New (95%) Japanese crossover: no puzoterka!

I pull the doorknob, but it doesn’t flinch! Frozen? No, the door is open. The new “en-X” only has touch-sensitive door handles: pull them and simultaneously touch the touch button inside with your fingers. Everything is simple, but out of habit it is somehow wrong: muscle memory is a stubborn thing.

Although it is certainly not the door handles. The car is 95% updated. What’s left of the old? Even the representatives of the company could not remember. But certainly no units with a platform!

How does it drive?

The new NX is built on the modular GA-K platform, known from the Camry and RAV4, which rides quite perky. Now asphalt would spring! But the entire Rostov region was covered with snow – at least test all-terrain vehicles. The roads are full of snow and rubble.

NX is definitely not a puzoterka. Under the protection of the engine, well over 19 cm, and I barely touched the bottom of the snow. But you have to tiptoe to park near a snowdrift or drive down a steep slope. The overhang in the front is huge! The bumper hangs low – it’s easy to hit them.

Unlike the Rafik, which has a version with individual rear-wheel drive clutches, the NX all-wheel drive transmission has only one. The Japanese say no one will climb a Lexus off-road and good calibrations are enough to control one clutch.

This is partially true. The rear wheels are directly coupled, despite the fact that the clutch has no preload. Even on a completely unblemished road, I calmly kept 100 km / h and experienced no discomfort. The NX rides reliably in difficult conditions without leaving the rider in a cold sweat.

Only the downhill assistant can be attributed to off-road assistants: it works delicately.

NX and RAV4 – what’s the difference?

But in the end, “premium” should differ not only in design and finishing materials, but also technically surpass the “people” cars. Yes, the NX’s transmission is simpler than the RAV4’s, but the engine is cooler.

Six years ago, the first NX drove me to dismay with a 150 horsepower engine. The newcomer does not yet have the 200th version (in our market), and the NX250 with a power of 199 hp will temporarily be the base. And he’s on his way! Cheerful, in good spirits! The merit of this is not only the motor, but also the machine with eight correctly cut steps.

I was enthusiastically behind the wheel of a powerful NX350 F Sport with a 2.4 turbo engine with an output of 279 hp. A gun? On slippery roads, no. Of course, the 350 drives more cheerfully, but the difference with the NX250 is not so great to pay off the extra 30 thousand rubles for the transport tax.

Rational luxury

It makes no sense to buy the NX350 F Sport, also because the prices for it start where the 250 has long ended – from six million (as of mid-March).

The price for the NX250 actually starts at five million.

There are no front-wheel drive cars yet, such as the two-liter NX200. They should be cheaper, but in the current situation the real prices can only be guessed. Although it is precisely these – the most affordable – adjustments that should be the most in demand.

NX250 is a very balanced crossover

So balanced you don’t need an NX350

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• “Driving” can also be read on Viber.