Lexus NX200t F Sport first drive

The new Lexus NX is that rare, maybe even unique thing: a production car that looks better than the concept that inspired it.

The new NX was born out of last September’s LF-NX concept, a BMW X3-sized mid-size SUV that looked like Edward Scissorhands had led the exterior design team.

Pretty it was not, but no one questioned the idea of Lexus making a premium SUV. After all, Toyota’s luxury arm is still looking to gain real traction in Europe after more than two decades of competing against increasingly bigger and stronger German opposition.

Indeed, if the NX ticks enough boxes, it could even prove a breakthrough model for the firm, such is the growing size and significance of SUVs in the premium market. Lexus already expects it to add a third to its European sales and become its best-selling model in Europe.

The handsome – yet still striking – production car we’re testing for the first time here thankfully does without Scissorhands’s input. Lexus says the concept car still inspired the look of the final NX, an edgy, eye-catching design that manages to be anything but conservative while still retaining everyman appeal.

Not just another German bland box, in other words, and a notable achievement from a car loosely derived from the hardly inspiring-looking Toyota RAV4.

The pleasing styling is not the only headline in the new NX, for the new SUV gets the first airing of Lexus’s new turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine as one of two powertrain options, an efficient petrol-electric hybrid being the other choice and likely best seller in the continued absence of diesel from Lexus’s range.

The NX300h hybrid comes with standard front- or optional four-wheel drive and reaches the UK from October priced from £29,495. The NX200t petrol model due next March is exclusively available in four-wheel drive and F Sport trim. It will cost around £35,000 and it’s this model we’ll deal with in detail here.

Enter the NX’s cabin – entry for which is notable for being a claimed industry first in doing without visible key barrels in the doors – and you’re met with another eye-catching design. Toyota and Lexus cabins are known for being high on perceived quality, but not on design and sometimes ease of use.

The NX’s cabin looks and feels plush and of a high quality, and has a clear hierarchy to the controls on the centre console, many of which have been pared back from previous Lexus cabins and are now controlled using a touchpad linked to the infotainment screen in the dash.

The touchpad, called Remote Touch Interface, lacks the overall finesse of a smartphone screen, but is intuitive enough and not too sensitive. Consequently options are easy to select. It’s all largely positive before pushing the engine starter button, then.

First impressions on the road are more mixed, however. The engine is pleasing enough; the 2.0-litre turbo unit is potent with 235bhp and a hefty 258lb ft of torque available from just 1650rpm. It’s hooked up to a new six-speed automatic gearbox, driving all four wheels.

Performance is brisk without having passengers reaching for the grab handles, the claimed 7.1sec 0-62mph figure feeling perfectly believable, and the 50-75mph time of 6.0sec also indicating plenty of mid-range shove, before it trails away at the top end.