Lexus NX Review – Luxury Without Losing the Plot

Can you get genuine comfort and touring ability without the six-figure sticker shock?

Luxury SUVs can get silly rather quickly. Tick a few boxes, choose the fancy wheels and suddenly you're explaining to the other half why the family car costs roughly the same as a small investment property in regional Victoria.

Which is partly why the Lexus NX makes so much sense.

It was Australia's best-selling luxury SUV in 2025, recording 6,024 sales, and the NX has been Lexus Australia's biggest-selling model every year since it arrived here in 2014. That's a decent indication Lexus has found the sweet spot between premium and ridiculous.

The NX 350h Makes the Most Sense

For drive tourism, we'd lean towards the NX 350h hybrid.

Its 2.5-litre petrol-electric drivetrain produces 179kW, with front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive versions available. Official combined fuel consumption sits around 5.0L/100km, which becomes rather attractive when you've got several hundred kilometres of highway disappearing beneath you.

Pricing starts from $71,700 plus on-road costs for the NX 350h Luxury 2WD. That's certainly not cheap, but in luxury-SUV territory it's relatively restrained.

There is also the quicker NX 450h+ plug-in hybrid, producing 227kW and offering up to 87km of claimed electric driving range, but prices climb as high as $96,000 before on-roads. At that point our “luxury without going crazy” argument starts getting a little nervous.

Japanese Luxury – Literally

The NX isn't simply wearing a Japanese badge. It's predominantly manufactured in Japan, including at Toyota Motor Kyushu's Miyata plant.

Here's a bit of NX trivia: when the original model went into production in 2014 it wasn't only Lexus's first compact crossover SUV, it also became the first Lexus offered with a turbocharged engine.

More than a decade later, over one million NXs have been sold globally.

Inside, it's typically Lexus: beautifully finished, quiet and comfortable without looking like someone emptied an electronics shop across the dashboard.

Depending on specification you'll find goodies including heated and ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, panoramic-view monitor, wireless phone charging and powered tailgate.

More importantly for touring, it's the sort of cabin where three hours behind the wheel shouldn't leave you requiring a physiotherapist and several Panadol.

Who's It For?

Couples heading away for weekends, grey-haired nomads who've retired the big tow rig, families wanting something genuinely comfortable, and anyone who does plenty of interstate kilometres should have the NX somewhere on the shopping list.

It's not pretending to be an off-road warrior. Think wineries, coastal highways, country towns, alpine weekends and long touring days rather than disappearing down a track requiring recovery boards and a satellite phone.

Lexus NX 350h – Key Specifications

• Engine: 2.5-litre naturally aspirated 4-cylinder petrol + electric hybrid system
• Engine capacity: 2,487cc
• Combined system output: 179kW
• Petrol engine output: 140kW @ 6,000rpm
• Petrol engine torque: 239Nm @ 4,300–4,500rpm
• Transmission: Electronic continuously variable transmission (eCVT)
• Drivetrain: Front-wheel drive (2WD) or all-wheel drive (AWD)
• Fuel consumption: 5.0L/100km combined (official ADR figure)
• Fuel tank: 55 litres
• CO₂ emissions: 113g/km combined
• 0–100km/h: 8.7 sec (2WD) / 7.7 sec (AWD)
• Length: 4,660mm
• Width: 1,865mm
• Height: 1,660mm Luxury / 1,670mm F Sport & Sports Luxury
• Wheelbase: 2,690mm
• Kerb weight: up to 1,810kg (2WD) / 1,870kg (AWD)
• Boot capacity: 520 litres

Fuel Tank - Only 55 Litres?

That 55-litre fuel tank looks a little underdone for an Australian tourer, but don't judge it by size alone. With the NX 350h officially using around 5.0L/100km, its theoretical range nudges 1,100km. Even allowing for real-world conditions, 800–900km between fuel stops is quite achievable territory — by which point your bladder will probably have demanded a stop long before the Lexus does.

What We Like

The hybrid drivetrain suits Australian touring beautifully. It's quiet around town, economical over distance and has enough power that overtaking doesn't require a written application three working days beforehand.

We also like that Lexus hasn't confused luxury with showing off. There's quality everywhere, but the NX doesn't need to shout about it.

What We'd Change

For the next evolution, we'd like a little more luggage flexibility and perhaps even more distinction between NX variants.

Interestingly, Lexus has already revealed the next-generation NX, due in Australia in 2027, with hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains only.

So the NX is changing.

The clever bit is making sure it doesn't change what made Australians buy so many of them in the first place.

DSP Verdict

The Lexus NX isn't bargain motoring. But it demonstrates that proper luxury touring doesn't automatically require crossing the $100,000 line.

And these days, keeping a luxury-car purchase below six figures almost feels like responsible budgeting.

Find out more - LEXUS NX 2026