2026 Lexus RX | Still Worth the Money?

This is the 2026 Lexus RX and for this model year this continues to be Lexus's best-selling model and arguably most important car they currently sell. This thing has been on the market for four years and with its upcoming refresh probably in 2027 we figured it'd be a good time to talk about this thing. So let's talk about price first. The RX 350 starts in the low 50s, the regular hybrid variant starts in the mid 50s with this plug-in hybrid variant starting in the 60s though as tested this luxury plus is almost $80,000. They also have the 500h which is their performance hybrid variant which has some performance options like rear steering adaptive dampers and all that though honestly their core is their hybrid variant. What you need to know is this interior space is largely unchanged. While I've changed some trim options and what features come with what trim package, this is still what you know which means it has the Lexus design language that you're used to. Lots of soft touch materials, some wood, their Toyota Connected head unit, their older style, their buttons for door switches. Though what I will say the good of this interior space it's very quiet, it's interesting looking. Lexus understands what their customers care about which is a relatively easy to live with cabin space that's quiet and refined with tech that is definitely safety oriented. The back seats are still very comfortable easy to get in and out of and there's enough storage in this car to be at least class competitive. It's not the largest vehicle in this class but it's not the smallest but what you need to know is Lexus does a good job with nooks and crannies and understanding that the buyer of this car is someone who's looking to keep it for a long time and for it never to get in the way of their day-to-day life. The Mark Levinson audio system which I'm going to briefly talk about is quite good. It is optional though I do think it's probably a step above the equivalent Harman Kardon unit you find in a regular BMW though not quite as good as their Bowers and Wilkins offerings. So with that I'm gonna head in the shop and walk you through some of the technical details. In the shop with the fifth generation of Lexus RX. So what do you need to know? Well first off these things are either built in Canada or Japan. All of the models other than the plug-in hybrid or the 450h that we're underneath are Canadian. Now when it comes to platform they are built on TNGA-K, the modular architecture that Lexus and Toyota use to underpin all of their front-wheel drive full-size cars. Everything from Camrys to big boy luxury SUVs like the TX which is this thing essentially maxed out. You are not starved for choice when it comes to drivetrain you have four options. The base 2.4 liter turbocharged four-cylinder which replaces the outgoing V6 that everybody knows and loves. You have the 2.5 liter hybridized four-cylinder with a nickel metal hydride battery pack. Yes it's the old hybrid system. Then you have that 2.5 liter paired to a plug-in hybrid drivetrain the 450h which uses an 18.1 kilowatt hour lithium ion battery pack and that thing makes just over 300 horsepower. And then of course you have the big boy 500h 2.4 liter turbocharged four-cylinder paired to a hybrid system which makes well over 300 horsepower and that has a nickel metal hydride battery pack as well. That is essentially the i-Force max drivetrain that you've seen in other applications and of course they use either ECVTs or more traditional Toyota based gearboxes. Now when it comes to suspension they are strut front multi-link rear obviously compared to the old rx it's more rigid it's quieter it's safer all the things you're expecting but from a serviceability side because this platform is global a lot of these parts are very very affordable at this point easy to replace. Most of these cars get passive dampers like this 450h though on the sportier trimmed rx's you can get abs or adaptive dampers. They do change the character of this car but they're going to be more expensive to replace and the 500h has rear steer. Something to bring up as well the all-wheel drive system the base rx is a more traditional setup where all the hybridized versions use e-all-wheel drive. So that Mark and I are going to go take you for a quick drive. Back in the saddle. It's been four years Mark. Can't believe it well I can't believe it we're getting older and this is the perfect car for us now. Man I can't wait to win bingo with the nursing home. Yeah she's uh obviously this vehicle's not changed since we've driven it the only thing that's really changed from my perspective is now we have the the time that's passed and you have the sales numbers to support that the rx is lexus's best seller which we kind of anticipated uh however I didn't I truly didn't think that this would catch on as much because of a lot of the tech parts of this car electronic door handles the screens you know it's not egregious here but it's already started beeping jack my favorite thing so I think that's one thing that's caught me off guard I think it continues to do well and when I open the glove box to see how much the car that we're in right now is $77,000 I just I just can't believe it I know this