Last week, I took the delivery of my first long-term road test vehicle from Lexus Canada—a 2010 Smoky Granite Mica RX 450h:
This is the full deal—an RX 450h with the Ultra Luxury package that includes Heads-Up Display, rear entertainment system, LED headlights, and fifteen-speaker Mark Levinson audio system. As far as I can tell, the only option missing is dynamic air suspension.
One effect to all this technology is a strong feeling that I’m driving in the future—a feeling that’s reinforced by the exterior & interior design. The RXh looks like a spaceship sitting in my driveway:
Inside is black on black with some brown walnut accents, and the absence of color makes the interior feel smaller than it is:
So far, I’m finding the RXh interior very cozy. The iPod integration with the Remote Touch Audio is a little cumbersome, but on the flip side, it’s very easy to set up Bluetooth Audio. I paired the RXh with my iPhone in a matter of minutes, and that allows me to bypass the awkward iPod integration entirely.
Some other random notes from my first week:
- The Heads-Up Display is something that’s taking some getting used to—I had to turn it off one day because it was giving me a headache. I also find myself frequently adjusting the brightness level.
- The LED headlights do so much for the exterior appearance of the RX 450h they should be standard.
- I’m a little nervous about road salt and the black carpet.
- It’s very easy to get used to the power rear-door, which can be open/closed using the remote alone.
- One of the first things I did was program my home address into the navigation:
I will have the RXh until the end of February, so there will be plenty of time to go over every feature, explore every option, and take a ton of photos. And please, if you have any questions about the RX hybrid at all, leave a comment and I will do my best to answer.
Update: I forgot to mention my first week’s gas mileage—I filled up today, and after driving 615km (382 miles), my gas mileage was 8.8L/100km, or 26.7mpg. Not fantastic, but it’s been below-zero temperatures all week and cuts into the battery’s effectiveness.
Also, a couple comments requested the second photo as a desktop wallpaper, so here we are:
Special thanks to Lexus Canada for providing me with this vehicle for the purpose of review. The RX 450h with the Ultra Luxury Package retails for $71,400CAD ($67,150USD).
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