2022 Lexus UX300e review: Australian first drive

Update: Our 2022 Lexus UX300e review has now been updated with a video review. You can watch it via the play button above, or here on YouTube. (Be sure to subscribe and hit the bell button for alerts!)

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November 26: When I first sat in a Lexus UX, I reckoned there was something about its cockpit-style interior and smooth ride that lent itself to being an EV.

Fast-forward almost three years and Lexus has introduced the UX 300e, which is the Japanese luxury carmaker’s first production battery electric vehicle (BEV).

With a 150kW/300Nm electric motor and 54.3kWh lithium-ion battery providing up to 360 kilometres of driving range, it’s not the most powerful or practical BEV on the market.

It's also one of the most inconspicuous, with little to distinguish it aesthetically from its petrol and hybrid siblings.

So, is this a serious effort by Lexus to rival the Mercedes-Benz EQA and Volvo C40 Recharge, or just a half-baked attempt to join the BEV club?

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Pricing and Ownership

The Lexus UX 300e is available in Australia in two flavours, Luxury and Sports Luxury, which come with the same powertrain for $74,000 and $81,000 respectively (both before on-road costs).

That’s $9900 more than the all-wheel-drive hybrid UX 250h Sports Luxury, which was the range-topper until now, though a more like-for-like comparison of the two Sports Luxury variants sees a difference of $16,900.

Lexus has introduced a few sweeteners for anyone considering paying the extra coin, including a free 7kW AC home charger with installation, three years of complementary rapid DC charging through the Chargefox network and three years of complimentary membership of the Lexus Encore Platinum owner benefits program.

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UX300e Sports Luxury (left) and UX300e Luxury

The UX 300e is also the first Lexus model to come with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty instead of the usual four years and 100,000km, though this will apply to the rest of the Lexus range from January 2022 and will encompass all vehicles purchased in 2021.

The battery comes with a 10-year guarantee.

UX 300e owners will also receive five years of capped-price servicing, with each of the 12-month/15,000km intervals costing just $295 including free collection and a courtesy car.

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Features

At first glance, the Lexus UX 300e is probably the most unassuming of any BEV on the market.

Lexus has barely done a thing to differentiate it from the petrol and hybrid variants apart from ‘Electric’ badges on the rear doors and dual ‘filler’ doors – one above each rear wheelarch – to access the AC and DC charging sockets.

Even the big spindle grille is the same – which is a good thing as a big body-colour faux grille taking up most of the front would probably look hideous.

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Exterior elements of the entry-level UX 300e Luxury include 17-inch alloy wheels, front and rear LED lighting including the daytime running lights and fog lights, headlight washers, roof rails, acoustic windscreen glass, and heated power-folding door mirrors.

The UX 300e Sports Luxury adds 18-inch alloy wheels, tri-beam LED headlights, LED front indicators, acoustic front side glass and a moonroof.

Inside, each variant is equipped with a 10.3-inch multimedia display with satellite navigation, Apple Carplay/Android Auto, DAB+ digital radio, 13-speaker Mark Levinson audio system, wireless smartphone charger, powered tailgate with kick sensor, and smart entry/start with a key card.

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The list continues with alloy scuff plates, power-adjustable steering column, leather-accented heated steering wheel, vegan leather seats, eight-way power-adjustable front seats with variable lumbar support, heated and ventilated front seats, heated outboard rear seats and auto-dimming rearview mirror.

Spending $7000 more on the UX 300e Sports Luxury brings a head-up display, surround-view parking monitor, premium leather upholstery, higher-grade interior trim, instrument panel stitching and 3D-look illumination inside each front air vent bezel.

While the extras that come with the Sports Luxury spec are desirable, I can’t say they were missed when I jumped from that into the Luxury, which comes with all the important stuff.

Of course, being a Lexus, there is plenty of safety and driver assistance technology, which we’ll look at in the safety section below.

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UX300e Luxury

Space and Comfort

Like the exterior, little differentiates the UX 300e’s cabin from the other variants.

The battery pack is installed below the floor pan so doesn’t impinge on space, though there is still a transmission tunnel that provides space to facilitate battery cooling.

Small premium SUV interiors often feel inferior to their bigger siblings but the Lexus UX fit-out is very plush and well put together, with great attention to detail.

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UX300e Sports Luxury

It wouldn’t be a Lexus review without a dig at the infotainment system’s dated graphics and fiddly touchpad that can make a simple menu selection a bit of a chore, though the inclusion of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto does make things a lot more bearable.

The same goes with the gauge cluster, which seems basic compared to the full digital units in most rival EVs. There isn’t much by way of EV info besides the main gauge showing where you’re at on the charge/eco/power scale and a battery meter on the 7.0-inch multi-function display.

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Comfortable and embracing front seats provide plenty of legroom and a low, slightly reclined sports-car-like driving position.

This can come at the expense of rear legroom for taller folk, though the seats themselves are comfortable with a relaxing rake angle that helps maintain good headroom under the sloping roofline.

While the UX 300e is largely driver-focused, it caters to rear-seat passengers well, with the heated outboard seats, two USB sockets, air vents and a pull-down centre armrest with cup holders.

Looking further back, the boot space is a handy 413 litres, which is six less than you get in petrol variants but 45 litres more than the hybrids. Unlike the others, there is no space-saver spare wheel, with the space below the boot floor used to store two charging cables and a puncture repair kit.

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Charging

Each UX 300e variant comes with a 54.3kWh lithium-ion battery that provides a claimed 360 kilometres of driving range. It’s not the biggest battery out there, though the upside of that is its reasonably quick charging time.

