Lexus RX 350 Lands on Ward's Top 10 List for 2019
User experience is a big deal in today's high-tech vehicles, and Lexus' RX 350 offers up one of the very best.
Totally Connected
The Lexus RX 350 has long been a favorite luxury sport utility among buyers, especially here in America. And it's easy to see why. With attractive styling, a comfy interior, and plenty of usable space, it's a well-rounded vehicle. And now that the RX has gained a host of new technology and connectivity features, it's more than worthy of taking home a Wards 10 Best UX award, too.
Photos: Lexus
User Friendly
UX is short for user experience, a relatively new category in Wards long-running awards series. It's dedicated to finding the most user-friendly vehicle technology including smartphone pairing and charging, voice-control navigation, head-up displays and the effectiveness of driver-assistance technologies such as adaptive cruise control and blindspot monitoring.
Photos: Lexus
Responsive and Useful
This is increasingly important in today's automotive world, where vehicles are packed with technology. This can be a good thing, but also a bad thing if that tech isn't easy to use or responsive. Thus, Wards 10 Best UX focuses on interfaces that are user-friendly, navigation systems that are easy to program, collision-avoidance technologies that are dependable, and smartphone integration that is simple, allowing drivers safe access to text messages, emails and phone contacts while on the road.
Photos: Lexus
Light Year Leap
Wards say that for 2020, the Lexus RX 350 has enjoyed a "major user experience makeover." They note that this new model "represents a light-year leap for the best-seller in Toyota's luxury lineup. Attention to UX detail gives the RX all the right tools to protect, assist, and amaze."
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Good Move
This excellent experience, of course, starts with the RX's new main screen. "Our well-equipped $51,750 F-Sport performance model included the optional 12.3-inch horizontal touchscreen," Wards said. "Perched at a perfect eye level atop the dashboard. To make the touchscreen easily accessible, UX designers pulled the entire screen and center stack 5 1/2 inches in toward the driver."
Photos: Lexus
Speak and Receive
Voice commands are easy to use in the new RX, and there's plenty of modern app support, too. "Keeping pace with the best of the competition, the RX uses natural voice recognition for millions of common phrases," Wards noted. "Do you need more gee whiz? How about being able to interact with the system via Amazon Alexa. Or to project Waze crowd-sourced mapping to the touchscreen?"
Photos: Lexus
Visible Displays
As we well know, the best-designed display screens in the world aren't much good if you can't see them, no matter what the lighting situation might be. "The RX also wins kudos for its bright and informative gauge cluster," Wards said. "And a heads-up display that remains visible even when the driver dons polarized sunglasses."
Photos: Lexus
Safety First
Of course, Lexus didn't forget about the kinds of safety innovation that have become a hallmark of its models, either. "A showcase for the automaker's premium driver assistance and safety features, the RX adds improved bicyclist and pedestrian detection, along with the ability to read freeway road signs and follow a lane when road markings are barely visible," Wards said.
Photos: Lexus
Selling to the Masses
"We think UX improvements such as those found in the 2020 Lexus RX can push an already good vehicle into a spot among the best in the business," Wards concludes. Which is high praise, indeed. After all, the RX was already a great vehicle, to begin with. Now that it's also more user-friendly than ever, it'll only make selling Lexus' SUV to the masses easier than before.
Photos: Lexus
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