The 2023 Lexus RX Revealed: Here’s What You Need to Know

Lexus’s most important car is all-new from soup to nuts — and ready to meet the future.

lexus rx driving on a coast road at sunset

Published June 4, 2022

We love the flagship Lexus LX SUV and the venerable, off-road-ready GX sport-utility. But the most important SUV — indeed, most important vehicle — Lexus produces for America is the RX. It’s the reasonably-sized crossover everyone wants — and rather good at being that. It outsold all other Lexus SUVs combined in 2021, and represented nearly 40 percent of the brand’s overall sales in America.

Now, Lexus has just unveiled the 5th generation RX for 2023, which the brand says is a complete redesign “from the wheels to the roof rails.” Here’s what you need to know about it.

The Lexus RX moves to the Toyota TNGA-K platform

Lexus moved the RX over to the Toyota New Global Architecture platform, specifically the TNGA-K that underpins the Lexus ES and Lexus NX (and the RAV4 and Highlander).

This switch yields several improvements. The RX drops 198 pounds from the previous generation and has a lower center of gravity, better weight distribution and improved rigidity for better handling. It should also deliver a more composed, comfortable ride. Plus, a longer wheelbase should translate to more legroom.

The Lexus RX has a fancy new spindle grille

2023 lexus rx viewed from the front against an empty background

The spindle grille has been a somewhat controversial Lexus hallmark for nearly a decade. The RX features an evolution of it that Lexus refers to as a “cohesive spindle body design,” with the grille seamlessly linking into the car’s body.

The Lexus RX scores a new engine lineup

lexus rx 500 h f sport performance tailgate badge

The 2023 Lexus RX offers four engines. Lexus gave us the details on three of them. The base model RX 350 features the 2.4-liter inline-four from the NX with 275 hp and 317 lb-ft of torque. That engine mates with an eight-speed automatic. The RX350h is a 2.5-liter inline-four hybrid that puts out 246 hp and 233 lb-ft of torque with a CVT. It’s down on power, but averages about 33 mpg combined, nine mpg better than the base model.

F Sport means something beyond appearance with the new RX. Lexus will offer a range-topping RX 500h F Sport Performance model. This model uses a turbocharged 2.4-liter hybrid pushing out 367 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque with a six-speed automatic (keep an eye on that engine for potential future applications). It receives Lexus’s new Direct4 AWD system, and it accelerates from 0-60 mph in 5.9 seconds — around a second and a half faster than the standard RX.

That fourth engine? An RX 450+ plug-in hybrid, which Lexus says it will reveal the details of on a later date.

Tech upgrades? The Lexus RX has them

new lexus rx interior showing the dashboard and front seats

The RX receives the swanky new, in-house-designed Lexus Interface infotainment system that debuted in the NX — a night and day upgrade over the cursor of doom that came before. Lexus outfits the new RX with the Lexus Safety System+ 3.0. The Lexus RX also has digital key functionality.