Lexus UX review

The UX starts at £34,895 on the road for the entry model, £36,895 for Premium trim, and £37,495 for F-Sport Design. Want 4WD? You’re looking at a £7-8k uplift in Premium and F-Sport Design trim, or just shy of £50k in range-topping Takumi.

If you’re looking at a monthly lease then the entry-level UX starts the bidding at around £485 a month with a £5k down payment, 10,000-mile yearly limit and four-year repayment period, rising to a dizzying £740 a month for the Takumi spec.

And a comparison with rivals proves the UX isn’t exactly cheap either. An Audi Q2 and Mini Countryman start under £30k, and a BMW X1 and Volvo XC40 similarly around £35k. Plenty of talent in the premium/desirability stakes there. A Range Rover Evoque and Jag E-Pace are slightly more expensive, around the £40k mark.

What are the specs like?

Base-spec UXs come with a reasonable-though-not-prodigious level of standard equipment. You get 17-inch silver alloy wheels, LED headlights, heated mirrors, an eight-inch touchscreen, and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

One-up Premium adds black alloy wheels, heated steering wheel and front seats, front and rear parking sensors, and keyless entry/go, while F-Sport Design adds 18in alloys, privacy glass, smarter front seats, wireless charging and blind spot monitor.

Then you’re into the 4WD variants, with Premium Plus introducing the 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and identical-sized touchscreen, 10-speaker audio system, and leather upholstery, while the F-Sport gets adaptive suspension plus performance dampers and five drive modes.

Top-spec Takumi models get adaptive headlights, electric sunroof, head-up display, ventilated front seats and a 13-speaker Mark Levison sound system. If you want to add nicer paint into the mix then you’re looking at £600–800 on top.

What would you choose?

We’d stick with the Premium trim, which keeps the smaller alloys, but brings with it various toys and gizmos you’ll appreciate down the line. You don’t need 4WD in a car like this either, particularly as the 2WD variant is more frugal. Meaning all in you'd be looking at a starting price of £36,895.

Lexus offers a three-year/60,000-mile warranty as standard that can be magically extended to 10 years and 100,000 miles if you service your car at a Lexus dealer each year (your officially approved annual service gives you a 12-month extension after the first three years). Very nice.

CO2 emissions of around 113g/km for the entry 2WD model (down from 120g/km) and 121g/km for the 4WD top spec car (down from 131g/km) make for decently low tax and company car rates. Or there’s always the electric UX.