[MarkyM]

Had a 40 minute test drive of this new to market Lexus EV yesterday. Dry,sunny,warmish conditions-about 16 degC.
Takumi edition demo car which is the top spec edition. Not that familiar with the spec but 3 grades I think. This has a normal sized tilt/slide sunroof and HUD and came with the Mark Levinson sound upgrade.
Plenty of positives. Wonderfully crafted cabin and high quality materials throughout. Combination of different textures etc. A Lexus strong point. Very comfortable seats and fully electric adjustment. Clear instrumentation and fairly large HUD which is always nice to have in a car. Takumi spec so not sure if lower grades have these or you can option them.
Nicely supple ride and refined with good wind & road noise suppression. Just like most other EVs.Although it is heavy, had a very good turn of speed. I am pretty sure it is FWD but no sign of torque steer on heavy throttle inputs from
Low speeds but tested on dry tarmac. May be different in the wet. Direct and fairly fast steering so quite an enjoyable car to drive. Not much steering feel but that is a common modern car issue. Surprisingly fast. Fast enough in that high torque punchy EV way. Rear seat space just ok.VW ID3 in comparison was very spacious in the back. And although I had my front seat raised a little not much space to put your feet under them. A bit of a squeeze. Boot. High floor. Not huge. Slim underfloor boot tray for the 3 pin cable and other stuff. Not sure if Type 2 cable had an allocated space as it was left in the boot. No frunk which is a shame.
The not so good stuff: Lexus have persisted with this awful touch pad infotainment system. It is one of the worst on the market. Very difficult to use precisely when driving and the system as a whole not very intuitive. For example I thought the ML sound system sounded a bit tinny. Wanted to adjust the bass/treble etc or at least check what the settings were. Was not able to on the move.I am sure things become easier with time but the BMW/last gen Audi etc scroll wheel/jog dial is the best/safest system. Touch screens are not the answer either, in a moving car on our notoriously bumpy UK roads.
Had a charge port on rear wing drivers side. Type 2 socket. For domestic/public charging. Another charge port on other rear wing. Chademo for fast charging. 50kW Max !! Would have been acceptable in 2014 but for a car costing around £54k in 2021, a terrible joke.
This car has a 54 kWh battery. 54.3 or 53.4?? Something like that.Not sure if net or gross. Dealer did not know either.
Now the other bad biggie: Efficiency. On starting the test drive efficiency was at 2.7 mi/kWh. On a dual carriageway run. Got it up to 3 mi/kWh. Last part of test drive was urban. Ended at 3.3 mi/kWh. Pretty terrible. Real world range therefore probably 150-160 miles AT BEST. (Lexus I think quote “up to 196 miles”)
This car costs between £44-54k. In winter, range will probably be just over 100-120 miles I reckon. May be even under 100 miles. They have missed the mark on this.
It is therefore an excellent short range urban vehicle/compact SUV EV only. But there are far better and cheaper options that will do the same job. But this EV has been released to market quite hobbled by Lexus.
Will have to add these are MY OPINIONS only after MY experience on MY test drive. Other users may vary! Some people are a bit touchy on here...

 

[MarkyM]

 

[SuperLeaf]

The car looks awesome and the Lexus quality is a given, but concur that between the 50kW and the ok battery size, this car is overpriced.
Not a fan of the plastic going all-around the car.

Price it at £35k/39k EUR for the top spec after discounts and it will sell decent amounts, especially to corporate customers.
If people have to choose between ID3, Kona or this at similar price points, chances are that many will opt for this.

The current price point competes with the Model 3 and quite frankly, there is no competition.
The Model 3 may be a worse car but it's a better EV and offers more bells and whistles.
If they want to compete in that space,they will have to offer 150kW DC charging, 22kW AC charging and a 70kWh battery.

I think that this is good enough for Lexus/Toyota to be a serious contender, but they need to be ready to sell some at break-even or at loss if they want to have some market share. Otherwise, the project cost will have to be written down with nothing to show for it.

 

[i-s]

I should preface this by saying that alongside our model 3 we also own a Lexus GS450h (and my mother has an RX450h) - I am not biased against Lexus!

I think Lexus have done this very badly wrong, and I think that its actually intended to make the UX250h look like a better buy. On an 8k mile per year lease the 250h is plenty cheaper that easily pays for the petrol to do 8k miles.

With regard the infotainment, our Lexus has the previous system with the little mouse thing rather than the touch pad. It is awful.

