2026 Lexus UX300h Luxury review

Lexus has gone all-in on hybrid power with its ‘original’ small SUV, the UX.

Updates to the UX line-up in recent years have cut the petrol-only UX200, and slow-selling electric UX300e, to focus on the hybrid. It's been upgraded and renamed as the UX300h, and loaded with new convenience and safety features.

Seven years on from its Australian arrival – and now joined by the cheaper LBX city SUV in the Lexus range – is the UX still worth a look over its BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo competition?

On test in this review is the cheapest Lexus UX money can buy new in 2026, the UX300h Luxury FWD, priced from $55,370 before on-road costs.

The silver premium paint on this test car – known as Sonic Iridium – adds $1750 to the bill, for an indicated drive-away price in NSW of about $63,500, according to the Lexus website.

Buyers with more to spend can opt for better-equipped Sports Luxury and F Sport variants, as well as optional Enhancement Packs – which, on the UX300h Luxury, adds a sunroof for $2100 – and, on higher grades, all-wheel drive.

Despite price rises over the years (the cheapest UX hybrid was $6800 cheaper before the pandemic hit in 2020) the Lexus still undercuts, or is at least competitive with, entry-level versions of its nearest European rivals.

The Volvo XC40 Plus is $54,990, and the high-grade (but small-engined) Mini Countryman C Favoured is $55,990, while the base TFSI 110kW grade of the new Audi Q3 is $61,600, the entry-level BMW X1 sDrive18i is $63,400, and the Mercedes-Benz GLA starts at $63,600, all before on-road costs.

Standard features in the UX Luxury include 17-inch alloy wheels, a 12.3-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, 12.3-inch instrument display, keyless entry and start, wireless phone charging, power steering column and front seat adjustment, heated front seats, and ‘NuLux’ leather-look upholstery.

Find new and used Lexus UX SUVs for sale at Drive Marketplace, while to look at one in the metal, click here to find your nearest Lexus dealer.

More details on pricing, specifications, and latest offers relating to the Lexus UX range can be viewed here.

The Lexus UX is one of the older cars in the compact SUV class, and despite a series of updates over its life, it is not quite as contemporary inside as its European rivals.

The flipside is a cabin that is easy to understand and live with. There is a conventional volume dial, a row of clicky buttons for the air conditioning, and Lexus has not buried every important vehicle function in the touchscreen.

The power-adjustable, heated front seats are comfortable and supportive enough – particularly under the thighs – for long-distance driving, upholstered in NuLux synthetic leather that feels soft and pleasant as a leather substitute.

Rare for a car at this price, power adjustment is standard in the steering column, but tall drivers may find the wheel doesn’t come out far enough – nor high enough – for their liking, even though the seating position itself is quite low for an SUV.

Soft-touch leather-like materials are used on the steering wheel rim and armrests, plus some squishy plastic elsewhere in the cabin, but there is little in the way of visual appeal, with a sea of dark finishes and little ornamentation to speak of.

Buyers can option a lighter material for the centre console trim; a worthwhile consideration as the satin black in this car looks boring and is prone to fingerprints.

I appreciate the row of physical climate-control switches, though its small display means fan speed – while adjusted with a button – appears on the centre touchscreen, and unless it was missed, I couldn’t find any way to sync the air temperature.

Not all the controls are as easy as you’d think. The electronic gear selector takes some getting used to in three-point turns, the rotary dials for the drive modes and traction control on the instrument cluster hood are easily blocked by the steering wheel, and the parking brake switch sits out of sight, next to the driver’s knee.

Amenities include a wireless phone charger, three USB ports (two open-air USB-C, one USB-A in the centre console box), a 12-volt socket, heated front seats (via buttons on the centre console), keyless entry, and push-button start.

Cabin storage is quite limited, with small door pockets only big enough for bottles, a tight centre-console box, and a similarly compact glovebox, with most of the open centre console taken up by black plastic, rather than any handy space beyond the cupholders.

