2020 Lexus RX 350 AWD F
Sport
The practical 2020
Lexus RX 350 AWD F Sport is fun to drive.
Price: $51,750
The 2020 Lexus RX 350 AWD F Sport is one of those fairly rare
SUVs that combines style, luxury, roominess and is also
fun-to-drive.
This is a handsome SUV. While there are no major styling
changes from 2019, each individual grille block has a
different shape and angle to create a varying form for a
strong, elegant image. I’m no fan of any Lexus grille but
found this one to be acceptable.
Other F Sport features include a unique steering wheel and
shift knob, aluminum pedals, bumpers, badges, front seats,
aluminum ornamentation and 20-inch wheels. There also are
extra=large power-folding EC mirrors with memory, LED ambient
illumination and stainless steel rear door garnish.
There also are rather narrow OPTIONAL running boards, which
are needed for some less agile folks because it takes a bit of
extra effort to climb into the rather high interior. I’m
rather agile, so I didn’t use them—they just got in the way.
The RX in various model forms is the top-selling Lexus, and I
found the nicely sized four-door hatchback RX 350 AWD F Sport
is the most desirable. It’s especially for those who like to
drive but must have a practical, roomy, five-passenger
vehicle.
This Lexus has a 109.8-inch wheelbase and is 195.2 inches
long. Its19.4 curb-to-curb turning circle, making it fairly
easy to enter an average parking spot. However, the RX 350 AWD
F Sport weighs a hefty 4,387 pounds, so estimated city fuel
economy is only so-so for a fast, luxurious heavy SUV at an
estimated 19 miles per gallon in the city. However, the the
highway figure is a decent 26 m.p.g.
Fuel tank capacity is 19.2 gallons and 91-octane fuel is
recommended.
Powering the RX 350 AWD F Sport is a 3.5-literV-6 with 295
horsepower and 267 ft./lbs. of torque, so it makes quick work
out of 60-80 m.p.h. passing on open roads. Power flows through
a responsive eight-speed CVT automatic transmission with a
quick-acting manual shift feature. Lexus provides a 0-60
m.p.h. time of 7.9 seconds for the AWD version. It felt
faster.
A driver can select economy, regular or sport modes via a
console dial. The most sporting is Sport+ mode, which modifies
the steering, transmission and the suspension for very
sporting driving on, say, winding roads. However, I found the
ride remains supple after switching from Economy to Sport or
Sport+ modes. This is a rather firmly sprung SUV that won’t
beat you up despite good handling in all modes.
The steering in rather heavy in all modes, but feels good and
is very accurate. There are firmer stabilizer bars with
reinforced bushings to red body roll and improved steering
response.
There are front/rear performance dampers,, a stiffer
suspension and added active corner braking to help prevent
understeering. It rather surprised me that something so fairly
large an tall could sweep through freeway entrance on and off
ramps with such aplomb. Of course, the all-wheel-drive system
helps.
The power heated front seats are nicely shaped and a
tilt-telescopic wheel will assist drivers of various sizes.
There’s plenty of front/rear room for occupants in the quiet,
definitely Uptown interior, which has backlit gauges, nice
stitching and soft-touch surfaces throughout. There’s Apple
CarPlay and Android auto features and a 9-speaker Lexus
multimedia system.
There’s also an 8-inch touchscreen that I found easy to use,
but didn’t bother with the remote touchpad. The manual
dashboard controls for such things as sound, heated seat and
dual-zone automatic climate controls are handy if a driver
doesn’t want to bother with the touchpad or screens.
The cargo area is moderately roomy, but extra-large when the
rear seat backs are flipped forward. The load sill is
rather high but the power tailgate swings up smoothly and
lowers with a warning sound to prevent bumped heads.
The RX 350 is essentially a family vehicle so it’s
loaded with safety features, including 10 air bags, a
pre-collision system with pedestrian protection, dynamic radar
cruise control and a lane-departure alert with steering
assist.
Handy but often costly options on my RX 350 included a
panoramic moonroof, blind spot monitor with intuitive parking
assist, panoramic view minor with rear cross-traffic braking,
navigation system a color heads-up display I found handy and a
Mark Levinson 15-speaker premium audio system. They all
brought the RS’s bottom-line rice to $59,760, not counting a
$1,025 delivery, processing and handling fee that brought the
total price to $60,785.
The upscale nameplate of this tightly built, solid-feeling SUV
should help its resale value.