However, I don't think that it is awful because of the touch pad or the mouse thing. The model 3 system is WAY better and easier to use than any car we have had previously, including Volvo V70 and Nissan Leaf. Its not the input method so much as the ludicrous and nonsensical complexity of the UI design.

For example, setting a navigation route in the Lexus requires you to go to Nav, hit menu, hit set destination, hit page 2, hit postcode entry - 5 select/press operations before we've even begun to enter the postcode (and the Volvo and Nissan were similarly recalcitrant). In the tesla you press the search box (permanently displayed on the map screen) - or if you want to navigate home you simply swipe the search box right. To cancel a navigation route similarly is a single press of the cancel button in the Tesla, whereas in the Lexus it requires delving into several levels of select/press to do so - again, Nissan and Volvo similar.

Browsing music on a usb stick also was just obscenely hard in the Nissan (completely ignored the artist folders and just gave a list of album names, but in artist order - eh? Also when scrolling down the list of many hundreds of albums, if you stopped interacting with it for a minute or so to deal with actually driving then it would exit the list and you'd have to start again), the Volvo (gave artist list, but every time you went back from album to artist level it jumped back up to A, you could only use the input knob or up/down keys to browse, you couldn't use the t9 letters on the adjacent numerical keypad to jump to the letter) and Lexus (requires lots of presses, selecting the artist name from 3-letter groups (eg ABC, DEF), gets interrupted and loses where you were if sat nav or climate takes over the screen). The Tesla is definitely not perfect on this (defaults to album list, when selecting the starting letter of artist name the scroll bar is too small and tends to "miss" (eg if you hit "p" it tends to jump to "n")), but it is less bad and less distracting to use on the move.

I wish toyota/Lexus would get their act together on both electrification and on improved UI. The new mirai with batteries instead of fuel cells (and a companion LS or GS model) would be a strong starting point!

 

[SuperLeaf]

I should preface this by saying that alongside our model 3 we also own a Lexus GS450h (and my mother has an RX450h) - I am not biased against Lexus!

I think Lexus have done this very badly wrong, and I think that its actually intended to make the UX250h look like a better buy. On an 8k mile per year lease the 250h is plenty cheaper that easily pays for the petrol to do 8k miles.

With regard the infotainment, our Lexus has the previous system with the little mouse thing rather than the touch pad. It is awful.

However, I don't think that it is awful because of the touch pad or the mouse thing. The model 3 system is WAY better and easier to use than any car we have had previously, including Volvo V70 and Nissan Leaf. Its not the input method so much as the ludicrous and nonsensical complexity of the UI design.

For example, setting a navigation route in the Lexus requires you to go to Nav, hit menu, hit set destination, hit page 2, hit postcode entry - 5 select/press operations before we've even begun to enter the postcode (and the Volvo and Nissan were similarly recalcitrant). In the tesla you press the search box (permanently displayed on the map screen) - or if you want to navigate home you simply swipe the search box right. To cancel a navigation route similarly is a single press of the cancel button in the Tesla, whereas in the Lexus it requires delving into several levels of select/press to do so - again, Nissan and Volvo similar.

Browsing music on a usb stick also was just obscenely hard in the Nissan (completely ignored the artist folders and just gave a list of album names, but in artist order - eh? Also when scrolling down the list of many hundreds of albums, if you stopped interacting with it for a minute or so to deal with actually driving then it would exit the list and you'd have to start again), the Volvo (gave artist list, but every time you went back from album to artist level it jumped back up to A, you could only use the input knob or up/down keys to browse, you couldn't use the t9 letters on the adjacent numerical keypad to jump to the letter) and Lexus (requires lots of presses, selecting the artist name from 3-letter groups (eg ABC, DEF), gets interrupted and loses where you were if sat nav or climate takes over the screen). The Tesla is definitely not perfect on this (defaults to album list, when selecting the starting letter of artist name the scroll bar is too small and tends to "miss" (eg if you hit "p" it tends to jump to "n")), but it is less bad and less distracting to use on the move.

I wish toyota/Lexus would get their act together on both electrification and on improved UI. The new mirai with batteries instead of fuel cells (and a companion LS or GS model) would be a strong starting point!

UI is not very important to me, IMO that's the kind of things people fiddle around with for the first year of ownership, but eventually it wears out.
I don't think that anybody will still be showing off ludicrous mode or the fireplace screen on their Tesla and nobody is still going around embarassing themselves with the easter egg dance on their X.
IMO long-term, people want practicality, functionality, esthetics, reliability and luxury/comfort.

