Lexus LBX 2024 Review

By Bruce Newton, carsales.com.au

As luxury car prices rise and the premium brands progressively abandon the affordable end of the new vehicle market, Lexus has bucked the trend by introducing its smallest and cheapest vehicle, the Lexus LBX compact SUV.

Priced from just under $48,000 before on-road costs, the three-model LBX line-up is powered by a petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain, with two models front-wheel drive and the flagship all-wheel drive. If this spec is reading somewhat familiar, it’s because the Toyota Yaris Cross uses the same basic TNGA-B platform and powertrain as the LBX. But Lexus argues its vehicle is much more luxurious and refined. We can see where they are coming from, but this sort of money still makes the LBX a hard sell.

How much does the Lexus LBX cost?

Aimed at both youth buyers and empty-nesters, there are three models in the 2024 Lexus LBX petrol-electric hybrid line-up: the $47,550 Luxury, the $52,990 Sports Luxury and the $56,990 Sports Luxury all-wheel drive (or AWD). All prices are before on-road costs.

With the Lexus UX 200 petrol model despatched, the LBX is now comfortably the cheapest way to enter the Lexus range.

It also undercuts on price the entry-level SUVs from a slew of premium rivals including the Audi Q2, Alfa Romeo Tonale, BMW X1 and Mercedes-Benz GLA. Mind you, at just 4190mm long, the LBX is also smaller than most of its rivals.

The LBX also starts about $20,000 higher than the car with which it shares many of its technical fundamentals, the Toyota Yaris Cross.

What equipment comes with the Lexus LBX?

Externally, the 2024 Lexus LBX has a compressed version of the Lexus spindle grille. The Luxury model sets the equipment baseline with 18-inch alloy wheels that really fill the arches nicely, a power tailgate, rear spoiler and rear privacy glass.

Inside, you’ll find artificial leather seat, steering wheel and gearshift trim, dual-zone climate control, an eight-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, heated front seats, keyless entry/start and single-colour ambient lighting.

The Sports Luxury swaps to black alloys, real leather trim combined with ultra-suede and 64-colour ambient lighting. It adds steering wheel heating, active noise control and engine sound enhancement.

But there’s no power adjustment for the passenger seat. Nor does any model get a spare tyre, just an inflator kit. A sunroof isn’t available either.

Apart from the addition of an electric motor to the rear axle, the flagship Sports Luxury AWD is the same spec as the front-wheel drive.

All models come with a two-tone paint effect. There is a choice of eight colours that can be combined with a black roof. Only ‘Citrine’ (lemon) doesn’t add an extra $1800 or so (depending on location).

The LBX comes with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, three years’ roadside assistance (as part of the Lexus Encore owner’s program) and 12-month/15,000km service intervals. At launch, each service is capped at $595.

How safe is the Lexus LBX?

The 2024 Lexus LBX comes without an ANCAP safety rating. There is no indication yet when or if it will get one. Certainly, there appears no plan for local testing.

At this stage the five-star rating based on 2021 protocols for the related Toyota Yaris Cross is the closest indicator of how the LBX might fare.

The LBX comes well stocked with safety gear including autonomous emergency braking (AEB) including pedestrian (day/night), bicyclist (day/night) and motorcyclist (day) detection.

An adaptive cruise control system, lane keeping and departure alert, blind spot monitoring and speed sign recognition are also included.

The LBX comes with eight airbags, LED headlights with beam adaptation to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic, a panoramic view monitor, front and rear parking sensors, tyre pressure monitoring, two ISOFIX and three child seat top tether strap points.

The LBX Sports Luxury adds an advanced parking function that provides instructions and input for the steering, accelerator, brake and shift operation during parallel and perpendicular parking.

What technology does the Lexus LBX feature?

All 2024 Lexus LBX models come with a 9.8-inch infotainment touchscreen and a 12.3-inch digital dashboard.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, cloud-based satellite navigation, voice recognition and DAB+ digital radio are standard, but there’s no AM or FM.

Sounds are amplified via a six-speaker Panasonic audio system in the Luxury, or a cracking 13-speaker Mark Levinson stereo in Sports Luxury models.

There are five USB-C ports spread across the two rows of seats, a wireless smartphone charger up front and two 12V outlets (one up front and one in the boot).

Fitted with a data communication module (DCM) – an embedded SIM card – the LBX also hooks up to the Lexus Connected Services app, which provides a suite of safety and convenience items including automatic collision notification, stolen vehicle tracking, remote engine start and much more.

Over-the-air (OTA) updates, including sat-nav maps downloaded from the cloud, are available for the multimedia, the instrument cluster and the DCM.

What powers the Lexus LBX?

The entire 2024 Lexus LBX range is powered by a modified version of the same 1.5-litre triple-cylinder petrol-electric hybrid powertrain that has driven the Toyota Yaris Cross for the past few years.

But Lexus has worked on the powertrain to bump combined power from 85kW to 100kW and to make the driving experience smoother and more ‘Lexus-like’.

No combined torque output is claimed, which is normal for Toyota and Lexus.

The engine itself makes 67kW and 120Nm, while the permanent magnet synchronous e-motor produces 69kW and 185kW. The rear induction asynchronous e-motor in the Sports Luxury AWD produces 4.7kW and 52Nm but doesn’t change the peak outputs compared to the 2WDs.

The powertrain drives the wheels via an electronic continuously variable transmission (CVT), which adds paddle shifts in the Sports Luxury grade. There are six artificial gear steps programmed into the e-CVT to make the paddle shifters feel like they are achieving something.

