Lexus LBX Review (2024-present)

What is the Lexus LBX?

Small, premium cars are not a new idea; BMW has been doing it for many years with the MINI, Audi with the A1, and Fiat with the 500. Now (a decade or so late to the party, you might argue) Lexus has joined in with this, the new Lexus LBX.

Based on the Toyota Yaris Cross, but with its own distinctive styling and a body that’s a touch wider and longer, the LBX also shares the Toyota’s front-wheel-drive hybrid powertrain (although it can also be specced with four-wheel drive). That means that you get a 1.5-litre petrol engine that’s mated to an electric motor that will power the car on its own at low speeds and when the car is coasting, in order to keep emissions and economy as low as possible.

The Lexus LBX measures under 4.2-metres long, making it very similar in size to the Audi Q2 and Jeep Avenger, although bigger alternatives like the MINI Countryman, Mercedes GLA and BMW X1 are all well within the price range of the Lexus, which costs from £30,000 to over £40,000.

That’s not cheap, when you think that you’re not getting much more space inside than you do with the normal Toyota Yaris hatchback, but – as we’ve mentioned – we know that there’s a market for small but premium and pricey cars. Even so, with many and varied rivals to compete with, can the Lexus justify that kind of price?

How practical is it?

Don’t expect loads of passenger space. The LBX may officially be classed as a crossover-SUV, but honestly, we’d just call it a hatchback, and you don’t get much more rear passenger room than you do in the standard Toyota Yaris hatchback. You’ll get more rear passenger space in the Honda Jazz than you do in the Lexus LBX, in fact. A couple of average-sized adults will be okay in the rear seats, but it still feels pokey, and if you’ve got bulky child seats to worry about, then be careful that the LBX will suit your needs: there are plenty of roomier cars available at the price.

Where the LBX does improve over conventional small cars is in its boot space. At 402 litres, it’s a bit bigger than the boot in a VW Golf, for instance, although in practice it’s perhaps not quite so useful as there’s a high load lip that falls away to a recessed boot floor. Your dog will need to be fairly dexterous to get in, that’s for sure. Even so, you’ll get a big shop, or a lightweight buggy in there no problem. Beware, though, that speccing the all-wheel drive version shrinks the boot to 317 litres.

Up front, the driving position is good but doesn’t feel very SUV-ish at all. In fact, it doesn’t really feel raised that much over a normal hatchback, but the materials are classy and the LBX is undoubtedly much more upmarket than alternatives like the Jeep Avenger, Nissan Juke and Ford Puma.

What’s it like to drive?

Fit for purpose, is the phrase that springs to mind. The Lexus LBX has the same self-charging hybrid (also known as a full hybrid) powertrain as the Toyota Yaris. The car’s electric motor takes power from a 1kWh battery, which is charged up by the car’s forward motion and braking energy. You can’t plug the car in, but you’ll still run on electric power for intermittent stretches at lower speeds or when you lift off the accelerator, and Toyota maintains that you can spend 50% or more of your time on electric power.

We can see where it’s coming from with that claim, too, as the LBX (and the Yaris models) do flick into electric mode regularly, even just when you’re coasting or on light throttle at motorway speeds, and they’re certainly efficient. You do notice the engine juggling power sources, though, chiefly as the engine is quite gruff, so you hear and feel the thrum as it strikes up. It also moos noisily when you accelerate even moderately, due to the automatic e-CVT gearbox letting the engine rev hard, so it’s not as refined as you might expect when the petrol engine is in action.

Still, when you’re just puttering around, the LBX’s hybrid system is quiet and easy to ignore, so you can enjoy the decent handling. It turns into corners with surprising directness with a quick tug of the steering wheel, and has nicely weighted steering, which makes it feel just as confident on the motorway as it does wheeling through town. It’s even quite good fun on a nice road, if you want it to be.

What does let it down a touch is the ride comfort, which is quite lively at lower speeds, particularly. The suspension damping is good enough to keep it from crashing over potholes, but it’s a bit choppy and restless over typically patchy UK road surfaces.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

The Lexus LBX is stuffed with hi-tech safety- and driver aids. Even the entry-level LBX Urban gets LED headlights with automatic high-beam, as well as adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist and autonomous emergency braking that combines to create a semi-autonomous drive mode. A blind-spot monitor and a system that warns you if a bicycle or car is approaching as you’re opening the car door is also standard on all but the cheapest LBX model.

Keyless entry and climate control is standard across the range, which includes an impressive seven trim levels (including the very highly specced limited-run Original Edition, of which only 2,000 examples were made), but we’d go for the mid-spec Premium Plus, which costs around £35,000 but gets head-up display, heated front seats, electric lumbar adjustment, 12.0-inch digital driver’s readout and various interior style upgrades. It’s a happy mix of premium kit, at a fairly reasonable price.

Keep climbing the range and you can be enjoying features like a 13-speaker Mark Levinson audio system, full matrix LED headlights, contrast paint finishes and more, but you’ll also be creeping towards (or over) a £40,000 list price.

Every Lexus LBX gets a 9.8-inch touchscreen that’s built into the dashboard, and that has satnav, Bluetooth and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard. Over-the-air software updates are also standard. It’s a decent system that responds quickly and lets you find most features easily, plus there’s a permanently visible shortcut to the most frequently used features, which is a useful touch. We’d still say that the system in the MINI Countryman, and also in the Kia Niro and Hyundai Kona, are better for menu layout, but the Lexus’ infotainment is certainly smart and easy to live with.

You’ll want to turn off the lane-keep assist and speed-limit warning (which is more of a faff than it should be), as they add further beeps to a symphony of warning blips and chirps that the Lexus seems to emit constantly. It beeps if you look away from the road, if there are cars approaching at a junction, if you open the door when the car’s parked, if the speed limit changes, if you go over the speed limit, if you’re having a bad hair day, wearing the wrong colour pants or say a bad word. It does get to a point where you become so resigned to the warning beeps that you just stop noticing them.

Lexus LBX running costs

The LBX is far from the cheapest small car to buy, but it is comparable with rivals like the MINI Countryman, and it will likely hold its value very well. We’d like to see lower PCP finance costs on offer, but there’s no doubt that the LBX will be a very affordable premium car to run. It’ll also be impressively cheap to fuel. The official WLTP fuel efficiency figures are 62.7 mpg on the regular LBX and 58.8 mpg on the four-wheel driver, but according to what we’ve observed, you real-world fuel economy figure should hover above 55 mpg quite easily, even if you don’t make any concessions to economical driving. You could even see it creep up towards 60mpg if you do take it easy and make good use of the Eco mode.

Lexus LBX reliability

The LBX gets a standard 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty but you do have to service the car on time (it’ll bing a message onto the dash when it needs attention) and at an official Toyota or Lexus dealer to maintain that warranty. Still, that seems a small price to pay to keep such an impressive warranty in tact – especially as it is transferrable between owners, and will add a good amount of value to a used example.

Not only that, but Lexus routinely wins owner satisfaction and reliability surveys for its excellent reliability and customer service, so there’s really no better brand when it comes to peace of mind.