This Lexus is good enough as a car, but not good enough as an EV.
Either lower the price or improve the specs and it should give Toyota/Lexus a foot in the door.

Otherwise this may be badged as the first failure of many to come.

I concur that Lexus look like they're not trying to sell this.

 

[andrew*debbie]

Thank you for the review.


Polestar 2 Long Range with Plus Pack is £46,900.

78kWh battery. 150kW capable CCS, although it does throttle to 100kW at 40% SOC.

I know which car I'd rather own.

 

[Talaipwros]

thanks for that, below a relevant youtube ux300e test

looks like a car that will never bother you with red lights, warning lights, painful dealers etc.

well worth a look

 

[Boxbrownie]

Did I hear correctly........no built in SatNav?

That along with Chademo makes me wonder if Lexus had been on the Saki a bit too much at sign off.

 

[MarkyM]

Nice to know that by and large he agrees with my review but had the car for a week and I had the car for just 40-45 minutes!
He is generally a good reviewer but tends to waffle a bit which he did for the 2nd half of the video!
Did you notice that he was going to do a range test/motorway drive but did not actually tell us anything about the efficiency and range? Just quoted on more than one occasion that Lexus quotes 300km or some such figure. And mentioned it may be less in the real world and mentioned 250km or so, and the range may be affected by how you drive..

And this is why I do not fully trust YouTubers. They most certainly have 1 eye on "hits" and "Subscribers" and making sure they keep getting "product" from the manufacturers so they do not really criticise or say anything too harsh for fear of losing that (revenue) stream. Most definitely sang it's praises (cabin quality, refinement etc) which I agree with but no real mention of the slow charging capability or poor overall efficiency. Especially compared to rival EVs for the same or similar or much cheaper price points. This EV has great potential as it has plenty of good or great points but sorely lacking in 1-2, important for EV, areas!

I just tell it as it is, and I try to inform. This is a forum after all. You may agree or disagree.

Just had a quick look at the Lexus UX300e page. No clear mention of it's battery size. AT ALL. ANYWHERE. (well, not easily seen!) Bit bizarre with an EV information page! Like having an information page about an ICE car and no mention of it's engine size...
Mention of 50kw DC charge speed hidden away in small print at bottom of page....

 

[Talaipwros]

Did I hear correctly........no built in SatNav?

That along with Chademo makes me wonder if Lexus had been on the Saki a bit too much at sign off.

I think this is the base model, at 44K. They expect that android/iOS will do the trick but I agree it is ridiculous.
That been said and if we take into consideration list price without offers, 44K for base ux300e or 39k for ID3 first edition, my money would most definitely go to Lexus ( if I had to choose between these two, and these two only)

 

[MarkyM]

To be fair, I think even I am coming around to the idea of having the sat nav controlled from our smart phones. They are always updated and improved for free pretty much. And once they get reliable WIRELESS! Apple Car play and Android Auto then it will be seamless, so the phone can stay in a pocket or bag. I suspect the car manufacturers are starting to think the same thing. Helps them to cut costs as well which will always be a positive for them!

 

[Boxbrownie]

To be fair, I think even I am coming around to the idea of having the sat nav controlled from our smart phones. They are always updated and improved for free pretty much. And once they get reliable WIRELESS! Apple Car play and Android Auto then it will be seamless, so the phone can stay in a pocket or bag. I suspect the car manufacturers are starting to think the same thing. Helps them to cut costs as well which will always be a positive for them!

And for those of us without smart phones and that ability?

Back to TomTom then....

 

[cdlb]

To be fair, I think even I am coming around to the idea of having the sat nav controlled from our smart phones. They are always updated and improved for free pretty much. And once they get reliable WIRELESS! Apple Car play and Android Auto then it will be seamless, so the phone can stay in a pocket or bag. I suspect the car manufacturers are starting to think the same thing. Helps them to cut costs as well which will always be a positive for them!

Pain in the ass when you're offline though. Even with maps preloaded, offline Google Maps was pretty bad last time I used it. For one thing, search was completely non-functional - there was a spinny disc and it said something along the lines of "offline - functionality limited". And programming a route is a royal pain if you can't search for your destinations.

