Club Lexus flies up to the Pacific Northwest to test Lexus’s all-new 2019 UX on the streets of Seattle and the roads of Bainbridge Island.
As SUVs and crossovers continue to prove their ability to make money, automakers search for different niches to fill with them. The Lexus LX is a massive vehicle with a price tag to match. For its newest vehicle, Lexus decided to go to the opposite end of the spectrum and created the 2019 UX. We were lucky enough to drive it during its North American media launch in Washington.
What’s in a Name?
Lexus created the UX for tech-savvy people in cities. It started with the name: UX starts for Urban X-(Cross)over. Then it sized the UX accordingly.
The NX’s Little Brother
Just how small did Lexus go with the UX? Compared to the NX, the UX has a wheelbase that’s nearly an inch shorter (103.9 inches) and a body that’s more than inch narrower (72.4 inches), more than four inches lower (60.6 inches), and almost six inches shorter (177 inches).
Price of Entry
A smaller price comes with those smaller dimensions. The UX is the most affordable utility vehicle Lexus offers. Prices start at $32,000, which is more than $4,000 less than the cost of admission into the NX.
More than Marketing Fluff
As Lexus claimed, Seattle was the perfect place in which to launch the UX. To get from our host hotel to Bainbridge Island, we had to drive through Seattle’s city streets, which seemed to contain a constant stream of cyclists and walking pedestrians. Numerous construction zones meant we had to take several winding detours before we hopped on the ferry that took us across the Puget Sound. The UX’s extremities were easy to keep track of and place right where we needed them to go. They took the stress out of a hectic, unfamiliar route.
Multipurpose Lighting
One hundred and twenty LEDs form the UX’s dramatic rear taillights, which Lexus calls “Aero Stabilizing Blade Lights.” True to their name, they channel air that flows down the sides of the UX’s body so it can cleanly detach from the UX’s rear hatch. Thanks to those and its body’s sculpted angles, the UX has a coefficient of drag of 0.33.
First Drive of the 2019 Lexus UX (Exclusive Photos) continued…
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
Where do you go for answers when you have a Lexus with a gorgeous leather interior but are not sure about how to maintain that luxurious look? The "Club Lexus" forums, of course.
