The New Lexus RX Is the Same As It Ever Was

Consistency of character is an often-overlooked virtue. It’s an even more often-overlooked trap. The new 2023 Lexus RX is in an existential hammock between virtuous ideal and the hardening amber of what it has always been. And it’s lost its V6.

Introduced as the 1999 RX 300, the RX created a new market segment: the luxury, car-based, crossover. Essentially a gussied-up version of the Japanese-market Harrier, the RX instantly sold startlingly well to those buyers who trusted Toyota quality, appreciated restrained styling, needed the utility of a tall wagon, and gave not a shite about speed or driving dynamics. It’s such a winning formula that it’s been copied by nearly every other manufacturer with absolute fidelity. And the RX is still the backbone of Lexus’ sales success, with the division moving 115,320 of them during 2021. That's the most ever.

First off, the new 2023 edition of the RX is instantly recognizable as an RX. The profile has been tweaked with a 2.4-inch longer wheelbase and a tail that’s been bobbed, but from its goofy “spindle” grille to its full-width taillights, it’s so very RX. Built to instantly fit into every upscale mall parking lot from Redondo Beach to Manhasset. Plenty of people will slide from their lease on a 2020 model over to a 2023 and hardly notice the change in the fourth bay of their garage.

Inside, the RX has undergone the inevitable digital makeover. The main display in front of the driver is easily read, straightforward in its design, and otherwise… yet another digital display in an era of all things now digital. The standard secondary, center-dash display in base RX 350 models–if Lexus actually sells any base RX 350s–is a 9.8-inch unit of utter adequacy. Most RXs will be delivered with the premium 14.0-inch display because every human being’s life is better if being constantly irradiated by thousands of illuminated pixels.

Lexus has ditched the dopey touchpad it had used in favor of touchscreen tech that seems to be the settled standard today. Remember to keep a supply of little screen cleaners handy as the finger smudges accumulate. The software powering all the screens is intuitive enough, the graphics are brilliant enough, and as with most all modern digital interfaces, it’s all good enough. And yes, there is a volume knob.

Current luxury vehicles are all about drama. Enter a modern Mercedes, and there’s mood lighting, a riot of different upholstery and trim textures, a digi-dash that practically dances with joy that the driver has arrived, and a branded sound system that will split atoms at full volume. Same with BMW, Audi, Lincoln, Cadillac, Infiniti, and, yes, Lexus. But at least there’s some restraint in the RX’s cabin; a sense that the designers had some idea of when enough is enough. Not that it isn’t over-the-top in some ways, only it’s not as relentlessly over-the-top as much of the competition.

Like most other Toyota/Lexus products, the essential building block of the new RX is the TNGA platform. In this case, it’s the TNGA-K variation that’s also used in the Toyota Highlander, Venza, and Camry and Lexus’s ES sedan and slightly smaller NX crossover, So, there’s nothing startling about the new RX’s substance. The nose is lofted skyward on a pair of McPherson struts while the aft is supported by a multi-link system. There are discs all around for brakes, the steering is electronically assisted rack-and-pinion and there’s a rear-steering system to aid in nimbleness.