 

[MarkyM]

But many in car sat nav systems are not perfect or become out of date or very expensive to update. Just from what I have read recently regarding car manufacturers thinking about cutting costs after a horror year. The airline industry also mulling over removing in cabin entertainment systems(seat back screen etc ) as just about everybody owns a smart phone or tablet. The cost and especially weight savings for all the cabling and units not installed will be huge.
As time goes on smaller and smaller no of people who don’t owns smart phones and yes TomTom and Garmin still good. I also run a track car and it has a waterproof/motorcycle TomTom and works very well. But sales of such units from both manufacturers are tiny so don’t know how long they will continue to produce the stand alone units. All because smart phones and their mapping have decimated the need for them. They both may well just become software based companies eventually.

 

[cdlb]

But many in car sat nav systems are not perfect or become out of date or very expensive to update.

I don't disagree with you, but there is a massive difference between out of date and non-functional. Google Maps literally didn't work at all for a significant portion of my last UK based holiday because of no internet connection (end of 2019), but the 8 year old map data in my old car could still find the right address and get me to the right place. Taking a wider view, if more and more functionality is getting pushed online, they need to either make sure that there is 100% coverage (by area, none of this "by population" nonsense that networks like quoting at the moment), or have reasonable offline functionality (doesn't need to be perfect, but it should functional). There is a place that I visit quite often, it's maybe 5-6 miles from the nearest large settlement and it has literally zero phone signal from any provider. This gets increasingly more common as you head further north.

I realise that none of this is up to the car manufacturer. It just annoys me that people seem to forget that not everybody lives next to a phone mast, and being suitable for 99% of the population still leaves over half a million pissed off people in the UK.

Also, VW offer free map updates. If your car is new enough... my previous car wasn't...

Anyway, rant over - sorry for dragging your thread off topic.

 

[MarkyM]

So Bjorn Nyland has had a Lexus UX300e on test and the news gets worse! Firstly his mid range car (ie- not Takumi top spec) would not charge any further than 95% battery capacity. And he used more than 1 fast charger. After his tests the battery size of the Lexus was calculated at around 44kWh and not the 50kWh net capacity confirmed by Lexus (54.3 kWh gross) but not sure if that was because it could only be charged to 95% capacity.

And maximum Chademo fast charge speed achieved a maximum rate of just 44kW. Some other testers have not seen more than 37kW speeds.

It weighed 1890kg, so just under 2 tonnes for a compact small mid sized/ mid/low range battery EV. Quite an achievement!

And for his steady 120km/h (75mph) speed test it had a theoretical MAXIMUM range of just 103 miles.
And at the 90km/h (56mph) steady speed test it could cover just 127 miles.
This confirms my conclusion about poor efficiency on my short but mixed road test drive recently.

These are very good results. If it was an EV released in 2012! Not 2021 !!

 

[Boxbrownie]

Toyota/Lexus have been dragged into the full EV section, doesn’t seem they have their heart in it TBH.

 

[javadude]

I’m a big Lexus fan. I’ve owned 4 over nearly 20 years. The UX300e on paper impressed me to a level where I bought a Tesla instead 🤔 Sad that Lexus got it so wrong.

 

[Boxbrownie]

I’m a big Lexus fan. I’ve owned 4 over nearly 20 years. The UX300e on paper impressed me to a level where I bought a Tesla instead 🤔 Sad that Lexus got it so wrong.

We had an RX for over nine years, it never ever went wrong........comfy, quiet and easy to drive.......I fear for Lexus now.

 

[Hitstirrer]

Some time ago I expressed an interest in the UX300e and yesterday the local Lexus dealer rang to offer a test drive. I was asked to bring along my DL, PP and NHI number. And as it would be an unaccompanied drive I would be asked to sign their standard loan form which included acceptance of a £600 excess payable if it was returned with damage. Thanks but no thanks. I explained that when hiring cars from companies such as Enterprise and Hertz I always paid their £10 pd fee to reduce that excess to zero and that I expected Lexus to cover that cost when attempting to sell a car to me. They went down the 'computer says no' route so I declined the test drive offer. Seems that the car is now off my list of possibles for the next change.

Today I watched Bjorns 1000k test video of this car. It is now firmly off any list that I may compile when selecting my next drive anyway as the number of problems and issues highlighted by Bjorn make me worry for the future of Toyota/Lexus even more than normal. Really? Chademo? 120 miles range? Noisy? Max charging speed 43Kw from a dwindling number of low power Chademo outlets. How many ways does Toyota intend to get things wrong even after all this time and with all the writing on the wall? They are even balls out going for H2 for cars ffs.

Meanwhile, every other OEM in the world has woken up and are making decent progress.