’20 RX: Just what the doctor ordered
For those who don’t use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, which provide navigation from a smartphone, the optional built-in navigation system is quite good and boosted for 2020 with more humanized voice recognition (it recognized numerous ways I asked to get to the nearest Starbucks). Most notable is that there are now over-the-air navigation updates that replace the need for a physical SD card. This isn’t the first Lexus to receive the system, named Dynamic Navigation, but it’s new to the RX. When maps are updated, the update comes straight into the RX via the onboard cellular connection. The functionality is active only if you subscribe to Lexus’ Enform cellular service, however, which comes with a free threeyear trial before a subscription is required, and the updates are good only for navigation. Unlike the Tesla Model X, you won’t be getting vehicle functionality or systems updates. Those kinds of updates aren’t out of scope, however, as Lexus College senior product specialist Bob Gleich says there are numerous regulatory hoops Lexus must hop through first before that can happen.
The sportier RX F-Sport trim comes in two flavors for 2020, a regular F-Sport with unique grille, tuned-up shock absorbers and fancy wheels, while an FSport Performance is new, though I question the value in that package. The $4,850 F-Sport Performance Package adds adaptive shocks with adjustable firmness similar to the Lexus LC 500 sports car, which is perhaps the one Lexus where its goofy controls can be glossed over because it’s that good. Lexus calls this adaptive variable suspension, but the RX with this heightened package remains one of the more buttery riding SUVs out there, even in the most aggressive Sport Plus mode that you don’t get on lesser RXs. The RX FSport
Performance Package remains perfectly comfortable for everyday use while giving you a shred of road feel you don’t get on the base suspension car (non-F-Sport). When thrown into a corner, however, there aren’t the chops that would make you want to do it again, and the Sport Plus mode doesn’t do the engine and transmission any favors because it shifts conservatively, upshifting mid-corner and trying to get to the next gear as soon as possible. The paddle shifters work well here for maintaining a gear, but it’s not unique to the FSport any longer because all RXs get steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters for manual gear control, even the hybrid RX 450h.
The F-Sport Performance Package adds a sound tube for an extra bit of noise from under the hood, doing it mechanically versus electronic augmentation, according to Gleich, and you can hear a little extra muscly sound between 5,000 and 6,000 rpm, though only briefly. I haven’t driven the non-Performance-Package F-Sport, but compared with the regular RX I drove, I don’t think you’ll be missing much if you skip the FSport Performance Package.
One new feature worth mentioning is the RX’s newly available kick-to-open tailgate, which like many of the 2020 additions normalizes the RX a tad more. Previously, you had to hold your hand over the Lexus badge to open it (doesn’t make much sense for a hands-free system), and now with a handful of groceries the rear power tailgate can be opened with a quick kick under the center of the bumper. In my testing, this worked five out of five times, an accomplishment for these types of systems that don’t always trigger when asked.
If you’ve deemed the RX’s size and price a good fit, then actively seek out the 2020 RX, which addresses one of the RX’s biggest shortcomings thanks to a more normalized control system and a host of new connectivity features.