lexus covers the LBX Morizo RR with its five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty and capped-price servicing for five years at a cost of $695 a service.

The schedule for servicing is tight at every six months or 10,000km, whichever occurs first, so you’ll be at the dealership a bit with this one. These are the same servicing terms as the GR Corolla and Yaris.

Lexus’s 'Encore' owner benefits program includes some cool stuff, too, like a valet parking service at certain venues, and you can even swap your Lexus for a different model for a set amount of time with the On Demand service.

Lexus Encore also offers exclusive access to events and venues, as well as special offers at hotels and restaurants.

The S07 is covered for seven years or 160,000km, while the battery is covered for eight years or 240,000km.

Servicing is required every 12 months or 10,000km, and the brand’s capped-price servicing program covers the first seven services (or eight, if you include the initial 5000km check-in, which is free), for a total $2981.43 (or an average of $426 per paid workshop visit).