This is the 2015 Lexus NX.
One of the things that you'll notice first about the brand's smallest, most compact crossover is that it wears the L finesse corporate spindle grill better than any other SUV in the lineup.
That's because it was designed from the.
Ground up with this design language in mind.
Let's hop behind the wheel of this 2015 NX200T and check this out.
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Most of the Lexus NX's competitors have been in this compact luxury SUV market for years so Lexus is a little late to the game, but we're glad to see it's here, this is a pretty good.
first entry for a Lexus.
Now part of the reason why I've always thought Lexus's design was kind of weird is that they've been slapping these really aggressive front ends on what's generally a round and kind of frumpy looking SUV, but that's not the case here.
This entire vehicle is drawn tight around some very strong lines that flow all the way from the front.
To the rear where we've got these very strong creases that flow out of these very futuristic LED tail lights.
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Now the NX is all new on the outside but on the inside.
Keeping a lot of what we'd like from Lexus and Tech, particularly this sort of black leather and silver color scheme.
Pretty much everything you're going to need to interact is right here on the steering wheel and right here on the center console.
Everything's right over here where I can reach it.
Not necessarily where the passenger can, up top we continue the trend of pushing the main LCD further up the dashboard and more into the driver's line of sight, it doesn't retract but it's pretty good and very visible even in direct sunlight.
We've got Lexus' inform entertainment system with optional navigations, it's pretty much the system that we've seen on every Lexus vehicle for the last, let's say three or four.
For years.
Not a lot of surprises here.
But we do have Apps for Facebook, Pandora and whatnot.
Now the way that you can interact with this screen is where things start getting a little bit weird.
We've got this Lexus remote touch track pad.
You'll move a cursor on the screen around and you'll basically push the whole thing in like a button when you want to make a selection.
The weird thing about it is it still has half tick feedback.
So as you roll over buttons you'll.
Feel a small vibration in your fingertip, now it's taken me a little bit of getting used to, but passengers who are not necessarily familiar with car interfaces, but are very familiar with the laptops they have at home have taken to this trackpad like a fish to water.
Just above the trackpad we've got our drive mode selection that'll allow you to go from sport mode, which is gonna make a vehicle a little bit more dynamic with the power train and transmission programs.
To an ecomode, that's going to program everything to be a little more fuel efficient including the throttle response and then you'll push it in the middle for the normal default mode.
And just next to it we've got the shifter for the six speed automatic transmission that's the only year box option on the 200T.
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Now under the hood we'll find Lexus' first ever turbo charged engine.
The is a two litre single turbo that uses an intercooler and a combination of gasoline direct injection and port injection.
It kind of seamlessly transfers between the two systems, 235 horsepower, and 258 pound feet of torque.
Now the EPA hasn't gotten its hands on this yet but Lexus estimates that you're gonna get about 24 miles per gallon combined, which is bang on what I've got during my testing.
That breaks down to 21 miles per gallon in the city and 28 on the highway.
Now, one of the other things you'll notice is that the engine sits side-saddle here.
And that's because the NX in its native default form is a front-wheel drive vehicle, but ours had been equipped with the all-wheel drive system.
So that's gonna get you a little bit better traction, and actually shave two-tenths of a second off your 0 to 60 time.
Knock you down to 7 seconds.
All right.
That's a pretty good amount of power.
There's a little bit of lag from the turbo, but not a lot.
In fact, if there is any hesitation, it's gonna be from the six speed automatic transmission deciding that it's time to do the fast thing.
You can get around that by pushing into manual mode, but there are no paddle shifters which would help.
There's also that sport mode that we talked about earlier.
If the vehicle prints a lot smaller in person.
And from the driver's seat it feels a lot smaller, a lot more nimble, and a lot easier to park and that's important.
The fuel economy's okay at about 24, but if you are looking for better fuel economy than that you are probably going to want to hang around for our NX300H Hybrid review coming up soon.
