Graphic | Tao Wenbo
Design | microcosm
Having seen the laurel and the garland, Fang knows the preciousness of happiness that is close at hand.
When it comes to Lexus, whether it is a car owner or a fan, it is always possible to tell concepts such as "hybrid invincible" or "high-end companion", and the relatively pure luxury brand image also attracts a large number of successful people.
It is no exaggeration to say that Lexus' performance is first-class, whether it is in the turbulent Chinese auto market or the north American consumption system with strong hands.
Of course, as a luxury brand originating from the Far East, Lexus does not want its products to point too out of place and obtrusive, but this does not mean that it is strongly bound to words such as "moderation".
From the ES series with a completely reset appearance to the flexible and elegant RC family, Lexus has gone further and further on the road of "degreasing", and the newly launched UX series has grasped the tail of youth.
Based on the GA-C platform under the TNGA architecture, Lexus UX completely abandons the usual warmth and smoothness of the previous generation of products at the design level, and the overall visual experience is extremely tense. The spindle-shaped family net is as aggressive as ever, with sharp headlights and sharp tangential lines, and the three-dimensional sense is full.
The combination of chic lines and changeable planes makes the light and shadow of the body have a clear gradient effect, and the visual impact of the shape and tangent lines is quite significant.
It is worth mentioning that this is the first model in Lexus to use through-type taillights, which not only increases the visual width of the tail, but also expands the boundaries of the whole vehicle. The design of the front and rear light clusters incorporates an aerodynamic concept, which reduces the wind resistance coefficient and comprehensive fuel consumption to a certain extent.
In the eyes of the average car fan, Lexus's product style is rational, but UX strives to divide a considerable part of the sensual characteristics, creating a unique and breathtaking, cold outside and hot inside beauty. Of course, for such a car, defining its appearance requires love at first sight impulse and associative divergent thinking, if you fail to fall in love with it at the first time, it is not easy to love afterwards.
Compared with the external shadow magic, the interior of Lexus UX is as simple and restrained as the same door products in the past, and it is elegant and introverted.
On the German and American models with similar prices, we see most of the heavy and exaggerated materials and complex and changeable scientific and technological equipment, but it is difficult to find the "green pine white crane" style that Lexus has always followed - compared with the appearance, it even adds a sense of violation of one or two points.
There is no doubt that the interior workmanship of Lexus UX is unexpectedly extremely excellent, the materials are quite in place, and the feel and feedback of each button are impeccable. If you have to pick out any flaws, the touchboard of the multimedia system is indeed too "Toyota", and the operating efficiency is really not high compared to the BBA counterparts.
During the test drive for several days, the author tried to use the navigation function and entertainment interconnection system that came with the vehicle. To be fair, the navigational accuracy and pathfinding logic are not bad, the operation menu is slightly cumbersome; the entertainment interconnection system lacks the common Carplay and Carlife functions, the overall feeling is more mediocre, and there is still a lot of room for improvement compared with models such as cadillac XT4 and BMW X2.
Toyota's layout of the hybrid system in China is not too early, but the product coverage rate and the downward exploration range are not low, and the user's acceptance is getting higher and higher, at least the ES300h does sell well.
This time, we are test-driving a 260h model equipped with a 2.0L naturally aspirated engine and hybrid system, with a maximum power of 146 hp/6000 rpm of fuel engine, a maximum torque of 188 Nm/4400-5200 rpm, a maximum power output of 80 kW of electric motors, a maximum torque of 202 Nm, a total system power of 135 kW, and the power distributor is still E-CVT.
From the perspective of product generation, this system can be regarded as the latest power assembly of the Toyota Group, and the thermal efficiency and E-CVT structure of the engine have been fully optimized in view of the problems and shortcomings of the previous system. It is worth mentioning that this 2.0L engine has a compression ratio of up to 14:1 and features cutting-edge technologies such as Atkinson cycle, hybrid injection, VVT-i and VVT-iE.
I believe that most car enthusiasts are generally not very interested in the power specifications of the Lexus brand, admittedly, in the choice of power in the family car, Lexus and even the entire Toyota Group do not pay too much attention to the output capacity of the limit, but make great efforts in the level of smoothness and economy, of course, including the excellent low-speed power responsiveness of the Japanese system.
For the Lexus UX260h, the existence of the electric motor may still be for the power response and fuel economy service, the so-called push back feeling and the soaring speed has nothing to do with it, and the foot feeling of the brakes is also warm, soft and elastic.
Surprisingly, the acceleration performance of the UX260h is not bad, and the 8.9 seconds or so of breaking the hundred is close to a bunch of turbo brothers, which is quite a good level in the category of naturally aspirated models.
Perhaps this car can not create a passionate driving experience for most users, but its low center of gravity, excellent body following brought by the fun is not dull, and there is no gearbox rush and setback. If you just want to drive it on a good mountain road in your spare time on the weekend, or visit your heart with your wife and children, the dynamic performance of this car will never disappoint you.
Lexus years ago was refined and discreet, and the history of development "only" more than thirty years and the reality of relying on the Toyota Group have made it possible to open its hands and feet to create a new generation of products with its own style. For consumers, the combination of sharp appearance and warm heart may be a bit of a loss, but this does not affect its charm, and even more attractive to the younger but more expensive and picky elite.
Let's turn our attention back to today's protagonist, UX260h. Overall, the UX's performance is truly outstanding, it provides the most recognizable appearance in its class, the best ride and power response speed, driving briskly and smoothly, and the coordination between the systems is perfect and uniform.
If used for daily commuting, it's a near-perfect car – if the system is slightly optimized.
Therefore, a "king of transportation" independent of "fast and furious" and coexisting with pattern and style will always gain a small number of admirers, but also a large number of admirers.