Fully charging the battery from flat with a standard 240V, 10A wall socket will take about 30 hours but plugging into one of the complementary 7kW home chargers reduces that time to just 6.5 hours or 40km of range per hour.

In addition to the free charger, UX 300e owners also receive three years of free access to the 1400-strong Chargefox DC rapid charging network. Using one of its 50kW chargers will fully juice up the UX 300e in about 80 minutes.

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It’s worth noting that using more powerful 22kW AC or 350kW DC chargers will not have an impact on the above charging speeds.

The UX 300e is equipped with two charging ports towards the rear – a Type-2 socket for AC charging on the driver’s side, and a CHAdeMO port for DC charging on the passenger side.

CHAdeMO ports are still the preferred option in Japan but are becoming less common in Australia. However, there are still plenty of compatible chargers around – including at most Chargefox stations.

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On the Road

As you'd expect from an EV the take off is quiet, but because there is no engine noise you do tend to notice wind and tyre noise a little more.

Even so, the UX 300e has excellent noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) properties even at speed, helped by a range of measures including noise insulation between the EV transaxle case and shift control actuator, around the tyres, fenders, and electric motor.

In a way, it's all a moot point as the excellent 13-speaker Mark Levinson audio system will drown out whatever din does manage to make its way into the cabin.

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The 150kW/300Nm motor that drives the front wheels through a two-stage reduction gear doesn’t exactly offer the kind of breakneck acceleration we see in more powerful BEVs, but it provides enough shove to send the UX 300e from 0 to 100km/h in a claimed 7.5-seconds.

It means the UX 300e is just a tenth slower to the benchmark than a Polestar 2 Single Motor Long Range and more than a second quicker than a Mercedes-Benz EQA 250, thanks in part to the 1840kg Japanese car being 200kg lighter than its German rival.

The motor continues to instantly respond to pedal movements once on the move, with those peak outputs on tap whenever you need them.

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Both UX 300e variants come with Eco, Comfort and Sport drive modes, with Sport providing more take-off boost while stiffening the steering, which is also very responsive.

But it's the UX 300e's ride and handling capabilities that make it stand out from most other small electric SUVs.

Lexus was obviously aware of this too, judging by the launch drive route that included a return journey along the Great Ocean Road from Torquay to Lorne with a sneaky trip up the hill to Deans Marsh and back to chase apexes on the Deans Marsh-Lorne Road.

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The last time I drove up to Deans Marsh was during a comparison test of cheap small SUVs including the Holden Trax, which didn’t exactly handle some of those bends with aplomb. I recall negotiating the odd bend with my left hand clinging white-knuckled to the wheel and my right arm propped against the door to counter the lean.

But in the UX 300e it was like I was driving on a completely different road. It handled more like a hot hatch than an SUV thanks to the underfloor battery pack that, according to Lexus, enhances its GA-C platform’s torsional rigidity.

The battery pack and the low-mounted electric motor also result in a significant drop to the centre of gravity (CoG), from 594mm in the UX 250h to just 530mm in the UX 300e, with the battery weight evenly distributed between the axles.

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It results in effortless cornering, with excellent front and rear compliance yet barely any lean. The regenerative braking, controlled using paddle shifters, is quite subtle but forceful enough to allow for one-pedal driving in all but the sharpest of turns, which further inspires confidence.

Then there’s the fact you don’t have a complex gearbox trying to keep up with braking and throttle inputs, meaning your exit from each turn is instant and effortless – even up hills.

Incredibly, the tight handling doesn't come at the expense of ride comfort. The UX 300e rides on a relatively rudimentary suspension set-up that includes front MacPherson struts and rear trailing wishbones, but the ride always feels silky even on some rougher rural roads.

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The UX 300e Luxury rides on 17-inch Michelin Primacy 3 rubber and the Sports Luxury on 18s. I can’t say I felt a difference in ride quality between the two, but the 18s did offer sharper steering.

Needless to say, that smooth ride applies to freeways and around town, where the UX 300e is quite nimble when it comes to negotiating tight streets.

Parking is easy. One issue I’ve always had with the UX is limited rear-side vision, though this is overcome by the reversing camera, or surround-view camera in the Sports Luxury, as well as the front and rear parking sensors. If for some reason you do miss an obstacle while parking, the car will come to a stop.

In short, the UX 300e has the zip you want from an electric crossover with further surprise and delight coming from its ride and handling.

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Safety

The UX 300e shares safety features and a five-star ANCAP rating with the rest of the UX range.

It comes standard with eight airbags and a range of active safety and advanced driver assistance systems including autonomous emergency braking with night/day pedestrian detection and daytime cyclist detection, parking support braking, all-speed adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, road-sign assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear-cross traffic alert and automatic high beam.

VERDICT

The UX 300e is likely to be the only current-generation Lexus model to gain a BEV variant, with new electric models to be built on a bespoke EV platform from 2025.

One could argue it’s just a stop-gap to put Lexus in the EV game alongside other premium brands and I reckon there is a certain element of truth to that.

But while it lacks the kind of wow-factor display technology many EV buyers expect, this is a solid effort by Lexus, which has done an excellent job of adding the BEV powertrain to UX and arguably making it a more enjoyable drive.

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It’s one of the more capable EVs in the sub-$100K price range when it comes to ride and handling, and its standard features and buyer incentives, such as the free home charger and Lexus Premium Encore membership, add to its showroom appeal.

Whether people choose this over more advanced EVs like the Tesla Model 3 or Ioniq 5, remains to be seen – but I reckon this will do very well with Lexus’s loyal customer base, which finally has the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of quick, silent, emissions-free driving along with the brand’s ownership experience.

They won’t be disappointed.

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2022 Lexus UX300e specifications