Lexus UX Review & Prices

The Lexus UX is a posh, fuel efficient and very comfortable small SUV with a fuel efficient hybrid engine. It’s bigger than the LBX and smaller than the NX, but it’s not quite as practical as either, nor is it as stylish.

There are some very capable alternatives to consider alongside the UX, though, chiefly the Audi A3, BMW X1 and even the Peugeot 3008. If you don’t need something with as much badge prestige then the Toyota C-HR is also available, with near enough the same self-charging hybrid system under the bonnet.

The UX isn’t the most handsome car on the road, that being said. There are some interesting creases down its flanks and a prominent rear light bar, but otherwise the proportions are a bit all-over the shop with a bulbous silhouette and brash ‘spindle’ grille at the front.

You’re better off jumping in quickly, because the UX has a rather lovely interior. You sit low-down for an SUV (it’s pretty much a hatchback), cocooned by the wide centre console and heavily padded door cards. The dashboard is an odd but eye-catching mix of curves and plush materials, with the infotainment screen seemingly free-standing and driver’s display set in a pod behind the steering wheel.

Up front there’s loads of space to get comfortable, with highly adjustable seats making it easy to find a good driving position. There isn’t too much storage space, but the door bins are large and there’s a tray by the cupholders in the centre console.

Rear seat space is far tighter. Most adults will be fine in the back, but tall individuals will find themselves butting up against the roof above the back doors with their knees wedged against the front seats, and you won’t fit three adults across. The 320-litre boot is disappointingly small, too.

Around town the UX is a fantastic car to potter about in, with easily enough poke from its electric motor to nip around traffic or to briskly pull away from the lights and suspension that does a stellar job of ironing out broken, battered roads. If you want to drive around in total silence, have a look at the all-electric UX300e.

The UX is just as relaxing to drive on the motorway as it is in town, once you get past the intrusive engine noise under acceleration. At a cruise the UX is whisper quiet, but over-the-shoulder visibility could be better as the rear pillars are very thick, and blind spot monitoring is only standard on higher trim levels.

Its comfortable, refined nature doesn’t lend the UX to thrills on a twisty road. It’s about as stable and fuss-free as possible through corners, but the steering is light and the engine a bit too gruff when you put your foot down, so you’re better off taking it easy instead.

To get this comfortable cruiser on your driveway, check out the latest Lexus UX deals on Carwow, or UX lease deals instead. There are plenty of used UX models to choose from through our trusted dealer network, as well as other used Lexus models. Carwow can even help you sell your car when the time comes.

Kicking off at just over £37,000, the Lexus UX is a smidge cheaper than the Audi Q3 but around the same price as the BMW X1. Both of the Germans are far more spacious, however. You’ll be paying a good chunk more for either of its alternatives with a plug-in hybrid engine (you can’t get them as self-chargers) which gives the entry-level Lexus a bit of an advantage, overall.

Be careful when choosing a UX though, as the price jumps up massively between trim levels, and you’ll spend £11,000 more on a top-spec Lexus UX300h Takumi than you would on the base-model UX300h Premium. Ouch.

It’s not like the base car is poorly equipped, either, with standard-fit parking sensors at both ends, keyless entry-and-go and a heated steering wheel, while F-Sport Design cars get 18-inch alloys, tinted glass and some exterior trim pieces.

Tech adds heated seats and steering wheel plus more driver assists, while the full-fat F Sport has adaptive sports suspension. The range-topping Takumi model has machine-finished 18-inch allows, a Mark Levinson sound system and 360-degree cameras.

The UX is at its best at a relaxed pace - don’t bother spending the extra for the four-wheel drive system

In town

Being a hybrid, the UX can cover short distances at low speed on electric power, which is ideal for driving in town because you can sit in stop-start traffic or manoeuvre without creating any emissions or noise. When the engine does cut in, it’s generally really quiet and responsive enough to make a quick getaway.

The suspension does an excellent job of soaking up rutted, rough sections of road - while potholes and speed bumps are absorbed with ease. It’s one of the most cosseting small SUVs you can buy.

You sit quite low down for an SUV – the UX is really more of a slightly raised hatchback – but you still have a good view out of the front. Less so out of the back, though. The wide rear pillars create enormous blindspots and the back window is tiny.

Fortunately, a reversing camera comes as standard on all models so you can see behind the car. Higher spec versions also have front and rear parking sensors, plus a clever 360-degree camera system that gives a much better view.

There’s lots of adjustment in the seats and steering wheel (both electric on high-spec models), so you can easily find the right driving position. The seats are fantastically comfortable, too.

On the motorway

The UX has a CVT gearbox, which doesn’t actually have gears. Instead, it holds the engine revs at whichever point works best at that moment. Accelerate quickly onto a motorway and that point is quite high, so the engine gets pretty noisy. It’s not a pleasant noise, either. Still, once you’re up to 70mph, the revs drop and you can cruise along in near-silence.

Very little wind or road noise gets through to the interior, either. There’s even extra sound deadening above the wheels specifically positioned to absorb the noise of water sloshing up when it rains. It’s certainly very quiet compared to its BMW or Audi alternatives.

With 199hp, the engine hauls the UX along happily at the speed limit, and has power in reserve if you need to hurry up. The car feels solid as a rock and is smooth over bumps – it really is a very relaxing car to travel in.

On a twisty road

In many ways, the UX feels pretty good to drive on a winding country road, in as much as it feels utterly safe and stable, the steering is light and takes the car where you want to go, and there’s enough power to get a shift on when you need to overtake.