A small, air-cooled nickel-metal hydride battery sitting under the rear seat powers the e-motors.

Lexus engineers opted for a new bipolar NiMH battery rather than the lithium-ion battery used by the Yaris Cross because they found it provides stronger and smoother acceleration.

How fuel efficient is the Lexus LBX?

All models in the 2024 Lexus LBX line-up claim the same 3.8L/100km combined-cycle fuel consumption average using the cheapest 91RON unleaded fuel.

That estimate proved only mildly optimistic during our test drive from Gosford to the heart of Sydney on a wide variety of road types. The trip computer was showing 4.2L/100km when we pulled up.

It’s yet more proof of the validity of Toyota’s hybrid technology.

What is the Lexus LBX like to drive?

There’s clearly been an attempt to imbue the 2024 Lexus LBX with some big-car gravitas. It steers with some heft and sits quite solid and planted on the road, despite its diminutive size and light kerb weight (1330kg 2WD or 1415kg in AWD form).

Add in a significant amount of noise deadening of various types and the LBX is also more remote from engine, road and tyre noise than a typical small car. It’s still there, but dulled.

In 2WD or AWD form it is a well-resolved and enjoyable small car to drive. Its small size makes it nippy around town and its well-resolved dynamics make it entertaining on the open road.

Lexus has taken the same TNGA-B platform as the Yaris Cross for the LBX, but stiffened it to make it more sporting.

For all the work by Lexus engineers, the LBX’s origins are undeniable. There’s still some triple-cylinder growl evident from the engine under acceleration (the sound enhancement is, er, subtle) and the wheelbase isn’t long enough to stop the ride getting a bit jiggy on the rough stuff.

That especially applies at low speeds. At higher speeds it improves, but never disappears. That applies in the 2WD fitted with a torsion beam rear axle and the AWD, which swaps to a more compact independent set-up to help the electronic AWD gubbins fit.

The performance from the powertrain is far from luxurious. Call it adequate rather than abundant. There’s no doubt electrification provides assistance, especially from a standstill, but you’re keeping up with the traffic in this car, not sprinting ahead.

Lexus claims a 9.2sec 0-100km/h time for the 2WD and 9.6sec for the heavier AWD. It feels about right.

Funnily enough, there’s no sports mode to elevate the drivetrain and the Sports Luxury’s paddle shifters provide little more assistance than a placebo.

Left to its own devices, the CVT does some of that inane buzzing commonly found with CVTs, but it’s not too awful.

What is the Lexus LBX like inside?

If you had any fears the 2024 Lexus LBX would simply be a Yaris Cross with a new badge or two slapped on, dismiss them.

Just as the exterior has its own sheet metal, so the interior has its own distinct character.

Sure, the hard points where stuff is attached and plugged behind the dashboard will be the same, but the distinctly different screens, steering wheel, trims and soft-touch fittings make the LBX feel and look a whole lot more upmarket.

That especially applies to the Sports Luxury, which adds suede trim and obvious equipment boosts such as the cracking Mark Levinson stereo and the head-up display (HUD).

The HUD also introduces a more complex way of drilling into menus in the instrument panel via the steering wheel. It seems clumsy and overly complex. There are also multiple cluster views that can be selected.

Air-conditioning is operated by both the touch-screen and physical controls, but you have to drill into the screen or use the steering wheel or the clever dynamic voice control to adjust audio.

There’s a certain complexity to selecting a gear via the notchy lever, but that’s more than likely just down to familiarity.

The one-touch E-Latch door handles definitely take a bit of adaptation. From the outside, the door opens without any handle movement. From inside, press a button in the arm rest to open the door.

But the main interior issue in the LBX is in the rear seat. It’s awfully cramped back there, something perhaps exacerbated by the new and plumply cushioned front seats. It’s very cramped for all but young kids.

Okay, it’s a small car not aimed at family buyers, so there’s some leniency there perhaps. But the lack of features is very disappointing. One map pocket, no adjustable air-con vents and no fold-down arm rest.

It’s a better story up front, of course, but still the door bins are tiny and the glove box is stuffed full of manuals and documents, so storage options are limited.

The boot is also quite small at 402 litres for the 2WD and 315 litres for the AWD. There’s not much in the way of features such as bins and string nets.

The split-fold rear seat collapses to produce as much as 994 litres of space.

Should I buy a Lexus LBX?

It’s quite easy to see the 2024 Lexus LBX slotting into a two- or three-car garage alongside a Lexus LX and/or RX. It retains enough of the smooth and refined family traits to appeal to fans of the brand.

But as a youth buy at a time when many kids are working hard to scrape together rent let alone buy $50,000 cars, it’s less convincing. The related Toyota Yaris Cross falls more into their price range. It may not be as lovely inside or nice to drive, but it is a lot more affordable.

If you can afford an LBX, then out of the three models on offer our favourite ended up being the Sports Luxury 2WD.

It’s dressed up nicely inside with some decent extra features over the Luxury, while the $4000 jump to the AWD version doesn’t deliver any significant driving advantages.

2024 Lexus LBX Sports Luxury AWD at a glance:

Editor’s Rating: 7.6/10

Price:  $56,990 (plus on-road costs)	Transmission: Continuously variable automatic
Available:  Now	Fuel: 3.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
Engine:  1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol-electric	CO2: 87g/km (ADR Combined)
Output: 67kW/120Nm (electric motor: 69kW/185Nm)	Safety Rating:  Not tested
Combined output: 100kW

 

Disclaimer: Images supplied by Lexus.

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