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It may not be exciting, but consumers love the Lexus NX. It was 2023's best-selling non-electric compact luxury SUV on the strength of its understated luxury recipe. It's comfortable, easy to live with, and built to last, leading its segment in the JD Power U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) for the past three years. JD Power reviewed the gas-only 2022 Lexus NX 350, but since a large portion of NX sales are hybrids, this review focuses on the gas-electric 2024 NX 350h.
Photo: Alex Kwanten
Lexus redesigned the NX for 2022, launching the second generation of its small crossover. The NX has mostly stayed the same since then, though Lexus has shuffled its option packages. The 2024 model year brings equipment changes to all NX hybrids—both the conventional 350h and the 450h+ plug-in hybrid (PHEV)—and, at long last, a self-parking feature. The 2025 Lexus NX will arrive soon but has few changes.
Lexus offers 2024 NX buyers four powertrain options. The base-model NX 250 uses a 203-horsepower, 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. It has standard front-wheel drive, with all-wheel drive (AWD) optional. All other 2024 Lexus NX SUVs come with standard AWD, starting with the NX 350, which uses a 275-hp, turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine.
The NX 350h hybrid has a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and a trio of electric motors, producing 240 system horsepower. The plug-in hybrid NX 450h+ uses the 2.5-liter gas engine but has brawnier electric motors, producing 302 hp. The 450h+ is much quicker than the 350h, but it costs $16,000 more to start.
Previously, JD Power reviewed the gas-only 2022 Lexus NX. This review focuses on the NX Hybrid and how it potentially impacts the model’s overall consumer appeal.
In the following sections, our independent expert analyzes a 2024 Lexus NX 350h Luxury AWD equipped with the following options:
The test vehicle's price was $55,775, including the $1,150 destination charge to ship the crossover from the Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, assembly plant to your local dealership. In recent months, Lexus has added a few formerly optional items to the Luxury package and raised its price.
Photo: Alex Kwanten
While they look like the gas-only models, the NX Hybrids have significant differences under the hood and different driving personalities. While the NX 350 uses a 275-hp, turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and a conventional eight-speed automatic transmission, the NX 350h pairs a non-turbo 2.5-liter four-cylinder gas engine with a trio of electric motors (two on the front axle and one at the rear) for 240 combined horses. It delivers its power through a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT).
This second-generation NX hybrid has 40 more horsepower than the 2015 to 2021 first-gen NX 300h, and it's quite a bit quicker. According to Lexus, the NX 350h will accelerate from zero-to-60 mph in 7.2 seconds—a half-second behind the turbocharged NX 350 but two seconds faster than the first-gen hybrid. Despite the CVT sometimes muting engine responses, the NX 350h feels confident getting up to speed and passing on two-lane roads. It's not fast, but it's not a slowpoke anymore.
Unfortunately, it's rougher and noisier than the gas-only NX 350. Under hard acceleration, it'll get loud and coarse, and even at highway cruising speeds, the hybrid's engine transmits more noise and vibration than it should. It's not egregiously loud, but it is uncharacteristically unrefined for a Lexus.
What you get in return is stellar gas mileage. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the 2024 NX 350h at 39 mpg combined. In 400 miles of driving, leaning a little heavier to highway time, I saw 35.9 mpg combined. That's below the EPA's estimate but way above comparable vehicles. Gas-powered NXs top out at 28 mpg combined, while rivals like the Audi Q5 or BMW X3 max out at 25 or 26 mpg combined.
Photo: Alex Kwanten
NX rivals like the Audi Q5, Genesis GV70, and Mercedes-Benz GLC have offered active parking assistance systems for years, but 2024 marks the first time such a system is available on the NX, and only on the hybrid versions. Advanced Park (a $480 stand-alone option) can now do it if you're terrible at parking or terribly nervous about it.
The settings allow you to adjust the vehicle's speed, the road width the car can use for maneuvering, and the distances for activating warnings or stops. It also lets you program a customized home spot. I've parked in New York City apartment garages for years, nudging cars between pillars, walls, and other vehicles, and this system is perfect for that.