is not the volume model no it's the regular one yeah people are not going to spend 77 grand on this so I don't want to treat it unfairly but we we just recently did a video where we're talking about luxury products with the g90 we're doing a lot of like retro talk talks about like brands and in where brands are and we're going to start driving some old cars like very shortly I'll be doing an e46 m3 e36 with some of the older enthusiast cars why are people buying the rx okay not the the plug-in hybrid this is not the best value but why are people gravitating towards lexus and toyota where people are literally having to place orders and wait for their cars at the dealership including yourself yeah oh I'm some of you may or may not know my gx is currently on either a middle eastern or african adventure uh so I have placed an order for another one uh and I'm waiting for like three four months for the next car I think the reason why people like these vehicles are twofold very very strong residuals and it's not even really twofold very strong residuals combined with the fact that they are not a disposable luxury good and they've proven themselves not to be this hybrid technology works works for much much longer than anything else and because of that the buyers who are rewarded when they buy this car they're rolling with a vehicle that doesn't half its value in three years like I think about my parents who are in a much different socioeconomic bracket than I exist in and when they bought their x5 they didn't care that it was a depreciating asset but I look at how little that car is worth now after five years versus if you looked at how little rx would be worth the rx costs you tens of thousands of dollars less when you factor in the depreciation curve maintenance intervals and everything else that's why people like the dealership experience is also on another level for lexus at least yes and you know oddly enough we had this conversation a couple days ago because I'm trying to pare back my car fleet and I'm just kind of done I I want to go back to the basics over the next couple years and I thought well I would consider like a 2016 rx 350 you know v6 pretty poultry interior nothing fancy just quiet simple easy to fix you can keep it on the road and I looked at how much they're worth like they're insane how much people are paying for these older lexus like rx and I think really that's kind of what's flipped my brain a bit it's not like I didn't know this already that people buy these for that reason but I think there's truth to the level that people are craving cars that you buy and you don't throw away and you throw away less money than you would on a typical luxury product my argument against this at 77 000 is the same when I drove it before I don't think it's as refined as the germans the technology implementation at the electromechanical side of the suspension chassis some of the engine performances if you just can't lexus cannot compete x5e or like the the plug-in hybrid b58 x5 blows this away in every single metric other than the the prospect of actually owning the car yeah right yeah if you don't if you don't care you're you're in the the tax bracket where it's just a cost of doing business for the better product I have no negative feelings towards that whatsoever you've earned your money good for you yeah or if you're someone who's leasing the car and you're only going to be in this thing for three years and the lease prices between this and uh x5 are kind of within the noise of one another when you're spending seven eight hundred dollars the difference between seven hundred and nine hundred dollars honestly to be honest it's not that big of a deal when you get to that point fine but if you if your idea of a luxury good is something that you buy because you like how quiet and refined yeah it's a rightly four-cylinder relatively refined the drivetrain is the materials in this car are nice it's very quiet for what it is yeah um and your your idea of i want to buy something to keep it for 10 years and then in 10 years give it to my kids or whatever or a family member that's what this does because toyota's proven themselves repeatedly that their hybrid tech works and it's not something that in 10 years you're worried about and nobody's going to argue that there's nobody arguing that you know we when we got out of the the grand wagoneer right the idea of the originally stellantis they wanted to take the grand wagoneer and make it a luxury product it's a luxury product because we put all this ---- in it and we put the price tag at 110 thousand dollars and people are going to pay that didn't work right because you have to prove that you're a luxury product and you have to prove certain metrics that also people want them and this brand has been consistently proving that over and over again now talking about the car a little bit you know this is still a front wheel drive platform you know the all-wheel drive all with e all-wheel drive this plug-in variant gives you you know realistically real world if you're in city cycle maybe 20 miles range 25 miles range on a maybe good day so it's really for somebody that's doing short trips if you really have a charger in your garage and technically you don't need um a you know 10 