Lexus RX test drive since 2008 SUV
Lexus RX 350 is not just good - it is insinuating, it is honey
The glamorous Lexus RX crossover is popular. Since 1998, more than 10,000 copies have been sold. And this, of course, suggests that Rax is clearly not a cult car. The legendary SUVs diverge much smaller eg, you know, to an amateur, and RX is able to please anyone. Nevertheless, the Japanese are struggling to turn it into a fetish. They write in their press release that after creating this model, not just a new segment was born on the automotive market, new values \u200b\u200bappeared.
The master loves to relax
Lexus RX was created specifically for the California public, as a result of crossing an SUV with a premium car. The Japanese just went a little further than ordinary American values \u200b\u200bof increased power and large sizes. And guessed! They say that the chief engineer of the updated RX 350 Takayuki Katsuda loves to come to the workshop and work with his own hands. I hope he does not do this too often and makes sure that the robots do not bite his finger. He likes cars that allow you to relax and surrender to pleasure from the trip. If this is true, then Katsuda is a master. All that he wanted to get from the car was implemented in the new Lexus RX 350. Only he could not save our owners from a painful question: will they steal them Rax for lunch today or still tomorrow night? It would be right to make unique airbrushes and put a satellite anti -General system to each Lexus RX 350 already on the conveyor.
Not squatting
What is special in the new 350th? Firstly, there are not so many cars can be compared with Lexus in terms of smoothness. Mercedes will immediately leave aside as an example of the perfect combination of all road qualities. BMW and Audi are too busy with the game who will pass this apex faster. Perhaps only Volvo cars are close to Lexus. They hang together somewhere between heaven and earth. The Germans stubbornly do not perceive them as their competitors in the premium segment, but for ordinary cars they are too good, differing directly with immense smell before the owner. When I got into the new Lexus RX 350, I immediately felt how he wants to like it. This is impossible not to notice. The same feeling covers in the Volvo XC60 and XC70 from the first meters of the journey. At the same time, smoothness is not American at all. A completely new two-legged rear suspension of the 350th, replacing the old Mcpherson, in combination with an increase in the wheelbase and track width allowed to reduce the rolls, remove the clinks during braking and squatting during acceleration. I rode and wondered how they were able to combine comfortable settings, energy intensity and adequate reactions. Although there are weaknesses in terms of controllability, not without it, but the cocktail of running qualities turned out to be tasty, I would like to order this mixture again and again. Changes in the updated RX are worth the time and money. A rare case for the current hasty, sometimes purely marketing restyling.
The screen deeply drowned in the panel never glance and is characterized by bright, saturated colors
The salon of the new crossover has become wider and more convenient for the rear passengers. True, if you lower the backs to the end, they catch vibrations from the wheel arches
Enters a trance
Does he ride quickly? For a car of increased cross -country ability, any result is less than 10 seconds to a hundred already beautiful, and RX 350 reaches a hundred in 8 seconds, but this does not mean anything at all. From the first minutes, the new Lexus introduces the driver into the trance settings of the steering wheel and suspension.
I understand those who pay. It is impossible to prefer something to Rat: his charm does not let go. If there is the spirit of Lexus in nature, then it is concentrated in the new RX, and it is pointless to look for it in another place. The Japanese worked on him like a diamond. A little easier and reduced automatic transmission. Reduced the center of the engine mass. Increased the efficiency of all units. They reduced noise, vibration and achieved the minimum for this class of machine tools of aerodynamic resistance 0.32. Even the new air conditioner cools and heats the RX 350 salon to the desired temperature faster than the previous one. This is jewelry, when the product is polished, bringing to perfection.
There is a remote manipulator in front of you, and a computer mouse is simple: it drives here almost all auxiliary functions
Like these two buttons in the crossover are the most important? But there is little use from them
The generals think
In fact, I wrote all this to throw out positive emotions caused by excellent smoothness of the updated RX. And then, you know, if you accumulate feelings in yourself, this leads to disease. Now, a few words about what they are trying to sell to us under a sauce of high technology. Show me who exactly designed the insides of RX. Designers called it loudly: crossovers cockpit. Although, in addition to a convenient automatic transmission and reduced ducts, nothing special here.
Guys, you just needed to invite a person with short hands and poor vision. After half an hour, you would understand how to do an ergonomic cockpit, and all that you concocted in five years and $ 100 million, a loud fook. What, by the way, is to blame for the projection display, reflecting information on the windshield. Initially designed for fighters, he took root well in the car. And now in the car concerns they consider to fuss below their dignity. The military will still come up with better.
The trunk is small, and the board is high. Loading heavy bags is very inconvenient
Another disappointment of the anti -boom system. The elder LX 570 obviously did not want to share with RX 350 an off -road electronic algorithm. Rax is simply not able to drive a more or less simple piece of crossed terrain, where you have to move on three wheels. Maybe here are waiting for dispatches from NATO with interesting ideas?
It seems that I will not get sick, because I splashed all the emotions born because of this car, leaving no joy or disappointment inside. Perhaps there was more joy. If I need Lexus, I will buy RX, but not LX. This is how to choose between strawberry yogurt and racing bulldozer. Honestly, I like to eat more than working. Moreover, the new 350th in all respects is larger: longer, wider, higher and more spacious than the previous one.
Author: Dmitry Leontyev, photo of Alexander Ortnova-Baranov
Source: Magazine 4x4 [October /2009]