Since it can parallel or perpendicular park, you'll have to manually make sure it's set correctly before activating the system, but the interface is simple. Select the spot, align the door mirror with the spot, and hit start. The NX will park autonomously and is talented at putting the vehicle where you want it. It'll stop if it detects anything (or anyone) in the vehicle's path, and after parking, the screen displays a 360-degree view of the spot.
Pulling nose-first into a complicated spot can produce odd maneuvers that might confuse other drivers in a busy Costco lot, but it'll park accurately. It gave up in a few test scenarios, but I chalk that up to not aligning the vehicle correctly. It can also be slow in "perfecting" parallel parking jobs, but overall, it seems a little more usable and accurate than alternatives from BMW or Genesis. It's also a little more automated than Mercedes-Benz's system.
You can also operate the system from outside the vehicle via the Lexus app (but not with the key). Called Remote Park, this is more useful for un-parking the car, particularly if you're in a tight spot or want to pull the vehicle out of the space to load cargo.
During my evaluation, I only got a little interstate highway time. Additionally, the test vehicle didn't have the optional lane-change assistance feature. It's part of a $1,070 option package that also includes a surround-view camera system and a front cross-traffic warning system. You could quibble with the camera display's resolution, but these systems work well.
Adaptive cruise control and lane-centering assistance are part of the standard Lexus Safety System+ 3.0; both must be active to use the lane-change feature. To activate the system, hold the indicator stalk, and it performs the lane change, provided it detects a safe opening. It's as seamless as rival systems from Genesis and Mercedes-Benz. These are strictly "hands-on-the-wheel" setups, not Level 3 autonomy.
Even if you think automated lane changes are gimmicky, there's still a value proposition element here. The Acura RDX and Genesis GV70 are the only alternatives that offer a similar array of standard features, though the Audi Q5 is close behind.
Most NX drivers aren't looking for a performance machine, and other than the hybrid's power delivery, all but one aspect of the driving experience is broadly similar to the gas models.
The ride is smooth and soft, even on the test car's big 20-inch rims, and it insulates passengers from all but the worst bumps. Its steering doesn't have much feedback, and there's a fair degree of body roll and tire noise under hard cornering. It understeers more than many comparable compact SUVs, meaning it wants to keep going straight in hard turns, but it isn't wallowy.
The braking system is the only aspect that differs from the gas models. Since the hybrid battery charges via regenerative braking, there are times when it decelerates quite forcefully without much input. Use the pedal, and responses are mixed as the handoff between the regenerative system and the mechanical brakes isn't very smooth. The pedal is alternately spongy or too strong-willed and hard to modulate. The gas NX's brakes are much smoother.
Photo: Alex Kwanten
The NX 350h is comfortable, roomy, and well-made. It offers a bevy of standard features at a reasonable base price ($43,465). It stays cheap thanks to its stellar fuel economy, which tops any compact or subcompact luxury SUV other than Lexus' smaller UX hybrid. On the other hand, it's not particularly fun to drive, and it feels noisier and less refined than past Lexus products.
It also becomes less of a bargain when you add all the options. Alternatives like the Audi Q5, Genesis GV70, Mercedes-Benz GLC, and Volvo XC60 all have higher starting prices, but you can afford to equip them for the cost of my test NX. Fantastic gas mileage is lovely, but most rival SUVs are smoother, quieter, and faster.
If you're looking for something thrifty, luxurious, and easy to live with, the NX 350h excels. Beyond those parameters, it's less of a superstar.
Alex Kwanten has worked in automotive media for 15 years and reported on buying, selling, and servicing cars for many outlets, including Automotive News, Forbes, and Hagerty Media. His calling is helping to make car buying less intimidating for ordinary folks, but he also loves telling the stories of the people and cultural forces behind new and classic vehicles. A lifelong automotive enthusiast, he’s owned scores of cars from more than a dozen countries.