kilowatt charger a level two charger you could get away with plugging this into a regular wall outlet and charge it overnight and you would still get your range back and if you're doing short distance school runs or going to the pharmacy to pick up your your antibiotics and your hemorrhoid cream and all the other ---- that you're going to need i think this is going to handle it and you're not going to be burning as much fuel but if you're not using that function it's an absolute waste yes it gives you 300 horsepower it gives you more thrust but honestly like we talk about all the time the horsepower metric in this modern age is a joke you know you're stuck behind cars and traffic in most places where the power is not as big of a deal so you know you can save a lot of money going with a regular hybrid system that to be fair is a much better value it's going to hold its value and it's less complicated personally for me you know if i got over some of the things that annoy me about the lexus and toyota brand ethos with all the alerts and buggy you know safety system constantly like over coddling you some of the other gimmicks they do in here i do like how simple this car is i like how they do it's kind of this japanese material design with kind of the fabrics on the door yeah it's an it's an interesting looking car and i can see why people are buying them in droves at least you know for the luxury product i think taking one quick step back dynamically i mentioned why this is worse than an x5 obviously the front wheel drive part of it the drive train is not as refined it is it does sound like a four-cylinder and again paying oh yeah almost eighty thousand dollars for an economy four cylinders a big ask when you're looking at it as a luxury good not a long-term hold then you know you don't have adaptive dampers there's more head toss than there is in the german cars it doesn't turn or stop yeah or maneuver anywhere as well yeah right we're you know glazing them because of the reliability and the reliability and resale value is a big deal don't get me wrong they're the real one of the few that do it but driving dynamics to your point like the secondary body motions it is very floaty they they don't do a good job with head toss dynamically this is not a vehicle that you're ever really excited to drive let's be honest like turning is front wheel drive even with the e-motor in the back there's just a lot of things dynamically it just does not do and you know at 50 grand or like a used proposition for like 30 okay whatever yeah but i i feel like they don't blend enough they're they're really focused on riding out the the hybrid system like oh you have to wait for one of our cars people want them you know and i don't think they're very focused enough on some of the other things that are important that the other brands do well but you know what do i know there's one reason you buy this car or two efficiency and residual value yeah slash reliability right though that's why that's what you're looking for you want this to be a luxury appliance pod that rolls around i don't fault you for liking this car get a regular you don't go up in the in the prices try to get like a regular hybrid middle tram with the heated and cooled seats and the mark levinson and you will be very happy with this thing is a little pod uh is there anything else you want to say mark before we wrap this up nope i'm gonna go pass out now jack let's play some bridge final thoughts on the rx and this hasn't changed since we first drove it so our opinions are very similar but really there's more cars on the road now luxury has changed on the german end and even the american luxury products have changed so let's cover why you buy this the primary reason you buy an rx is because you're not going to lose your ass when you buy it even i don't agree with the pricing on the rx 500 or this plug-in hybrid i think it's crazy how much they cost but truthfully you're going to buy it and you're not going to lose half your value of the car in like three years like a bmw or mercedes so really the drivetrain despite it feeling a little bit more sedate this is not a driving experience you're going to find a lot of passion in you're going to find the passion and the fact that you're not going to do anything to this car and if something goes wrong it's it's the exception not the rule um i think toyota is behind on technology quite a bit they play the conservative game compared to the other brands and i'm okay with it here you know i think they've jumped on some of the bandwagon of the the gimmicks like electronic door handles big screen that doesn't add anything to it some of the tech is just absolutely oppressive on the safety suite compared to the other brands i think they can find a more analog better balance and clearly that's not happening if you look at the es they're doubling down on that this car is kind of in that middle generation where you can get over some of the tech get used to it and you're still gonna love it before they over complicate everything in the next generations but really great car if you buy it right and you get the one that you know you're not paying so much money on you're gonna have this for a long time thanks for watching i'll see you next video