Lexus LBX Review

The LBX is the smallest car Lexus has made so far. Measuring less than 4.2 metres long, it takes up less space on the road than a regular hatchback like a Volkswagen Golf, but offers just enough practicality to work as a small family car. As a result, you can tackle tight city streets and tricky parking spots in the LBX without breaking a sweat.

There aren't many direct rivals for the LBX, as Mercedes and BMW don't offer SUVs in this segment. That leaves the ageing Audi Q2 as the most obvious competitor, with EVs like the Mini Aceman and Smart #1 also being potential alternatives if you can charge at home. If you like the idea of a compact hybrid SUV but don't have the budget to stretch to the Lexus, consider the Toyota Yaris Cross, which uses the same platform and 1.5-litre hybrid engine as the LBX.

So what does the LBX have to do to be taken seriously as a proper Lexus? For starters, it needs the obvious sense of quality you'll find in the brand's bigger cars and, for the most part, it succeeds. There are no creaks or rattles as you go over bumps, and you sense the car's structure itself feels stiff and unyielding. Material quality is good in the places you touch regularly, though there are some spots hidden further away in the cabin that feel a bit plasticky.

We've criticised recent Lexus models for their old-fashioned infotainment systems. The LBX still has a few digital shortcomings which we'll cover in more detail below, but the brand has at least outfitted the car with a much more modern screen with faster reactions and cleaner software. There's also a digital screen behind the steering wheel with the driver's dials, but these don't look as modern as the main screen and are a little overloaded with information.

Brand-new prices for the LBX sneak just under £30,000 if you pick an entry-level model in yellow – a shade that we feel really suits the LBX – or just above £30,000 for any other colour. That's closely in line with the Audi Q2, though we feel the LBX feels posher from behind the wheel. The Lexus' price also tallies against the Mini Aceman and Smart #1 – both of which are quicker than the LBX but lack the convenience of being able to quickly refuel at a petrol station.

Considering the little Lexus' broad range of skills, we think it's one of the best cars the brand currently makes. It's small enough that city driving is easy but big enough to carry passengers and cargo. Real-world economy is excellent without needing to plug in, and the full-hybrid engine is responsive and smooth in use. Plus, the major touch points in the cabin have that 'Lexus-ey' sensation, feeling both suitably premium and reassuringly durable. And, just like the rest of the range, it's covered by Lexus' 10-year service-activated warranty to guarantee thousands of fuss-free miles.

The LBX might share the bones of the Toyota Yaris Cross, but the cabin feels very different. There's a raised centre console like you'd find in Lexus' bigger saloons and SUVs, giving you somewhere comfortable to rest your arm, and putting the stubby gear selector in easy reach. The selector itself is held to the right then pulled back or forth for drive and reverse respectively. Sadly, it feels a bit unsatisfying in your hand compared to the reassuring clunk of the shifter you'll find in the Yaris Cross, while also taking up more space than a column-mounted shifter like you'd find in a Mercedes, for example.

Material quality is excellent in the spots you touch regularly like the steering wheel, dash top and upper door panels. There's no give if you apply pressure to any point in the cabin, and no noises that would highlight ill-fitting trim as you go over bumps. All the physical switchgear in the cabin feels good under your fingers too, with clearly marked buttons for major functions, and obvious controls to adjust the climate settings. Key driving controls such as the Eco and EV modes, along with the auto-hold brakes are all physical buttons in the centre console too, so you don't need to dive through on-screen menus to access them.

Lexus models had needed an infotainment overhaul for some time and cars like the LBX and the most recent Lexus NX have attempted to address this. Gone is the old screen with its awkward laptop-style trackpad and PlayStation-2-era graphics, with a new, high-mounted touchscreen display in its place. The graphics are much crisper and more simplified, making it fairly easy to quickly spot the on-screen function you're looking for. Plus, the screen responds very quickly to your touch, feeling similar to a modern iPad or tablet PC. That said, it still doesn't look as modern as the dual-screen setups you'll find in cars like the BMW X1 or Hyundai Kona.

We'll cover the driving experience in more detail below but, suffice to say, the LBX suffers from the same hyperactive active safety tech as many other modern cars. Annoyingly, it's not immediately obvious how to turn the safety nannies off, with shortcuts buried in a swipeable sub-menu that you wouldn't know to find if it wasn't pointed out to you (the six little dots next to the climate button, by the way). This adds a layer of frustration as these systems are legally required to turn back on every time you start the car, leaving you prodding around the menus so the car doesn't constantly bong at you. Finally, while we're complaining, we don't love the electronic buttons that pop the doors open – they feel like an unnecessary layer of complication when a mechanical handle would work just as well.

The 4,190mm-long LBX is shorter than most rivals by a few centimetres. There's an acceptable amount of passenger space given the car's small footprint, but cars like the Skoda Kamiq, Peugeot 2008 and Audi Q2 all perform a little better in this area. You'll mostly notice the LBX falling short in terms of legroom, while headroom is actually pretty good thanks to the car's tall body. The extra headroom also means taller side windows for rear passengers, so the LBX ends up feeling less claustrophobic than the longer UX SUV, for example.