All of which sounds excellent. There’s just not a trace of fun to be had. You don’t feel particularly connected to the car, and the traction and stability control cut in keenly if you go just a little bit quickly round a corner. If you want a car that engages you, the BMW X1 is a much better bet. If you just want to relax and enjoy the scenery, though, the UX is one of the best cars in its class, up there with the Range Rover Evoque.

The UX can be specified as an ‘E-Four’ model, which adds a second electric motor to the rear axle. This doesn’t change the car’s overall power output, nor does it much affect performance - it accelerates only marginally quicker. Given that the UX is never going to be much of an off-roader, we’d recommend saving your money and buying the regular, front-wheel drive car.

The Lexus UX is practical enough for single people and couples, but its credentials as a family car don’t stack up

Just about anyone can get comfortable in the front on the UX. Leg, head and shoulder room are all pretty generous. The fabulous seats have a wide range of adjustment, so it’s easy to find the position you want.

For storage, there are door bins that can hold a litre bottle, two cupholders and a phone tray in front of the gear lever (the latter also doubles as a wireless charging pad in high-spec models), and quite a small glovebox. There’s a coin tray in the centre console and a cubby hole with two USB charging ports under the armrest, which can be opened from either side.

Space in the back seats

There’s decent space for a couple of average size adults in the back of the UX, but anyone taller than that will be complaining about the lack of headroom. And it’s too narrow to carry three adults. Small children won’t be keen on the view out of the back, either, as they basically won’t have one out of the small, high windows. There are two sets of ISOFIX mounts, but installing a child seat is a faff. 

All there is for storage is a pair of cupholders in the armrest and a single pocket on the back of the passenger seat. The UX is fine if you only occasionally have back seat passengers but, for a family car, you’d be much better off with a BMW X1 or particularly a Volvo XC40.

Boot space

The boot in the UX is tiny for a compact SUV. Indeed, its 320-litre capacity is in the same ballpark as significantly smaller hatchbacks. That capacity includes an extra storage area below the boot floor, which is useful for keeping things like maps, umbrellas and walking shoes. However, E-Four all-wheel drive models don’t have that extra space, reducing boot capacity to just 283 litres. That’s just about enough to accommodate a couple’s luggage for a week-long holiday.

At least the loading lip is low, so it’s easy to haul heavy stuff in. There are various hooks and tie-down points to secure the load, and a couple of extra hidden storage compartments to the sides. The back seats fold down if you need to carry more stuff.

Every other premium compact SUV has a much bigger boot than the UX – the Audi Q3 has the biggest at a hefty 530 litres.

Interior quality impresses, outdated tech impresses less

The Lexus UX underwent a fairly comprehensive interior update in 2023 where the horrendously outdated infotainment system was replaced with a new version similar to that in the NX and LBX. The result is a big improvement - it’s now fully touchscreen, and much easier to use than before.

However, it still lags behind the best systems from BMW and Audi. Some functions, particularly safety features that you might want to toggle on and off on the move, are buried a few layers deeper than we’d like. There’s also no real ‘home’ screen, so if you’re not actively using the system you’ll be staring at a menu instead. Not the biggest issue, but it does grate.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both included as standard equipment, though, which allows you to bypass Lexus’ own system if you prefer.

Every UX also comes with digital dials - a small display with physical fuel and temperature gauges for lower-spec models, or a fully digital affair for the higher trim levels. Both of these options feel a little disappointing when you look at the superb quality of some of the alternatives, such as Audi’s excellent Virtual Cockpit. The UX’s dash feels old, the displays aren’t as clear or as vibrant and you can’t display things like a full-screen map, which is usually a major advantage of an all-digital setup.

It’s not all negative inside the UX, though. The overriding impression is of material plushness and build quality. Every button, knob and surface feels like it’s made from very high quality materials, everything is put together with millimetric precision and feels like it’ll last for decades.

The base model has dual-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, four electric windows and a host of safety features which we’ll cover in more detail later. Higher-spec models also have heated leather seats, front and rear parking sensors, and a digital driver’s display. Go for the top-of-the-range Takumi and you can luxuriate on electrically adjustable, ventilated front seats while listening to the crystal-clear Mark Levinson stereo.

Officially, the Lexus UX will return up to 56.4mpg or up to 50.4mpg in the E-Four version. Lexus hybrids often get pretty close to their official economy figures, especially when they’re primarily driven around town, so expect to see around 50mpg with ease and probably closer to 45mpg if you do mainly fast motorway miles.

CO2 emissions range from 113-129g/km, impressively low but not in the same ballpark as plug-in hybrid or electric alternatives when it comes to company car tax. Higher-spec models also tip over £40,000, attracting the luxury car supplement to annual road tax.

Car safety expert EuroNCAP awarded the UX a full five star rating, scoring it very highly in every area of the assessment. Indeed, it scored 96% for protecting adult occupants in a crash – very few cars have scored higher.

Safety features fitted to all models include automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, lane-keeping assist, rear cross traffic alert, road sign recognition and an emergency call system. Lexus’ safety systems can be very annoying to turn off, though, as they’re buried quite deep in the touchscreen’s menu.

Lexus has a very strong reputation for building dependable cars that are a real pleasure to own, and it came third in the 2025 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey as a result. Lexus dealers are also universally admired, with excellent customer service usually a given.

The brand provides a three-year/60,000-mile warranty as standard, which can be extended to 10 years/100,000 miles, so long as your car is always serviced at a Lexus-approved garage. This is among the best warranties in the business, and premium alternatives from Audi or Mercedes can’t even come close.