Very poor review from Motor Trends, indeed.
Here in the EU, the UX is considered a strong product in terms of build quality, refinement, reliability, driving dynamics and value for money (list price vs. competitors at same equipment level). Excellent scores as well on real driving economy and strong improvement of elimination of the rubber band feel of the e-CVT (UX 250h). Most journalists agree to this.
It is also clear that the Touchpad interface is getting its classic criticism. But frankly... even if it is not the best system on the market, it is rather OK for day to day use if you spend app. a week to get to know it. Most journalists pick up the car for 1 week, spend 3 days testing it and then park it at the airport because they need to go to a product presentation from another brand... :laughing: so they never take the effort to live a bit longer with the car...
However, I do agree that there are some points where the UX deserves low scores:
- trunk space: way too small. As soon as you use the UX as a small family car (e.g. couple with 1 kid) it becomes almost impossible to use. Competitors have at least +100 litres trunk space
- rear cabin space: too small to transport adult-sized persons if the driver is + 1m80
- interior material choice: some very nice soft touch surfaces, but also a lot of zones with hard plastics (lower front door panels, lower center console, complete rear door panels...). This is a sad tendency of cost reduction that is clearly visible in a lot of recent Lexus models: current NX, RX and even new ES lower door panels & lower center console have all the same issues. Even a lot of mainstream competitor models nowadays score better on this level