Two days before I was to take delivery of the press test vehicle I would have been driving during my 30th birthday, the booking was cancelled.
Of course I was a tad annoyed, but these things happen, so I contacted a few manufacturers to see if there was any possibility of getting another test unit during that period. I knew that two days was short notice as more often than not journalists have to book press cars at least a month (or more) in advance.
Just when it seemed that I would have to drive my boring old car during a landmark birthday, the ever-efficient Toyota marketing guys phoned me to say that they had secured a Lexus RX350 for me. Thank the stars — I had something to look forward to during an otherwise depressing time.
While the new RX350 looks exactly like the outgoing RX300, it benefits from a significant improvement over its predecessor and it is the first vehicle in a revised Lexus range that will see the introduction of the IS250, GS300 and LS460 later this year.
Lexus, like other smaller brands, is looking to grow sales in a very buoyant South African market that is benefiting from record sales from one month to the next. While it is great that more people now have enough money to afford cars of their own, traffic congestion still remains a festering problem that the Ministry of Transport is doing little to alleviate.
But I digress. Back to the Lexus. Given that the outgoing RX300 established itself as the bestselling luxury SUV in the United States by selling almost three times as many as its nearest rival, the BMW X5, the new RX350 threatens to steal sales from the X5, the Mercedes-Benz ML and other luxury SUVs.
Both models in the range, the RX350 and the RX350 XE, come equipped with a new V6 engine with variable-valve timing, which despite an increase in power, is claimed to use less fuel than its predecessor. Lexus claims that you will get about 11 litres per 100km on a combined cycle and can, therefore, get 640km from one tank of petrol.
My test unit was an automatic version of the base model, which has permanent four-wheel drive linked to an electronic-traction control and a vehicle-stability control system that came into play when I hit a particularly slippery patch of mud on a dirt road. The Lexus skidded a bit and lost traction as the back of the vehicle kicked out, but as soon as I took my foot off the accelerator the car corrected itself and I was then able to add a bit of power to slide through the mud. So, while it obviously is not a bundu-basher, it is more than capable of coping with some off-road conditions.
On-road, you have the option of putting the car into sports mode to get a little performance out of it by changing gears yourself. The engine allows you to drop the revs further down the range to get some speed out of the vehicle, but it will change gears for you if you are pushing the vehicle to the red line. The sound effects of the engine picks up in sports mode and is quite something for a vehicle of this size.
The standard specification list has many features, such as cruise control, dual-zone climate control, electric windows, automatic headlights, leather upholstery, a front-loading six-CD player, electric seats, audio controls on the steering wheel and much more. A nice feature for long drives is that two of the three rear seats slide forward and backward individually.
The RX350 has seven airbags, ABS and EBD with brake assist.
It is exceedingly comfortable and capable on a variety of road surfaces, though the suspension could have been a bit softer.
The sort of luxury SUV that has an insidious ability to make you feel quite happy to be behind the wheel, so my 30th birthday wasn’t as depressing as I thought it would be.
Fact file
Model: Lexus RX350
Price: R476 700
Engine: 3,5litre V6 with VVT-i
Tech: 203kW, 342Nm
Top speed: 180kph, 0 to 100kph in 7,8
Tank: 72 litres
Services: 15 000km