sailonrob

Talk me off of the ledge… lol. I am about to order or purchase a 2025 NX 450h+. BUT a 350h with exactly the same equipment costs nearly $10,000 less. Please remind me why the 450h+ is worth the price difference….

JasDmw

To me it's not which is why I have the 350h.You'll never recover the price differential in fuel savings. Sure, it'll go faster as it's more powerful, but if you're not into that, it's not worth the difference, in my opinion anyway.

Here in Canada there are also package differences. Until 24/25 you couldn't get the ML sound in the 450h. I think that has been resolved now but there may be other equipment differences.

MrPrius

I'm also debating between these 2 models. If the car is on a lease than the difference is much less because of their $7500 lease incentive on the 450h+ (On the 2024 model). If I were to buy the car than the 350h seems to be the better bargain.

My 2 cents

sailonrob

Thanks. Good reflection. No, here in the states with the 2025 model, you can get exactly the same equipment (including pano and ml).

Freds430

$10,000 more if you ran 12,000 miles a year and used nothing but electric not a penny on gas it would take you 16.6 years to recoup that extra money. That is 12,000 miles a year and gas at $3.30 a gallon. Lot to pay for faster. This is based on my electric companies EV calculator.

DampDuffer

Having once owned an all-electric car for short trips, I also owned an RX350 for longer trips so I would not have to worry about finding available places to charge my electric car. With the NX450h+ you have the best of both worlds...but at a $$$ cost $$$.

Having recently traded-in my two cars for a 2024 NX350h, I am VERY pleased with my choice, and having recently moved into a condo with no place to charge the +, I knew the 450h+ was not for me.

Ability to charge the + may not be a problem for some, but it's something to think about.

lsft

The $10,000 is the cost of the battery. (1.7kWh vs 18.1kWh) The battery price is way more than the $10k in value. It really depends on how much you drive and what priorities you have. If you can't plug it in, the 350h is the easy answer. If you can plug, but don't plug - 350h is the better option. If you want an F Sport in US/Canada, then it's the 450h+. I have done comparisons between the NXs in my 2 year review and the break even point between the models.

Some times the driving experience cannot be compared on paper until you drive it. Drive it and then determine if it's worth $10k more.

midcow3

$10,000 is the cost of the battery , okay show me the invoice. What are the costs of the other features ?

lsft

Here you go the NX450h+ battery from parts.lexus.com
https://parts.lexus.com/p/135123141/G951042031.html
$ 29,329.43

NX350h+
https://parts.lexus.com/p/105970845/G9510-78010.html
$ 3,365.69

clmk

100% all of this. Don't look at it purely from a financial point of view. If you need to do that then you probably should go for the 350. Weigh up the whole package.
For me, I chose the 450h+ because it suited my needs really well, and I understood the differences and benefits in the drive train and drivability of both and chose the 450 for those reasons. Price was a secondary consideration. After investigation I decided that the cost was worth the difference for me, with what I was looking for.

If you look at it, and you cant rationalise/justify the price difference, and/or you can't really afford it, then get the 350h. If you can afford it and it doesnt really matter either way, then get the 450, it's a better car overall. But also, take into account the suitability that LSFT talks about too. That's part of what justified the 450h+ to me. I do a lot of short trips and can easily run on EV for my day to day things. But I can also jump in the car and go for a 4 hour drive to another city whenever I need, without worrying about battery range or extended stops for charging.

midcow3

@lsft , you are changing your story now. Okay, sure if you part out any NX you are over $150,000 I would have gotten the 450h+ if ML were offered when I bought. I got a fully loaded 350h and it is a very nice luxury cruiser. It is a nice car and I like it, but there are other cars I have had that I liked more and the NX is not the one I drive the most now. Of course, I don't drive that much anymore Alas so it is all relative. I am deep into hybrids, but occasionally I like pure power and shifting . I could move to PHEV and it would suit my needs even with he plugging and charging, but pure EV , at least where I live would be a disaster because the area and surrounding areas not set up for it.

YMMV,
MidCow3 (almost older than dirt; it was new when I was born)

Droid13

I suppose the hope is that once the warranty is up, there will be even better access to reconditioned, 3rd party or used batteries. I landed in my first hybrid in 2006 and it was a bit nervous experience looking at the price of the battery should I needed to replace it. Back then there was no one really doing anything outside the dealer with these. When I had my 2010 RX hybrid well past its warranty (and starting to hear a handful of stories of people having to pony up for battery replacements) I started to pay a lot more attention to what was happening in the aftermarket space just in case mine died too. Definitely a much wider range of options at less cost than I faced with my Camry Hybrid, fortunately I never had issues on either. With the current crop of EV and PHEVs, I'm thinking/hoping into the future past today's warranty will be even more friendly to battery replacements. We aren't quite there yet, I'm still seeing stories of battery failures on out of warranty EVs and PHEVs basically totalling the car which are otherwise in good shape but with volumes of these types of cars on the road increasing, things should get better.

midcow3

Okay, I am on my 7th Toyota/Lexus hybrid and never had a traction battery problem, since 2010 The scare is mainly scare because of the 20%-80% m=battery management on the nickel-metal-hydride batteries. Lithium-Ion batteries are even more reliant and charge memory resistant. And what most people don't realize is if and when a traction battery goes bad, it is not the whole battery that has to be replaced only the failing cells which cost a whole lot less than a whole brand-new battery.

YMMV,
MidCow3

5ive19

I got the 450h+ F Sport. It suits my needs and wants almost perfectly and was the only trim I considered. I would've maybe consider the 350h if it came in an F Sport (and then get the 450h+ anyway).

What I want to highlight isn't how great I think this car is (since our wants and needs are likely very different), but rather, the money/value factor. They had the $7,500 lease rebate for the 2024 450h+ which ends up being just a tad more than the 350h premium trim with added options. I really like this car but not enough to pay its original MSRP. To get the 450h+ for nearly the cost of the 350h premium is incredibly value to me.

I wanted the $7,500 rebate without having to pay for the cost of a lease (~10k more at the end to lease and buy out than purchase out right). I ended up doing a hack to get the lease cash by starting it out as a lease and then immediately paying it off.

If you can still get it with the $7,500 lease rebate, then the 450h+ is a no brainier.

DampDuffer

My first hybrid was a 2006 Lexus RX 400h. Just call me uniformed, I guess, but I drove it for 11 years before buying my first NX, and never even thought about the traction battery...

Loved the car but wanted better technology, which is far superior in my 2024 NX350h than it was in my 2017 NX and 2022 RX350 F-Sport.