Our test car comes in Premium trim – one step up from entry-level Urban models. This version has simple manual adjustment for the driver's seat and just two-way adjustable lumbar, rather than the full eight-way power adjustable seats on Takumi models and up. Based on our experience, though, we wouldn't bother upgrading as the Premium's seats were wonderfully supportive and comfortable, and we could happily cover hundreds of miles without straining our backs. The seating position is fairly high compared to many small SUVs, feeling closer to bigger SUVs like the Toyota RAV4 or Lexus NX with a commanding view of the road ahead.

The LBX's boot measures either 402 litres in front-wheel-drive models, or 317 litres for four-wheel-drive cars. That figure compares pretty well to rivals on paper but it doesn't feel quite as big in real life. There's more intrusion from the LBX's wheelarches, which makes the space seem relatively narrow, and the high load lip means you have to lift objects further than more practical alternatives. To put that into perspective, you'll be able to fit a pushchair or a big weekly shop without too much bother, but you might struggle to fit both at the same time.

Cabin storage is a bit of a mixed bag. There are good points, like the centre console, which has easy access to the wireless phone charger, cupholder and gear selector, plus a big storage tray beneath and a similarly practical cubby under the armrest. On the other hand, the door bins are small, with only enough space for a single drinks bottle, and the glovebox has been shaved down to give the front passenger more kneeroom.

There isn't a lot of choice under the LBX's bonnet – all UK models come with the same 1.5-litre self-charging hybrid engine. That means an automatic gearbox as standard and a total of 136hp, which is a useful 20hp boost over the same engine in the Toyota Yaris Cross. That said, the LBX's outright power isn't really that impressive, with a slight delay as the engine gets spun up to max speed and plenty of noise as it does so.

Where this setup really excels is when you're just cruising around. There's lots of off-the-line response available from the hybrid electric motor, so you feel confident jumping through gaps in traffic, and the LBX rarely needs to kick the engine in when travelling at urban speeds. That also means real-world fuel economy remains high even in stop-start traffic, with more than 60mpg readily achievable if you keep your speed under control.

A big part of why this setup works so well is the hybrid pedal tuning, which Toyota and Lexus seem to have figured out better than many other brands. There's an immediate and predictable increase in acceleration the harder you press the right pedal, so you're never left stabbing it with your foot waiting for the car to respond. Equally, the transition between the electric motor's regenerative braking and the physical brake discs is imperceptible to the driver, so the left pedal is just as intuitive to use as the right.

Our test car is a front-wheel-drive model – the only real option for UK buyers is the choice between this or the four-wheel-drive version. The latter adds a small extra electric motor on the rear axle, though there's no actual increase in power and acceleration actually takes a small hit – 9.2 seconds from 0-62mph in the front-wheel-drive car versus 9.6 seconds for the four-wheel drive. Considering you also lose around 80 litres of boot space, most buyers will be better off with the front-driver, and simply fitting winter tyres if driving through harsh weather.

The LBX's overall driving experience is easy and fuss-free. Compared to the Yaris Cross it's based on, the suspension is more compliant and does a better job rounding off the harshness from bumps in the road. That said, you'll still feel the road surface as the car's structure itself is very stiff. And, since you're sat in a high-up SUV position, that means a small but constant jiggle if you're crossing particularly uneven surfaces.

You'd hope a stiff structure means the LBX is fun to drive, and our response to that is an emphatic "kinda…?". It copes very well with hard cornering and quick direction changes, feeling much more like a road-biased hatchback than a tall-riding SUV. You do sense, however, that the extra softness Lexus has managed to bake in compared to its Yaris Cross platform-mate has blunted its reactions slightly, so it doesn't dive for a corner apex the same way the sportiest models in the class do.

But really, who cares? The LBX's hybrid engine feels biased towards relaxed everyday driving rather than high performance, and its ride and handling setup suits that brief too. Its steering is accurate and predictable, and the extra cushioning means driving the LBX is a calming affair, whether you're slogging down the motorway or battling through busy city-centre streets. Refinement is mostly impressive, especially when the car's running on just electric power, and you can tell Lexus has added quite a bit of extra sound deadening to lessen the grumble of the 1.5-litre petrol engine when it kicks in.

We did get a bit fed up of the LBX's active safety tech, however. This isn't Lexus' fault as these systems are demanded by legislation, but their execution in the LBX could be better. Most egregious was the speed limit warning, which tells you off the second you stray over the posted limit, but also bongs at you when the limit changes, even if you're driving below it. It's annoying there isn't a simple on/off switch for these systems either. You have to open an on-screen sub-menu every time you start the car and hit the shortcut buttons to deactivate the various systems. This affects Lexus just as much as other brands, but companies like Nissan and MG let you save all your active safety settings in a custom preset, for easier one-touch activation.