2021 Lexus UX 250h F Sport in Nebula Grey Pearl
Class: Premium Subcompact Crossover
Miles pushed: 304
Gasoline used: 9.9 gallons
Actual-world gasoline economic system: 30.7 mpg
Driving combine: 60% metropolis, 40% freeway
EPA-estimated gasoline economic system: 41/38/39 (metropolis/freeway/mixed)
Gasoline kind: Common gasoline
| CG Report Card | |
|---|---|
| Room and Consolation | B |
| Energy and Efficiency | C |
| Match and End | B+ |
| Gasoline Financial system | B |
| Worth | B |
| Report-card grades are derived from a consensus of test-driver evaluations. All grades are versus different automobiles in the identical class. Worth grade is for particular trim stage evaluated, and should not mirror Client Information’s impressions of all the mannequin lineup. | |
| Massive & Tall Consolation | |
| Massive Man | B |
| Tall Man | B |
| Massive & Tall consolation rankings are for entrance seats solely. “Massive” ranking primarily based on male tester weighing roughly 350 kilos, “Tall” ranking primarily based on 6’6″-tall male tester. | |
| Drivetrain | |
| Engine Specs | 181-hp 2.0-liter |
| Engine Kind | 4-cyl hybrid |
| Transmission | CVT automated |
| Drive Wheels | AWD |
Base value: $37,100 (not together with $1025 vacation spot cost)
Choices on take a look at car: Wi-fi charger ($75); windshield de-icer ($100); auto-dimming inside mirror w/ compass and Homelink ($325); head-up show ($500); Intuitive Parking Help ($565); energy liftgate with kick sensor ($600); F Sport Premium Package deal ($975); F Sport heated steering wheel w/ paddle shifters ($150); illuminated door sills ($425); carpet cargo mat ($110); roof-rack cross bars ($400); mudguards ($165); door-edge guards ($150)
Worth as examined: $42,665
Fast Hits
The good: Construct high quality; good greenback worth in comparison with most class opponents
The nice: Distinctive styling in and out; quiet cabin
The not so good: Cramped rear seat; so-so cargo house; finicky infotainment controls; roof design compromises rear visibility; F Sport trim extra for seems than precise efficiency; disappointing-for-a-hybrid noticed gasoline economic system in chilly climate
Extra UX value and availability info
CG Says:
Roughly a yr in the past, when Client Information examined a 2020 Lexus UX 250h Luxurious, we posed this query: What actually is “luxurious” in an car? Now, having hung out with a 2021 UX 250h F Sport, we’ve the identical question concerning the idea of “sport.”
The UX’s radically sculpted seems aren’t for everybody, however its tidy exterior dimensions make it an excellent city runabout.
Our takeaway from testing the high-line model of the premium-subcompact crossover SUV from Lexus was that luxurious is kind of how a producer defines it. That appears to be true about sportiness as effectively. The place the UX Luxurious staked its declare primarily based extra on accrued commonplace options than on a luxurious atmosphere, the F Sport invests extra in an athletic picture than in any clear efficiency benefit.
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The UX’s cabin has a swoopy dashboard structure and wonderful match and end. UX 250h fashions embrace a graphic readout that shows real-time energy supply from the gasoline engine and electrical motor.
The 250h F Sport has the identical hybrid powerplant (2.0-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine, two electrical motors to drive the rear wheels at speeds under 44 mph, 181 whole system horsepower), repeatedly variable transmission, selectable drive modes, and all-wheel drive because the UX’s base and Luxurious variations. Thus, nice highway manners and the seat-of-the-pants sense of efficiency—CG testing of a 2019 250h F Sport with the identical powerteam clocked 0-to-60 mph in 8.4 seconds—don’t fluctuate a lot between them.
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The UX’s Distant Contact touchpad infotainment interface is difficult to make use of whereas driving. We’re not huge followers of the thumbwheel audio controls positioned on the forefront of the center-console armrest both.
How Lexus defines sport within the F Sport is usually by a particular split-five-spoke design for the 18-inch alloy wheels which are commonplace all through the UX lineup, modified entrance and rear bumpers, diamond-mesh grille floor, LED fog and cornering lamps, stouter-bolstered sport seats, perforated-leather-wrapped F Sport steering wheel and shift knob, “performance-inspired” instrument show, 8-inch vehicle-information show, energetic sound management, and aluminum front-door scuff plates and pedal faces. Solely the inclusion of paddle shifters and a tuned suspension give the “bodily plant” somewhat stronger sense of goal.
It’s a smaller complement of ordinary comfort options that largely separates the 250h F Sport, which sells for $38,125 with supply, from the hybrid Luxurious that begins at $2700 extra. Each have “NuLuxe” leatherette upholstery. Door panels lack sculpting or detailing, and the tops of these in again are laborious, unyielding plastic. There’s however one rear-seat storage pouch, connected to the again of the entrance passenger seat. Rear doorways lack storage pockets and bottle holders. At the very least there may be well-executed match and end to these issues that Lexus has chosen to incorporate. Passenger lodging are equivalent: comfy house and seating up entrance, however a extra restrictive rear seat. Equally, all UX hybrids undergo from a cargo ground that’s raised to clear the hybrid battery, reducing load capability and inflicting the 60/40-split second-row seats to relaxation under the extent of the deck when they’re folded. Be aware {that a} new commonplace function for all ’21 hybrids is an adjustable deck board for the cargo bay.
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The out there Circuit Purple upholstery makes for an particularly sporty inside ambiance. There’s good house for even big-and-tall occupants within the entrance seats, however the again seat is stingy by way of each legroom and headroom.
There is identical Lexus Distant Contact Interface for the infotainment system, with its central touchpad operation, of which we’re hardly followers. (It’s laborious to work exactly in a transferring automotive.) Operation of the automated dual-zone local weather system is dealt with by clearly marked buttons, although we’d favor direct-setting dials to enter desired temperatures and fan pace. For ’21, blind-spot and rear cross-traffic alerts are commonplace throughout the board, augmenting the present Lexus Security System+ 2.0 that features forward-collision warning and mitigation with pedestrian detection, lane-keep help, adaptive cruise management, road-sign help, and automated high-beam headlights.
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The UX 250h is powered by a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine paired with a CVT automated transmission and two electrical motors for a complete output of 181 hp.
One unlucky departure from previous expertise displayed by our F Sport tester was in gasoline economic system. In a stretch of harsh winter climate, we averaged 30.7 mpg with 59 % of our driving in city-type operation. That’s method off the EPA mixed estimate of 39 mpg, and much from the 38-plus our editors recorded of their assessments of UX hybrids in 2019 and ’20.
UX has the one hybrids discovered within the premium subcompact SUV class. Any 2021 UX 250h prices $2200 greater than a front-drive, gas-engine UX 200 of comparable trim stage, however on the entire beginning costs are enticing for the phase, and with the possibility so as to add fascinating choices—even for the bottom mannequin that makes no claims of being luxurious or sporty.
Check Drive: 2020 Lexus UX 250h Luxurious
The Lexus UX is extra about model than rear-seat-passenger and cargo house, but it surely’s extra inexpensive when equally outfitted than most of its rivals, and it provides the one “full-hybrid” mannequin within the premium subcompact SUV class.
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2021 Lexus UX 250h F Sport Gallery
(Click on under for enlarged photos)
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