The 2018 Lexus RX 350L is completely different yet exactly the same as it’s always been. Extending the RX’s two-row cabin 4.3 inches makes room for an occasional-use third-row seat, but the rest of the cabin provides the same rewards and drawbacks the regular-length luxury crossover offers. Considering the RX surpassed the BMW 3 Series/4 Series and others to earn it the title of best-selling luxury vehicle in 2017, Lexus must be doing something right. We spent some quality time in a moderately equipped 2018 RX 350L to determine its secret sauce.
Don’t miss our 2018 RX 350L First Test review here
Feel Me
So many of the 2018 Lexus RXL’s touchpoints feel fantastic, whether it’s the soft material you feel when you wrap your hand around the grab handle to close the door or the quality and softness of the leather used on the seats. Lexus continues to do a good job justifying those luxury-car price tags from inside. Plus, have you felt that smooth headliner? Taller drivers might find it catches some of their hair (trust me on that), but it feels so much better than the cloth of other cars that the tradeoff is worth it.
What a Console
Our RX 350L wasn’t a fully loaded tester, yet it still featured soft leatherlike stitching lining the edges of the center console between the driver and front passenger. That detail isn’t unique to Lexus, but it’s still appreciated. I also like the way the wood trim curves up on the passenger side of the console.
Look My Way
Having the available 12.3-inch infotainment screen prominently placed really makes an impression. Although I wish it were tilted a tad toward the driver, I love the functionality of large screens placed at the very top of the dash. With the Lexus’ version, you can easily split the screen with different info displays without much of a compromise in space on either side. As for the trip-computer screen inside the instrument cluster, it’s a more basic display, but I appreciate that one screen option is a tire pressure indicator that displays PSI for all four tires.
Thanks for Trying, but it’s Time for a Change
The 2018 Lexus RX 350L has the automaker’s Remote Touch interface, which includes a specially sculpted place to rest your hand and a little mouselike controller to guide you toward whatever screen function you want. Although Lexus has made upgrades to the system over the years, at its heart, it lacks the intuitiveness of competitors’ infotainment solutions. One major way Lexus could make a serious improvement to the system might be coming to a future RX soon.
Please, Please, Please
Apple CarPlay could become an option on the 2019 or 2020 Lexus RX. Lexus wouldn’t confirm the option, merely telling us that the automaker is open to the option, so we’ll see. No one with a 12.3-inch display should have to stick their iPhone on a vent clip for infotainment solutions, but that’s exactly what my brother-in-law does in his Lexus RX, and—despite a sample size of one—it’s a reflection of how the infotainment system could use improvements beyond the advanced Enform solutions offered on the new LS sedan. Apple CarPlay (like Android Auto) isn’t perfect, but when you have reception, tasks such as navigation (even when you only know the place name), voice-commanded text messages, and listening to Spotify, Audible, or other media solutions are made much easier.
Push This, but Don’t Pull That
Over all the days I drove our 2018 RX 350L tester, I felt the engine stop/start button was a little too low even accounting for my above-average height. Lexus makes up that very minor inconvenience with two cool details associated with its electric parking brake. One is the auto brake hold—press that button at the top of the center console, and every time you come to a stop for more than just a quick pause, the car will hold the brakes for you and automatically lift as soon as you touch the throttle. The transition between auto hold and lifting is smooth, and it’s especially useful if your commute includes that one street light that takes forever to change. Also, the car automatically applies the parking brake after you put the car into park—another cool everyday convenience.
So What About the Third-Row Seats?
What about them? The cramped third-row seats in the RXL are best left folded down. In a pinch, yes, you could use them for kids or short, nimble adults able to scramble back there, but there’s just not that much space. And in this price point, if you don’t mind moving beyond the Lexus family, there are more spacious three-row alternatives.
A six-seat variant with two second-row captain’s chairs is also available, but the seven-seat layout is standard.
Well, We’re Waiting…
The other issue with the third-row seats is how they fold up and down. The first few times I folded them down, I enjoyed watching them do their little dance (first the backrest folds down, then the entire seat shifts downward). After that, I got tired of holding the button—located in the cargo area as well as behind the passenger-side doors—for around 14 seconds to fold down or 17 seconds to bring them back up. Despite this slowness, the truth is most likely that few people with three-row crossovers experience these slow folding times on a regular basis, choosing instead to leave them up or down almost all of the time.
Who’s Hiding Back There?
Regardless of whether the third-row seats are left up or down, rear visibility is poor. Lexus extended the length of the rear side windows (thank you, Lexus), but the result remains massive blind spots. Really, though, how much of a problem this is depends on what you’re driving. My brother-in-law is already accustomed to the blind spots on the regular-sized RX 350, and once associate online editor Collin Woodard sat behind the wheel of the RXL after having driven our long-term Jaguar F-Pace, he reminded me of the importance of properly adjusting side mirrors.
So true. Take another look at the RX’s exterior design, and you might decide that the visibility compromise is worth it to drive a car that looks like that. I’m not a fan of the car’s giant front grille, but I do like the rear styling.
Second-Row Excellence
The Lexus RXL’s second row is perfectly spacious when the third row is folded away. Not only are the manual controls to move the seat back and forth easy to use, but the backrest recline lever is also simple to use—it’s large and located just below where your hand naturally falls when you’re sitting down. There are also two 2.1-amp chargers smartly located in the center-seat armrest, and that’s better than the location many cars use at the bottom of central rear-seat air vents. One more bonus: There’s no drivetrain hump in the middle seat, which further increases the perception of space.
Would I Get One?
I understand why so many people buy the Lexus RX. The car has a Lexus badge (with the swell treatment you get at dealerships as a result), it’s comfortable and spacious inside, it’s relatively quiet as long as you avoid the F Sport models, and almost everything feels great. It feels like a Goldilocks-sized luxury crossover for some buyers. Personally, I would hold out to see if the 2019 RXL offers Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Those third-row seats aren’t very comfortable, and I’d have to think hard whether the L is worth a $4,400 premium on RX 350 models. I so appreciate Lexus’ record on the RX for good reliability, but the lack of CarPlay and the relatively small gain in space would give me pause if I weren’t already super loyal to the brand. Once an RXL rolls out of the factory with a different infotainment system, however, that picture might change.