Practicality 4.1/ 5
A SPACIOUS 690-litre boot means the Mercedes offers impressive practicality, with 237 litres more room than the Lexus. Drop the standard 60:40 split-folding rear seats, and this increases to 2,010 litres, and as there’s no loading lip, it’s easy to lift and slide in items.
The car’s conventional proportions might not appear quite as stylish as the more coupé-like RX, but it does at least mean the GLE is practical. There’s lots of room in the front of the cabin, while storage is acceptable despite the bulky facia and centre console. With a 12.5cm longer wheelbase than the Lexus, legroom in the rear is decent enough, while the GLE’S high roofline means tall adults won’t be brushing the headlining, either.
Road tests
LEXUS offers an alternative to mainstream premium brands with its hybrid models, and the RX 450h SUV is no different. Whereas rivals use diesel power, this 4x4 combines petrol and electric propulsion to deliver style and refinement. At £57,995, this Premier model is £1,710 more expensive to buy than our Mercedes GLE, but is it worth the extra?
Styling 3.9/ 5
COMPARED to the GLE, which has been subtly updated, the current Lexus RX is hugely different to its predecessor. Following Lexus’ latest family design, the RX looks aggressive for a big SUV, with the sharp lines and lower roofline giving it a tauter, sportier look.
The big, grey spindle grille dominates the front end, and the chrome edging contrasts nicely with our test car’s £645 Copper Brown paintwork. The LED headlamps flow on to the front wings and bonnet and nip in at the cutouts in the grille, and it’s these angular design features that set the tone.
There’s lots of detail down the RX’S flanks, with defined creases running backwards from the top and bottom of the front wheelarches. These create a strong shoulder line that converges with the tapering roof around the C-pillars. And while the GLE looks chunky around this area, the RX is much more svelte, with black plastic inserts giving a ‘floating roof’ appearance from certain angles.
This styling feature is visible from the rear, too, and with the car’s heavily raked, electrically operated tailgate, the Lexus looks leaner than the Mercedes. Partly because it is – at just over 4cm shorter, 11cm lower and 4cm narrower – but also because neat touches like the chrome strip between the tail-lights and a shallower rear bumper reduce the RX’S bulk.
Like the AMG Line GLE, this top-of-the-range Premier model features a bumper insert at the back, but the effect is subtler, as the Lexus’ design shouts a lot louder than the Mercedes’ styling.
Small ‘Hybrid’ badges on the doors remind you of the car’s engine arrangement, while buttons inside to switch the RX into EV mode reinforce the message. The cabin itself is nicely crafted and feels more upmarket and better built than the Mercedes’. Glossy wood inlays and real leather give the RX a tactile edge over the GLE, while the general layout and ambience feel more modern and hi-tech.
A widescreen 12.3-inch display sits on top of the solid-looking dashboard, controlling the sat-nav, audio and other systems. However, while Lexus’ joystick controller is an improvement on some of its other models, the user interface is still not as intuitive or easy to use as rival set-ups.
The standard digital dials are crisp and provide plenty of info depending on driving mode, while the standard equipment list comprises sat-nav, adaptive cruise, a reversing camera, parking sensors and heated and cooled seats. It also features DAB radio, Bluetooth and LED lights, and surpasses the GLE’S kit count.
Driving 3.8/ 5
WITH a combined 308bhp power output from its 3.5-litre V6 and two electric motors, the RX 450h is more potent than the GLE on paper. But with just 335Nm of torque produced relatively high up, at 4,600rpm, the 2,100kg Lexus couldn’t match the Mercedes’ 0-60mph time, taking 7.7 seconds.
The CVT automatic gearbox holds the engine revs at the optimum point for maximum performance, which means the Lexus couldn’t return any in-gear times. Even so, the RX 450h accelerated between 30 and 70mph in 6.4 seconds, four-tenths faster than the GLE. With the engine revving and the electric motors providing some assistance, the Lexus is sharp, and its lower kerbweight contributes to its pace.
However, the downside of the CVT box is that the engine tends to sound strained when you push on, with the revs soaring for even a burst of modest acceleration. And the petrol unit kicks in early at low speed, as the electric motors can’t provide enough propulsion to even keep up with town traffic.
It’s relatively smooth, though, and matches the supple chassis that smothers bumps effectively. The Lexus feels slightly firmer than the Mercedes and you still feel sharper ridges in the road, but on the whole, it deals with surface imperfections better than its rival. The suspension regulates the RX’S body with more control, yet it’s still not sporty.
Ownership 4.8/ 5
LEXUS was knocked off the top spot in this year’s Driver Power survey, but despite losing its crown to Tesla, the Japanese brand actually improved its customer satisfaction score compared to last year – plus it topped the table for build quality.
The current RX is too new to feature in our Top 150 cars to live with in 2016, but both previous generations of the SUV finished in the top 10, giving an idea of how comfortable, reliable and refined the new model will be to live with.
It’ll be safe, too, as the RX gets 10 airbags and Lexus’ Safety System+ as standard. This features autonomous braking up to 50mph, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, auto LED lights, blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert, which helped the car achieve a five-star crash test rating from Euro NCAP. A lot of this kit is optional on the Mercedes.
Running costs 3.6/ 5
WHILE the GLE was actually more efficient than the RX on test, returning 34.8mpg compared to the Lexus’ 33.8mpg, the 450h’s lower 127g/km CO2 emissions mean business users will enjoy big savings on company car tax. The hybrid has a significant 13 per cent lower Benefit in Kind rate, at 22 per cent, so higher-rate business users will pay £2,724 a year more to run the Mercedes, at £7,823 in total.
With only three insurance groups’ difference, there’s not much to split our cars when it comes to cover costs. We were quoted £1,275 and £1,264 on the GLE and RX respectively for our sample driver.