Lexus has always been a methodical giant in the luxury car landscape and helped usher in the love for the luxury crossover with the RX and later helped expand the subcompact luxury crossover segment with the NX. To keep things fresh and relevant, Lexus updates their NX for the 2022 model year with a more cohesive styling and some welcomed updates to its tech equipment, such as equipping vehicles with a new touchscreen infotainment interface at 9.8-inches and a large 14-inch display on the top trims.
The 2022 Lexus NX still offers a variety of configurations and trims, including an NX450h+ plug-in hybrid option that claims 36 miles of electric range on a full charge. Powering the gas models will be the duty of either of two engine choices starting with a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine with 203 horsepower for the NX250. The new NX350 gets a new 2.4-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine with 275 horsepower. The NX350h hybrid will get 239 horsepower from the 2.5-liter 4-cylinder paired with two electric motors while the NX450h+ plug-in hybrid will tout 302-horsepower, which is a familiar setup from the platform-sharing Toyota RAV4 Prime.
The Lexus NX takes the RAV4 platform and does wonders with it with more refinement and the Lexus touch that touts an affordable luxury crossover package that doesn’t compromise for its smallish size. Improving upon an already good formula, Lexus added more passenger room in the rear and more cargo space for the 2022 model year.
In the looks department, the new NX appears softer and more inviting where the body lines flow better and are not as polarizing as before, just right for the Lexus brand. To make up for the blunder that the infotainment’s trackpad was, Lexus now has a touchscreen that replaces the trackpad that no one really liked. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come as standard and other notable tech will include a color heads-up display and wireless smartphone charging pad.
The typical active driver safety features will be offered with standard automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, and lane-departure warning with lane-keep assist.
Lexus continues to offer robust warranty coverage for 50,000 miles or four years with a powertrain warranty covering 6 years or 70,000 miles. Hybrid components are covered for 8 years, or 100,000 miles, and all Lexus vehicles get complimentary maintenance for one year or 10,000 miles.
The new 2022 Lexus NX will go on sale later this year with starting price that we think will be about $40,000 for the NX250, $43,000 for the NX350, $47,000 for the NX350h hybrid, and around $51,000 for the NX450h+ plug-in hybrid.
