A Week With: 2023 Lexus RX 500h F Sport Performance AWD

We’ve already had the chance to briefly experience the redesigned 2023 Lexus RX nearly a year ago, the luxury automaker’s most-popular vehicle. Now, we had the chance to spend some quality time with its hottest, and priciest, iteration: the Lexus RX 500h F Sport Performance AWD.

This is the fifth generation of Lexus’ pioneering crossover, and even in its quickest form, it remains what it’s always been: a polished, comfortable crossover SUV with unmistakable capability and the latest in technology.

Overview

Still looking fairly familiar, the Lexus RX returns with a complete redesign for 2023. Available in Standard, Premium, RX-first Premium+, Luxury, F Sport Handling and F Sport Performance trim, the latter is a new trim grade for 2023 and the sole topic of this writeup. 

F Sport Performance is a new tier of F Sport models, having debuted on the Lexus IS 500 F Sport Performance, and denoting a unique powertrain that distinguishes them from their lesser kinfolk by offering greater performance.

Exterior

While the greenhouse retains its distinctive look, the rest of the RX receives some cosmetic surgery, although it’s far from a radical redo. Lexus’ trademark spindle grille — a shape first seen on the 1961 Plymouth Fury — returns, albeit with the top half incorporated into the front fascia’s sheetmetal. The rest is finished with a mesh grille, and nestled in a unique front bumper with 21-inch aluminum wheels wearing six-piston brake calipers and Michelin Pilot Sport tires.

The rear is visually cleaner, with a simpler, more elegant appearance than the visually frenetic front.

Our car was finished in a striking copper paint finish, bringing to mind the fact that 98% of the vehicles on the road today lack any kind of color, as most vehicles are fished in black, gray, white or beige – aka milquetoast. This car’s paint is in harmony with its performance intent.

Interior

Unlike the 2022 model, this newest Lexus doesn’t come in extended-length three-row trim; only two rows are offered as the forthcoming three-row Lexus TX is expected to fill that niche in the Lexus line-up. 

That said the 2023 Lexus RX 500h F Sport Performance AWD’s front bucket seats are not ideal for those who are broader of beam or who any person with a trace of wide shoulders. Only the extraordinarily emaciated will find them satisfactory as they feature aggressive side bolsters are simply too narrow for most corn-fed Americans. The seats alone would be a deal breaker for most buyers who will have to sit in front of them, not between them.

But that’s the only off-note, as this is a far better cabin than before. Interior quality seems much more in line with what’s expected in a Lexus. Being a top-of-the-line model, our test vehicle was fitted with a large 14-inch touchscreen with Lexus’ newest operating system. Designed in America rather than Japan, it’s far easier to use and much more intuitive, although it seems slow to respond at times. Nevertheless, the screen is set in a far more contemporary instrument panel design, one that feels less claustrophobic than before.

And while it’s a small thing, all F Sport models get an exclusive steering wheel and aluminum-trimmed pedals.

A bigger thing resides out back; Just wait until you see the cargo area. It measures a very generous 29.6 cubic feet, expanding to 46.1 cubic feet with the rear seats folded. Payload is rated at 1,245 pounds. 

Powertrain

Built on Toyota’s new GA-K global platform, which is 198 pounds lighter than the old RX platform, the 2024 Lexus RX 500h F Sport Performance comes with a unique driveline: a 2.4-liter turbocharged DOHC 4-cylinder engine, dual permanent magnet synchronouselectric motors, a 6-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive that’s performance oriented.

Lexus states the RX 500h F Sport Performance will run 0-60 mph in 5.9 seconds, making it the quickest RX model. Top speed is 130 mph. Despite the swiftness, this hybrid still manages to return 27 mpg city, 28 mpg highway and 27 mph in combined city/highway driving, according to the EPA, although all 2023 Lexus RX models require premium fuel. The rest of the driveline is powered by a Nickel Metal Hydride battery pack. We recorded 26.6 mpg in a 30/70 split of city and highway driving. 

Towing is rated at 3,494 pounds with a trailer brake, 999 pounds without it.

Safety and Technology

While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not crash tested the 2023 Lexus RX, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has, designating it a Top Safety Pick+, it’s highest safety designation. 

As you might expect, the 2024 Lexus RX 500h F Sport Performance AWD comes with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, a digital smartphone key (available as part of a subscription), a head-up display, an optional 21-speaker Mark Levinson surround sound audio system, and a slew of driver assistance safety systems. They include Safe Exit Assist, Pre-Collision System, Proactive Driving Assist, Road Sign Assist, Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist, Lane Tracing Assist, Brake Assist, Automatic High Beams, Dynamic Radar Cruise Control with Curve Speed Management and optional Traffic Jam Assist.

Driving Impressions

There’s one number you have to remember when considering the 2024 Lexus RX 500h F Sport Performance AWD: 91. That’s the added horsepower it has over the standard RX driveline, thanks to the nickel-metal-hydride battery pack and two electric motors that add the requisite punch. The front one is tucked between the gas engine and 6-speed automatic transmission, while the rear one powers the axle directly.

The result is sprightly midsize luxury CUV, one that’s sprightly off-the-line and at speed, where the electric motors conceal any semblance of turbo lag thanks to an abundance of low-end torque — 406 pound-feet to be exact. It provides the needed thrust expected of a sporty machine, while delivering superior fuel economy when compared to its conventionally-powered siblings and competitors. 

The bigger surprise comes when it’s time to hustle this bus through the twisties. It’s there where it proves to be surprisingly adept, with better grip than you’d expect and minimal body lean. There’s also a lack of excessive body motions over bumps, a pleasant surprise given its ride comfort. Speaking of comfort, noise suppression is excellent.

But its capability when pushed is surprising, as steering feedback is minimal, and it never quite translates into the pure driving pleasure of a sporting machine. It has the chops, there’s no doubt. But it fails to click through to your pleasure synapses somehow.

2023 Lexus RX 500h F Sport Performance AWD Specifications

Wrap Up

Still, if you have the scratch, this is the Lexus RX to consider, as it delivers a combination of fuel economy and performance that’s missing elsewhere in the RX line-up. That said, an RX Plug-In Hybrid is coming for 2024, the RX 450h+, with an estimated 6.2 second 0-60 time – nearly as fast as the 500h F Sport Performance. Better yet, the RX 450h+ has an EPA-estimated 35-mile driving range using only electric power. 

Either could be the most compelling Lexus RX yet. 

2023 Lexus RX 500h F Sport ­— Frequently Asked Questions