Cruising Content

The Lexus NX SUVs sell like hotcakes –but how fares the 2018 version?

- Liao Xiangjun

Different strokes for different folks. That’s what you’d want to keep in mind when considering the NX 300 in the Lexus catalogue.

Where the entry-level crossover from the Japanese marque sticks is its pocket-friendliness – at $215,000, it’s about a tenth less costly than its luxe competitors. It’s a gateway vehicle, if you will, to the rapidly expanding world of the luxe SUV. As we find out after a weekend in the car, it delivers admirably on that premise, though not on much else. Therein lies the duality: The NX 300 is a great contender, for the family or that family member who wants Lexus-build quality with the conveniences of an SUV, but a marriage of top-end performance and exhilaration (which the bigger boys in the stable – the RX, GX and LX – bring) it is not. All that said, the NX line remains one of the best-selling in the category, at least in the US, so the brand is doing something right.

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