SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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Hybrid power: 2019 Lexus UX 250h

Breaking free

Pics by Motorpress
Posted: July 18, 2019

The numbers
Base price: R702 000
Engine: Toyota M20A-FXS, 1987 cc, DOHC 16-valve, four-cylinder naturally aspirated, Atkinson Cycle
Power: 107 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 180 Nm at 4400 rpm
Zero to 100 m/h: 8.5 seconds
Maximum speed: 177 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 6.3 l/100 km
Tank: 43 litres
Luggage: 265 litres with seats up
Towing capacity: Not suitable
Standard tyre size: 225/50R18, Gen-2 run-flat
Warranty and maintenance plan: 7 years / 105 000 km, with roadside assistance
Servicing at 15 000 km / annual intervals

Forget all you know about Lexus hybrids and their CVTs.

Okay, not quite everything. The 2.0-litre petrol engine supplying primary muscle to the new UX 250h still runs on Atkinson Cycle for slightly lower specific power output but superior fuel economy.

What is new is that it doesn’t plug into household mains or expensive boxes for recharging but does everything in-car. It has two electric motor-generators but neither one kicks in with a wallop when more power is demanded.

The first, called MG-1, sets the vehicle in motion and then generates power for the 216-volt, 24 kW, NiMH hybrid-power battery when its initial job is done. MG-2 integrates seamlessly with the petrol engine as demand dictates and switches to charge mode during idle periods. Regenerative charging, during overrun and braking, supplies yet more top-up effort. Before you ask, maximum speed in all-electric mode is 58 km/h but range information isn’t available.

The CVT has changed too. Called e-CVT, it’s different from the D(direct)-CVT in UX 200, non-hybrid, models. The traditional steel band running between pulleys makes way for planetary gears (cogs within cogs) to provide completely stepless response without flaring or slipping. As revs climb, the car just moves faster, even on “kickdown”.  It’s almost scary.

UX stands for Urban Crossover, shares its build platform with Toyota C-HR and is much the same size as a Kia Sportage. The model range consists of two UX 200s and the UX 250h that we drove. They are aimed at young, tech-savvy buyers with R602 000-plus to spend, with special mention being made of the swipe, pinch and touch control screen offered on top model, UX 200 F-Sport.

Unfortunately, the hybrid’s user screen isn’t like that. There’s a scrolling pad, with touch-to-select, down on the centre console. One uses this, and buttons on the steering wheel, to navigate through all the menus. It’s clunky, roundabout and awkward to use. We doubt that younger users would like it.

Moving on, UX breaks free of accepted SUV design in that it’s built lower than usual with an almost car-like 160 mm of ground clearance. McPherson struts in front and wishbone suspension behind, with low centre of gravity and light yet rigid construction, help it handle like a European sports sedan.

In plain English it’s solid, quiet, responsive, brilliant to drive, has supportive and comfortable seats and is frugal with the go-juice. We want one.

Being a Lexus it’s loaded with extra safety kit and luxury features such as eight airbags rather than six, 13-speaker Mark Levinson sound, wireless Smartphone charging, tyre pressure monitoring, one-touch up and down for every window, electrical adjusters plus heating and cooling for both front seats, pre-crash brake preparation and post-crash fuel shutoff.

Blind spot monitoring, adaptive highbeam assistance, adaptive cruise control and lane keeping are included. Most competitors charge extra for those. It also turns in 10.4 metres. That’s the same as the much smaller Renault Stepway. Just saying.

We must, however, point out a few flaws: The 80-centimetre loading sill is higher than most and luggage volume is tight. Rear seat headroom is excellent but knee space isn’t. Further, there’s no spare wheel; just run-flats good for 80 km at up to 160 km/h. That’s better than some but still not practical in South Africa.

Then there’s the overly bold Lexus Family Face. It’s an acquired taste with not many South Africans appearing to “get it.” That’s possibly because our national psyche tends toward the conservative; craving group acceptance and peer approval.

Sales averaged 79 units per month, for all models combined, over the past year. Low sales volume means low resale value that leads in turn to continuing low sales. Democratising its looks could be the answer, but only Lexus can decide on that.

Test unit from Lexus SA press fleet

We drove the semi-stripped EX version in 2020



What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

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