Space is also at a premium for passengers in the rear. For my 186cm (6ft 1in) tall frame seated behind my driving position, my knees brush the front seats, and while there’s ample head room, there is little to no space under the seats for my toes.

It’s even tighter in the middle seat, and it’s a narrow cabin, so fitting three across the rear is not as easy as in a Mini Countryman or BMW X1.

Amenities are also limited and, in some places, a little stingy. There is a fold-down armrest with two cupholders, plus air vents, two USB-C ports, three child-seat top tethers, and two ISOFIX, but there’s only one map pocket (even a Toyota Corolla gets two), tiny bottle holders in the doors, and some scratchy plastic around.

Boot space is also not as generous as rivals. It is a relatively modest cargo hold for a vehicle of this size, with no load lip but quite a distance off the ground that you’re required to lift heavy items up.

There are positives: a standard power tailgate with kick sensor, a 60:40 split-folding rear seat bench, two-position boot floor, 12-volt socket, and bag hooks, though there’s only a tyre repair kit in lieu of a spare wheel.

Gone is the Lexus-specific software and fiddly touchpad controllers of earlier iterations of the UX, replaced by a 12.3-inch touchscreen running the same software – albeit with different fonts – as a slew of Toyota models, from the Camry to HiLux.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard – the former working reliably in my testing – plus satellite navigation, and AM, FM, and digital DAB radio.

The software, while clear in its graphics, has complex menus that aren’t overly easy to navigate, and it is not as snappy as rival systems.

Configuring the 12.3-inch instrument cluster also takes time to figure out – and much of its customisation can only be accessed when the vehicle is stopped – but once set up, there’s a wealth of information it can display, and it is easy to read while driving.

The rear-view camera’s resolution is poor by 2026 standards – and it does not fill the entire screen, rather limited to a small window in the centre – but front and rear parking sensors do ease the situation somewhat.

Standard in the base UX is a 10-speaker unbranded audio system, which delivers respectable sound quality for an entry-level model, without blowing our socks off. Higher grades add a 13-speaker Mark Levinson stereo, which promises greater punch.

Examples of the Lexus UX produced from 1 January 2026 are not covered by an ANCAP safety rating, as the model’s five-star score from 2019 expired at the end of 2025 due to the safety organisation’s six-year expiry policy.

No technical changes are understood to have been made to the vehicle since then, and vehicles produced before 31 December 2025 are still covered by the five-star rating.

For reference, that score includes strong category results of 96 per cent for adult occupant protection, 88 per cent for child occupant protection, 82 per cent for vulnerable road user protection (pedestrians and cyclists), and 81 per cent for safety assist technology.

The Lexus UX’s range of advanced safety systems work intuitively and without annoyance, though the list isn’t quite as long as some rivals.

Adaptive cruise control is smartly calibrated, lane-centring assist holds the middle of the lane without bouncing off the white lines or constantly running wide, and the regular lane-keeping assist feature does not nag at the wheel intrusively.

The traffic sign recognition system is also only a visual alert by default, without a forced audio chime that beeps every time it thinks the car is speeding, even if the technology has misread the speed sign (something it doesn’t do a lot).

There are a few omissions: the blind-spot monitor can’t prevent you from changing lanes into another car; the autonomous emergency braking is limited to preventing collisions with pedestrians and cyclists (not motorcycles, or in intersections); and there’s no 360-degree camera.

Few of these are likely to be deal-breakers for most buyers, and a 360-degree camera is available on more expensive UX models (F Sport 2WD with Enhancement Pack, F Sport AWD, and Sports Luxury 2WD/AWD).

The Lexus UX is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty on most parts of the vehicle for private buyers, with a 160,000km distance cap applied for vehicles used for commercial purposes (taxi, rideshare, delivery, rental, etc).

The high-voltage battery pack is also covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, but it can be extended up to 10 years if the pack passes annual health checks at Lexus dealers as part of the vehicle’s regular servicing.

