NJRonbo

From what I understand, a Hybrid is self-charging but won’t run on all-electric if you want to do chores around town. A plug-in (PHEV) will not charge itself but you get the all-electric capability. At worst, you can charge it overnight using a 120v home charger connection. With level one charging it could take up to 8 hours for a full charge. Of course, charging stations will cut that time down considerably.

I’m still not sure what I am going to buy. I have a hybrid and love the self-charging capability and better gas mileage I get with it. However, the engine power is noticeably less than the plug-in.

Xanadu350

How are you expecting the new NX to drive comparing the prior gen. The same, different? No one has really reviewed the drive yet but was wondering if F Sport will drive differently.

kolokmee

Unless you are driving 24 hrs a day, plugging the PHEV into a regular 110/120v outlet while you sleep overnight (6-8 hrs) should be plenty to get the car fully charged to handle the day's driving. And if you have a plug at the work parking lot, you could also top it up while in the office. The whole idea of plugins is to charge when you are not planning to use the car (and if you think about it, how often do you actually make use of the car versus it being parked somewhere with a regular plug nearby?)

In any case, with most PHEV, and especially Toyota's versions, it can behave like a hybrid, so some regeneration is happening when you brake or coast downhill. If the main traction battery gets to too low of a charge, the Primes will automatically go into Hybrid mode, so it'll behave just like a regular non-PHEV hybrid.

With the NX450h+, there is a also a specific mode called "EV Charging" (if i'm not mistaken), where the ICE will just run continuously to charge the batteries. That's pretty much a waste of gas, and really only needed for future scenarios where certain parts of town have banned engine emissions completely, so you need to top up the battery to ensure EV mode (and no public chargers are available) before entering those zones.

dklanecky1

OK, now I'm confused. If the 450h PHEV can't charge itself, other than when plugged in, what is the purpose of the 2.5L inline 4 cylinder engine included with the 450h PHEV as shown in the brochure?

RXWes

Why would you want the car to charge itself? The Internal Combustion Engine is for when you run out of battery power.

If the engine is running and while braking. You would put some charge back in the traction battery. But not a full charge.

RXWes

Was at my local Lexus dealership today for service on my RX.

I spoke with a couple sales people and the internet manager while waiting for my loaner. They said the don’t expect to have a 2022 NX on the showroom floor till December.

kolokmee

Where are you seeing that the 450h+ cannot charge itself? Plugging in is just more efficient, but the gas engine (ICE) can definitely be used to charge itself. There's even a Self-Charge mode you can select on the controller if you really want to.

In everyday driving, if you select Hybrid mode, the ICE will charge the batteries as it goes along. It just takes a long time and wastes a lot of gas if you depend on the engine to do all the charging.

JamesAbbe

This is from a Japanese YouTube channel but this author is saying no Mark Levinson for 450h+.
He is guessing it has something to do with weight, but I guess it could be due to limited space to fit the woofer..
A bit of a bummer for me, I might take it to a shop to swap the speakers with better ones if that is the case.

kolokmee

Yeah, going by the UK full options list for the new NX:

https://lexus.turtl.co/story/1350400...-list/page/5/5

It does look like the 450h+ will not have the option of the Mark Levinson or Panorama roof on any trim. I suspect you are right about the bigger batteries taking up extra space. Likely means the rear seats are set higher, so there's not enough headroom in the back for the pano roof.

Might not just be the subwoofer for the Mark Levinson. It sounds similar to the ML setup in the current RX, and the two upper speakers in the ceiling may not fit properly in the PHEV too. I wonder if rear headroom is at a premium with the 450h+.

That's too bad. Lexus might be waiting for the bigger RX to be able to fit all these in the PHEV version...

Xanadu350

This confirms that the 450h+ is out of the picture for me. I definitely want the ML. Seriously I just don’t think we are ready for full electric vehicles yet. I mean this vehicle is not even available for Floridians. I’ll stick with gas for now. Maybe in 5-10 yrs I’ll reconsider going electric.

NJRonbo

I agree with you. This is an awful time to buy a vehicle — and I don’t mean just because of the price hikes due to chip shortages.

Electric vehicles are still in their infancy. The day is going to come where we can get well over 500 miles on a single charge. There are vehicles on the horizon already promising that.

However, the best of electric is still many years away as manufacturers introduce better batteries and ensure that cars aren’t going to light themselves on fire.

I am not impressed with PHEV and 30-35 miles pure electric. I think the hybrid is the better way to go, though you are scaling down on engine power.

However, for the next 8 years of ownership, I think a gas vehicle may still be the best way to go.

Just my opinion.

2merc3lex

I'm like-minded on electric at this time so will go with the NX350 non F-sport for this purchase. Who knows, the way things are shaping up could be my last ICE. Lexus rates the NX350 at only 22 MPG, but with most of my driving conditions I should get better.

NJRonbo

Actually, I think the hybrid is the “sweet spot” here. I have a hybrid and love the gas mileage I am getting. However, I am in a sedan so I can easily get 40MPG. The NX is 36 MPG. Understand, if you live in cold weather climate that MPG will be greatly reduced during those months.

The downside is less acceleration power. My Lincoln MKZ struggles at fast acceleration but it’s only 188 horsepower. The Lexus Hybrid is 239 horsepower which isn’t bad, but falls behind the 275 horsepower gas equivalent.

Bottom line: I wouldn’t mind sacrificing horsepower on the hybrid to get 36MPG over 22MPG of the gas equivalent.

2merc3lex

Understand what you're saying, so I guess it depends on what we are looking for in a car. Myself, I want a car with a little bit of pep that can get up and go when needed. For me the 0-60 in 6.8 seconds is on the border line of too slow, as my last car was the X3 with somewhere around 6 seconds to 60 and loved the handling. Did not want to keep the X3 long term for obvious reasons but the Lexus NX is one of the most reliable automobiles you can buy. I did have a 2016 NX but did not keep it. Sold it to a friend who loves it, but for me it was lacking acceleration and handling. Have high expectations that Lexus has corrected these (at least some of these) shortfalls in the 2022. Plan to keep this car for at least five years.

lesz

Even though the NX Hybrid will only have 239 hp, understand that the horsepower boost provided when the electric motors kick in is instant horsepower/torque, and that makes it feel like you have more than 239 hp. It may not feel like a 3.5 l V6 with 325 hp, but it does feel like there is noticeably more power than you would expect with a 2.5 l 4 cylinder engine.

When I bought my 2021 RAV4 Hybrid, I noticed immediately on my test drives how much more power it felt like the vehicle had than did the non-hybrid RAV4 (or the previous generation RAV4 Hybrid and non-hybrid). And I'm especially enjoying the 52 mpg + fuel economy that I've consistently gotten this spring and summer. Since the 2022 NX Hybrid will weigh a bit more than does the RAV4 Hybrid, its fuel economy isn't likely to be quite as high as that of the RAV4 Hybrid, but it should be in the same ballpark.