Lexus RX 350L Luxury 2020 Review

The Lexus RX 350L Luxury is normally priced at $85,000. Our Lexus RX 350L Luxury tester came equipped with the optional enhancement pack worth $3500 and prestige Deep Blue paint costing $1500 – taking the total to $90,000 before the on-road costs.

Standard equipment for the Lexus RX 350L Luxury includes a motion-sensing powered tailgate, 20-inch alloy wheels, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, electronic parking brake, active cruise control, keyless entry/start, power-adjustable steering column, rear privacy glass, three-zone climate control, satellite navigation, 12-speaker audio with DAB+ digital radio, wireless smartphone charging, automatic headlamps and wipers, and automatic high beam.

In addition, the optional enhancement pack fitted provides a colour head-up display, smart key card and front moonroof.

Lexus promises owners four-year/100,000km warranty coverage with road-side assist for the duration of the warranty and service intervals every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.

A highlight of the Lexus RX 350L Luxury for 2020 is the incremental gain in active safety, including night-time pedestrian detection and daytime cyclist detection to trigger the forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking. In addition, the upgraded model’s adaptive cruise control now features ‘lane trace assist’ while across all variants the RX can now recognise speed limit signs.

Unfortunately, the traffic sign recognition system detects 40km/h (school zone) speed limits, but doesn’t distinguish between the peak-hour periods when they apply and any other time of day.

Lane Trace Assist also arrives in the new 2020 model Lexus RX 350L Luxury. This is a more advanced lane keep assist system, which Lexus claims will pick the difference between bitumen and grass at the side of the road. It provides visual, audible and haptic (via steering-wheel vibration) aids to alert the driver that the vehicle is deviating from the intended path.

When the radar-based active cruise control is enabled, Lane Trace Assist will ensure the vehicle remains centred in the lane and will bring the car to a halt behind another vehicle. It’s fine on freeways, but over the course of a journey along winding country roads at night with the cruise control enabled, the Lexus appeared no more adept at maintaining the right track through the bends than other prestige SUVs we’ve subjected to the same test.

That’s not to say the Lexus was worse, it’s just that few of these systems cope well with Australian country roads.

Higher-grade variants of the Lexus RX 350L come equipped with a new (‘blade scan’) adaptive headlight function, but the vehicle tested doesn’t get that.

Lexus has rolled out a new dynamic system for all variants. Active Cornering Assist applies measured differential braking to the wheels on the inside of a corner to suppress understeer, the manufacturer claims.

Other standard safety features include automatic high beam, 10 airbags, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert brake.

If there’s one particular element of the Lexus RX 350L Luxury that stands out, it’s the 3.5-litre V6 under the bonnet. This engine produces marginally lower levels of power and torque than the five-seat RX 350 (216kW/358Nm versus 221kW/370Nm) due to the more constrictive exhaust, which has to work its way past the additional seating in the rear.

Yet the engine is still a delight to experience in terms of its sound, performance and power delivery. It sounds muscular and has a nice timbre to it, although it does retain that conventional V6 character, particularly at lower revs.

The transmission shifts very smoothly, and kicking it down ensures the engine is operating in the appropriate sector of the rev range for optimal acceleration. In typical Lexus and Toyota fashion, however, the transmission will not allow manual downshifts using the shift paddles if the engine speed should be above 4000rpm.

The engine runs just above 1500rpm at the open road limit (100km/h). It is very refined and quiet in this sort of touring scenario, but even up near the redline this is a very well-mannered powerplant.

Unfortunately, it’s not the most economical. That’s as much a factor of sheer displacement, so the figure of 12.7L/100km from a test drive wasn’t unduly poor.

It was certainly better than the figure of 13.4L/100km from a test of an earlier RX 350L.

With packaging that blurs the line between SUV and people mover, the Lexus RX 350L Luxury falls well short of the five-seat RX 300 in F Sport trim in dynamic terms.

The Lexus RX 350L really feels heavy under brakes and in corners, where it pitches and rolls but delivers safe handling and easily modulated soft braking.

Where you’ll really notice the dynamic contrast is when comparing the Lexus RX 350L against a much sportier proposition that will also seat seven – such as the Skoda Kodiaq RS or another (smaller) seven seater, the Land Rover Discovery Sport.

Nonetheless, the Lexus remains safe and stable at higher speeds. It’s just that ride comfort and soft stopping are given precedence over dynamic competence. It’s the limo-like experience of the Lexus that will attract buyers.

Inside, the Lexus has been improved for those in the front seats with its new 12.3-inch infotainment screen and clever little knick-knacks like the handy slot for large-format smartphones in the centre console. It features a rubbery sleeve that flexes to accommodate phones of differing sizes without the phone moving around and rattling or clunking in the slot. It’s a very useful item.

The front seats are comfortable and can be adjusted to suit a wide range of drivers, complemented too by adjustable lumbar support. But the leather upholstery does allow the occupant to slide around a little.

While the major instruments are easy to read, the trip computer display in the instrument binnacle and the switches and switch placement for infotainment and HVAC can be initially bewildering.

On occasion, the auto high-beam facility was slow to respond to on-coming cars. Otherwise, the headlights were quite effective at lighting up dark country roads.

Two interfaces – infotainment touchpad and voice recognition – produced quite different ergonomic results.

As we’ve noted before from driving other Lexus models, the touchpad ('Remote Touch') is difficult to use – especially for the majority of drivers who are not left-hand dominant. In contrast, the voice recognition system is very competent and a much better way of entering a destination address for the satellite navigation.

You can also change infotainment settings by means of the new infotainment screen, a touchscreen for the first time, but that remains a type of interface that at least one other brand is putting behind it, and for very simple reasons: It distracts the driver while the vehicle is in motion and it can be hard to find the target graphic with a stab of the finger. The driver's best option in the Lexus is to use the switchgear on the steering wheel to change audio settings and activate the excellent voice recognition system for programming a destination. Leave the touchscreen and Remote Touch for the front passenger.

Entering and leaving the Lexus is straightforward, providing you’re not an adult attempting to enter the third-row seats. These are for small kids only, and the single-seat section that tips forward to allow access is on the driver’s side. That might mean climbing in and out from the road, but thankfully both sections of seats are power operated, so it’s no great effort to tip the wider section forward on the footpath side, which somewhat ironically provides easier access.

The little tackers back there have their own controls for the third zone of the climate control system. And the seats themselves are electrically powered, rising out of the floor and lowering back into it by means of switches at the side of the boot.

The second row is significantly more accommodating. This can be slid forward to deliver more legroom for the third row behind but, at its full aft adjustment, it provides plenty of legroom for adults. Headroom is generous too, and the occupants have access to USB recharging ports in the centre fold-down armrest, along with a couple of cupholders.

This car, as tested, costs something like $12,000 less than the long-term Lexus RX 350L Sports Luxury we reviewed not quite two years ago. In very many ways, this Luxury variant, post-update, is essentially a match for that older, more expensive vehicle – and that fact suggests Lexus knows exactly what it is doing to retain its loyal customers.

You could buy a petrol V6 Hyundai Santa Fe for less, but then you don’t get the all-wheel drive of the Lexus. And anything else comparable to the Lexus in terms of finish will cost a lot more.

So in that context, today’s Lexus RX 350L Luxury is a car that is literally without parallel for value, refinement and packaging in the prestige SUV sector.

How much does the 2020 Lexus RX 350L Luxury cost?
Price: $90,000 (including enhancement pack and metallic paint, plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.5-litre six-cylinder petrol
Output: 216kW/358Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 10.2L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 234g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2015)