First Impressions

[Hamish2015]

Well thats me had the UX for 17 days now, I thought I would post my initial thoughts on the car good and bad. Its my first Japanese built car since my Toyota Corolla SR in the 1970’s which I loved. Since then it’s been all German apart from owning a Volvo XC60 D5 for four years, so VW, Audi, Mercedes and latterly BMW finishing with an X2 M Sport 2.0D which was great. So I wanted a change and to downsize a bit since recently retiring, I cover <8k miles a year now (saved 63 quid on my car insurance when I told them to reduce mileage from 12k and I’ve retired!). 

My shortlist was VW Troc, Volvo XC40, Audi Q3 and Lexus UX, the UX was the last car I looked at. None of the other manufacturers had any stock to show me for my specification requirements, I got a test drive in an XC40 plug in hybrid but thats it. The Lexus dealership had some cars to look at and a demo which they gave me for 24 hours to test. I have to say as a dealership I felt they valued my custom and went the extra mile to allow me to make a decision on whether I wanted to buy. The others just more or less shrugged their shoulders and said it wasn’t their fault, cars are in short supply. So, following the test I decided it was the Lexus for me, it had so much going for it when compared to the opposition. 

Ordered 1st September, factory build, arrived at dealership and was handed over to me January 10th, hand over was excellent with great explanation of the cars functions and tech and the fuel tank was filled. One of the reasons I went for the Lexus was that it is unrivaled with the others in terms of the tech, F/R parking sensors, electric seats, leather seats, blind spot monitoring, radar cruise, heated steering wheel, keyless entry and the hybrid system the list goes on and on. This spec is available for <40k so VED remains in the low pricing category too. 

The drive experience is good, I quite like the CVT, it suits the way I drive and its very smooth, the engine and hybrid system is excellent and the transition between Battery and petrol power is seamless. The seats are extremely comfy and although the boot is a bit small its adequate for us and our springer spaniel. The steering rake adjustment is a little too low for me even a maximum adjustment. The infotainment system takes a bit of getting used to when compared to the beemer iDrive but that being said it has significantly more functionality, its bigger and incorporates ACP so all in all combined with it having a bigger screen its actually better. Lights are good, reversing camera etc all a bonus and in the spec, but why oh why are there still filament bulbs on the indicators when all the other lamps have more efficient and better looking LED’s!! 

So I think I made the right choice but time will tell, the warranty is there if needed but Toyota / Lexus are renounced for reliability so hoping no issues there. I fitted a Nextbase 622GX 2 channel dash cam, my first foray into using them but the standard of driving in my opinion has noticeably declined during the past few years and I now feel its a necessary evil. 

Be interested to hear other peoples first impressions too!

[solarpower]

@Hamish2015, Thank you for a nice review. 

• What sort of mpg are you getting in town and on motorways? 
• Which trim you went for, and how quiet is the cabin?

Sol

 

[Bill Dawes]

My UX Takumi still a few months off so interested to hear if I have made the right choice (my first Lexus), your experience encourages me so far James,thanks for report.

Bill D.

[duotone]

I’ve had my UX since the 17th January.  I part exchanged a Lexus IS300h
My first impressions are that the UX is a really nice car, the steering is light and responsive, the gear change imperceptible, engine noise hardly noticeable except under hard acceleration, tyre noise surprisingly quiet (my first experience with run flat tyres),the blind spot monitor works really well,  all in all an excellent car.

A couple of things different to the IS that I don’t seem to be able to enable on the UX 

To change the Turn Signal Rapid Flash Adjustment ( from 3 flashes to 5 or 7) suspect it may be dealer change option.

To hear a warning chime when approaching a speed camera even though it shows on the map but no sound comes through.

I have contacted Lexus Bolton to see if they are dealer change options or can be changed by the customer.

Non of the above are a big deal.

Dave T

 

[Hamish2015]

On 1/28/2022 at 6:17 PM, solarpower said:

@Hamish2015, Thank you for a nice review. 

• What sort of mpg are you getting in town and on motorways? 
• Which trim you went for, and how quiet is the cabin?

Sol

 

A bit early to make a decent assessment of fuel consumption, the engine will still be a bit tight, i’ll report back once its done >1k miles. The cabin is surprisingly quiet even with the RFT’s, much more so than my BMW X2 which was very noisy. 

[EvilRacer329]

6 hours ago, Hamish2015 said:

A bit early to make a decent assessment of fuel consumption, the engine will still be a bit tight, i’ll report back once its done >1k miles. The cabin is surprisingly quiet even with the RFT’s, much more so than my BMW X2 which was very noisy. 

Now that's interesting...myself and others have found the Bridgestone Turanza run-flat tyres to be quite noisy...which tyres did yours come with?

Nick

[Stompe]

Changed mine to Michelin Cross Climates SUV, Difference is Night and Day, and still got my fillings😀

[Hamish2015]

I had Pirelli P Zero 20” on the Beemer, the road noise was significantly greater than what I’m experiencing with the Lexus. 

[Roger Bill]

14 hours ago, EvilRacer329 said:

Now that's interesting...myself and others have found the Bridgestone Turanza run-flat tyres to be quite noisy...which tyres did yours come with?

Nick

I've read that UX's with 18" wheels are supplied with either Bridgestone or Dunlop run flat tyres. Owners and the tyre data suggest Dunlops are quieter than Bridgestone.

[EvilRacer329]

On 2/4/2022 at 7:17 PM, Stompe said:

Changed mine to Michelin Cross Climates SUV, Difference is Night and Day, and still got my fillings😀

Hey @Stompe, are you saying that they're noticeably quieter? Any impact to the fuel economy or change in grip levels? I'm picking up my new UX this coming weekend, and the bloody thing has got the Bridgestones on it just like my current car...

Nick

[Stompe]

17 hours ago, EvilRacer329 said:

Hey @Stompe, are you saying that they're noticeably quieter? Any impact to the fuel economy or change in grip levels? I'm picking up my new UX this coming weekend, and the bloody thing has got the Bridgestones on it just like my current car...

Nick

Hi Nick, Fuel economy, to be honest is not important to me, I'm all about ride quality, grip, and more importantly noise, In my honest opinion, it's night and day, I have no figures to back this up, But to me the steering feels more precise, the Runflats seemed to "Tramline" especially on Lane assist, Noise seems a lot better even on our Potholed roads, overall I'm more than happy and the extra expense was worth it. also bought the "Gunk" just in case. I'm told even Tyre fitters don't like Runflats. Sorry can't be much help with mileage, not everyone drives the same anyway. although I'm not Driving Miss Daisy, nor Lewis Hamilton, I'm some way between 😀. Good luck in what decision you make. 👍🏻

[Hamish2015]

Mine has Bridgestones and it’s much quieter than my Beemers were.