Review Car

2011 Lexus RX

The 2011 Lexus RX is the best-selling luxury SUV not only in America but all over the world. Lexus calls The 2011 Lexus RX a luxury utility vehicle, and is bold enough to dub it an LUV. The Lexus RX falls into that category of SUV that is based on a unit-body car platform rather than a truck frame, and it could be called a crossover vehicle. As such, The 2011 Lexus RX gives up some off-road ability but will do what most SUV buyers want: provide more cargo room than a sedan while conferring an over-the-traffic view and a sense of security from its elevated driving position.

The 2011 Lexus RX is longer and wider than the model it replaces. It comes with a leather interior that feels soft and warm and inviting with splashes of real wood trim. The front seats are positioned off the floor at a comfortable chair height and are snug and supportive and the back seats are roomy and comfortable.

It doesn’t take more than a glance inside to know The 2011 Lexus RX is aimed at the luxury SUV market. Leather on the seats (on most models) is soft and slightly bunched, and there are splashes of real wood trim on the doors and center console. The instrument panel has three large round gauges trimmed in silver. The center dash area, or stack, is framed in metal-looking plastic. Climate controls of The 2011 Lexus RX are located high on the center stack and to either side of an LCD screen used to control ventilation, audio, trip computer, outside temperature and clock (with alarm).

The radio inside The 2011 Lexus RX has a knobs for volume and tuning, much easier to use than the typical German system that has tuning buttons that default to a seek mode. Lexus calls The 2011 Lexus RX an LUV for luxury utility vehicle.

We’ll call it an SUV for suburban utility vehicle. In many ways, a minivan has more utility, more room inside, more seats, and even, as in The new 2011 2011 Toyota Sienna, four-wheel drive. But The 2011 Lexus RX has more flamboyance than any minivan, which may be perceived as too suburban.

That said, The 2011 Lexus RX offers a good ride, a plush, innovative interior, ready power with an 18/24 mpg city/highway EPA mileage rating (4×4), and the confidence that all-wheel drive confers in winter driving, all with more room and, to some eyes, more élan than a simple sedan. Add Lexus quality and reliability and that all-important see-over-the-traffic seat height and it’s your move, LUV.