Other warranties to note include seven years/unlimited kilometres for rust, and three years/100,000km for the 12-volt battery, with the latter also including a fourth year of coverage where Lexus will cover 50 per cent of the battery replacement cost, rather than 100 per cent.

Service intervals are set every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first, and cost $645 for the first five dealer visits – amounting to $1935 over three years, or $3225 over five.

It is not cheap for a small SUV, but by prestige-car standards it is reasonably priced, and despite being ‘pay as you go’, still comparable or cheaper than to rivals’ prepaid service plans.

Five-year service packages are quoted as $3300 for an Audi Q3 (vs $4159 to $5428 outright), between $2995 and $5995 for a Volvo XC40, $2495 for a BMW X1, and the whopping $6185 quoted for a Mercedes-Benz GLA.

A year of comprehensive insurance coverage with a leading provider is quoted at $2797, based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

Lexus claims fuel consumption in the front-wheel-drive UX300h hybrid of 4.2 litres per 100 kilometres in mixed driving – down 0.1L/100km from the UX250h – across a quoted 4.0L/100km in urban areas and 4.4L/100km in extra-urban driving.

During a week of testing – mostly in the city, but with some country roads thrown in – the trip computer displayed 6.0L/100km.

That is considerably higher than the claim, but it’s still frugal for a small luxury SUV, and in more sedate driving we frequently saw consumption in the mid-5L/100km range.

The 43-litre fuel tank is good for a driving range of 715km, at our as-tested 6.0L/100km average, and can accept the cheapest 91-octane blend of regular unleaded.

The Lexus UX hybrid is a simple and easy car to drive, and one that feels more like a hatchback than a high-riding SUV.

The hybrid system operates like other Toyota and Lexus hybrids. The electric motor carries the load from a standstill or while cruising, firing up the 2.0-litre petrol engine when more acceleration is required or when the battery requires charging.

The transition from petrol to electric power is smooth, though put your foot down and the engine is quite vocal, albeit a little less so than in a comparable Toyota Corolla Cross.

The electric motor has enough performance to push the car along in traffic, though it quickly runs out of puff – especially at the sight of a hill – and calls on the engine to unlock ample power for motorway merging and country-road driving.

Around town, the UX is simple and easy to drive. The steering is intuitively weighted – light in Normal mode, and heavier for faster driving in Sport – and the brake pedal, while not overly responsive or feelsome, is easy to modulate.

Drivers can choose between standard D and uprated B modes for the regenerative braking, to vary the rate at which the car slows down once the accelerator pedal is lifted. Neither is very strong, but there is a difference.

Lexus has struck a good balance between comfort and sportiness with the suspension. It has a taut edge around town, supple over speed bumps, and never too harsh, but still with a degree of control and composure akin to a quality European car.

At higher speeds, it is not as settled and ‘tied down’ over undulations as a BMW or Audi in the same price range, but the UX soaks up potholes and rough roads with a more comfortable edge.

It’s more of a hatchback to drive on winding roads than a high-riding SUV, with less body roll than you’d expect, and a sense of agility upon turning into bends, without feeling overly sporty or dynamic like a Mini Countryman.

Tyre roar and wind noise are well isolated for the category and don’t intrude on the experience.

The Lexus UX300h is not rated to tow, unlike rivals in its class.

The payload – the maximum mass of passengers, cargo and accessories the vehicle is legally rated to carry – sits at 525kg, which is enough for five 100kg occupants and a suitcase in the boot.

If you tend to shop with your head over your heart, the Lexus UX is worth considering.

It is not the flashiest or most advanced small SUV among its European competition, and it trails them on technology, comfort, safety, performance and, in particular, cabin and boot space.

Where it excels is in rational terms: low fuel consumption, a supple ride, good build quality, and the reputation for reliability and great resale value that comes with the Lexus badge.

If that’s what matters most, the UX is well worth a test drive.