Review: 2010 Lexus RX350 -- it's one of the nicest SUVs available, but is it the best?

Other midsize luxury SUVs may do some things better than the new 2010 Lexus
RX350, but they can't match its overall feeling of plush luxury.

A competitive luxury vehicle needs to be two things: it must be a good car and it must be a nice car.  

A good car is well-engineered. It drives well, it’s fuel-efficient, and it’s spacious and comfortable inside. It does most things very well. But in the higher price brackets, that’s not enough. 

Several years ago, Consumer Reports magazine tallied up the goodness numbers and pronounced the Ford Focus economy car a better vehicle than the BMW 745Li full-size luxury sedan. 

The BMW was roomier, quieter, and more powerful, and had nicer interior materials than the little Ford, but the magazine preferred the Focus’s handling, its instrument layout, and its gas mileage. Consumer Reports turned that information into data in a spreadsheet, which spat out a preference for the Ford, a preference the magazine’s editors played up in television interviews. 

That’s where the niceness must be factored in – those little things that add up to give a BMW a far nicer overall feel than the car chosen by the goodness numbers. This niceness manifests itself in providing a sense of opulence that’s critical to a luxury product. Consumer Reports would never go so far as to suggest that the Ford Focus is a nicer car than the BMW 745Li.

Some car guys just don’t see this. They see cars like the strong-selling Lexus RX350 midsize SUV – freshly redesigned for 2010 – as overpriced mediocrity peddled to unsuspecting brand snobs. After all, they would note, the RX350 is mechanically very close to the Toyota Venza (read full review), which has a base price that’s more than $10,000 less than the Lexus’s. 

Looking at the car on paper, it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense why someone would spend nearly $48,000 for the near-loaded 2010 RX350 driven for this review. 

But the RX350 is more than a specifications list. The mechanical changes may be relatively slight from the cheaper Toyota, but the automaker has made the RX nicer than any other SUV south of $50,000. 

The overall experience of the car is coddling. The seats are sized, shaped, and placed right. The ride is very smooth and very quiet. The interior materials feel rich, especially in high-contact surfaces – your elbow sinks into the soft leather of the armrest. And the RX is very easy to drive; like other good car-based SUVs it feels nothing like a truck. The RX lets you drive without thinking about the car you’re driving.

Luxury features also contribute greatly to the niceness factor. Continuing to coddle, the RX350 will do most anything for you, set it and forget it. The car’s individual features are certainly not exclusive to Lexus, but they combine to form an impressive overall experience. 

Headlights and windshield wipers operate themselves. The key never needs to leave your pocket to unlock or start the car. A camera’s view of behind the car appears either on the dash or on the rearview mirror (depending on whether you buy the navigation system) when you go into reverse.  The seat scoots back and the steering column lifts up as you get out of the car, and the key remembers your preferred adjustments when you return. Virtually everything that’s not automatic operates with the touch of a button, and with impressive smoothness. 

The RX does so much for you that you’re caught off guard when you must do something yourself. My mother, who joined me on my RX350 test drive, has never paid more than $16,000 for a car and still recalls the $287 she spent more than twelve years ago to add a cassette player to its stereo, the only extra option on that base-model minivan. Yet she was almost offended to find that there’s no button to power-operate the RX's sunroof shade and that she would have to use her hand to slide it shut. (The sunroof is power-operated, of course, and the shade follows the glass open, just not closed.)

No other SUV priced near the RX is as nice. It’s why it’s a best-seller. However, some of those others that aren’t as nice are better on the Consumer Reports numeric “goodness” scale. 

Some are more space-efficient. Those that are the same size offer more interior space and comfort, including a third-row seat. The shape of the RX’s rear is more hatchback than station wagon, which cuts into cargo space. Furthermore, the rear seat is too low to be optimally comfortable. Some other competitors match the RX’s interior space and comfort with tighter exterior dimensions.

Many have better visibility. In addition to cutting down on interior space, the RX’s shape also forms some blind spots in the rear that are not fully offset by the large outside mirrors. 

Many have a tighter drive, with more firmer steering and more responsive handling. Some accomplish this without even giving up a smooth ride. 

Many even have better build quality inside. A few interior panels on the RX350's doors and lower dash didn’t line up perfectly, a flaw absent from the average $48,000 vehicle. 

But none of this hurts the ambiance from the driver’s seat. Not even the misaligned panels detract from the overall sense of plush luxury, especially when disguised by the black interior in the car driven for this review. Lexus nailed “nice.”

And it’s not so far down on the goodness scale either. The 3.5-liter V6 is standard-issue in Toyota products, but it’s a gem, providing strong and smooth acceleration along with good gas mileage for an SUV: 18 miles per gallon in the city and 24 on the highway with all-wheel-drive, comparable to many V6-powered passenger cars. (A hybrid version is also on the way, due this spring.) Ride and quietness are excellent. And there’s still enough cargo space for it to be plenty practical, even if you might want more from something the RX’s size. 

If you want a driver’s car, one that blends sporty handling with its SUV practicality, look elsewhere. There are many to choose from. 

If you want more space and practicality, look elsewhere. You can get another midsize SUV – luxury or otherwise – that fits in seating for seven instead of five and much more cargo space. 

And if you want value, look elsewhere. The RX350 is anything but cheap, and though there are plenty of luxury-brand competitors that cost even more, you’ll find most of the “goodness” in some mainstream-brand vehicles like the Nissan Murano.

But you won’t get the same thorough niceness in those others that sets the RX apart. Other SUVs, even other luxury SUVs, will feel solidly built and thoroughly engineered but not as plush, not as coddling. 

If you want maximum plush, coddling comfort and luxury in an acceptably practical package, and you’re ready to pay for it, the Lexus RX350 is likely the best choice for you.

Vehicle tested: 2010 Lexus RX350 AWD 
Vehicle base sticker price: $36,800
Vehicle sticker price as tested: $47,946
Test vehicle provided by: Lindsay Lexus of Alexandria, Va.