Ensuing its world premiere in June last year, the all-new 2023 Lexus RX 350 is now officially in Malaysia.

Alias ALA15, the fifth-generation RX crossover underpins the TNGA-K platform, an enhanced GA-K type of the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA).

Fully-imported (CBU), the sole variant (RX 350 Luxury) hailing from Japan is priced at MYR 468,888 (OTR, w/o insurance - five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty).

Five exterior colours. Sonic Quartz, Sonic Iridium, Sonic Titanium, Graphite Black Glass Flake, and Sonic Cooper.

Weighing in at 2,005 KG, the 2023 Lexus RX stands at 4,890 MM long, 1,920 MM wide, 1,695 MM tall, and with a wheelbase spanning 2,850 MM.

Angularly-chiselled and -athletic with a lowered stance, and wider front and rear tracks, its exterior exudes the demeanour of a high-riding sedan rather than an SUV.

Aerodynamically sculpted, the front-end with a newly-raised hood has a very sharp and crisp outlook, featuring Lexus’ newly-designed ‘Spindle Body’ grille.

A fresh take, the grille with Diamond cut motifs forms a one-piece look, which the outer edges where the framing would be, merges seamlessly with the bumper.

Accentuating the layout are a set of corner air-vents, paired to a black-coloured minimalistic and sporty front lip.

Sporty, the rear-end has a sharp and smoothly-formed design with a rear overhang that has been reduced by 60 MM.

Boasting a coupe-esque roofline with a simple roof-spoiler, its rakish rear window is matched to a pointed tailgate,  of which underscores the Lexus script in the middle.

Completing the outlook, the borderline bulging bumper is fitted with a neat-looking diffuser that hides the muffler tips.

Fiercely-framed, the headlamps are very angular-looking, projecting a very sharp, ultra-slim and focused design.

They are triple-beam LED projector units with boomerang-shaped LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL), and an auto-levelling function. 

Pronouncedly-housed, the tail lamps are in a full-width light bar design, stretching from left to right across the middle of the tailgate. They are LED combination units.

The side mirrors are electronically adjusted and folded with turn-indicators, heater, memory, reverse-linked and electrochromic functions.

Newly-designed, it rolls on a set of 21-Inch hyper chrome metallic with bright machine-finished alloy rims, wrapped in 235/50 R21 Bridgestone Alenza 001 tyres.

The 2023 Lexus RX has a premium quality and very driver-oriented dashboard, which adopts the Tazuna Concept (linkage - jockey and horse).

As such, all the controls are of easy reachability for the driver, and most of the accessibilities are based on a touch-focused system.

Wrapped-around, two-tiered and black-themed, the outlook is accentuated by refined silver trimmings, and black ash open pore wood finish ornamentation.

Overall, the form of the dash is broadly linked from the metre top to the door trim, creating the sense of being embraced when being inside the cockpit.

Installed is a high-definition digital combination metre with a Multi-Information Display (MID). Configurations are made via the steering wheel touch-switches.

Said setup supports different types of displays (Normal, Eco, Sport) with each one prioritising information relevant to the mode. 

Also, paired to it is a fighter aircraft-style colour Heads-Up Display (HUD). Projected onto the windscreen, it features three modes (full, standard, minimum). 

The five-seater comes with seats upholstered in black semi-aniline leather, featuring suede with Kageri (dark, shadowy) L-pattern embossing.

Fitted up front are Comfort Seats, featuring a 10-way power adjustment with four-way lumbar support, memory, heating/cooling ventilation, and driver side power-easy-access (steering stow-away, seat slide/lift) functions.

Whereas, the rear gets a bench seat with a 40:20:40 split-fold power adjustment, and heating/cooling ventilation functions. The power recline has switches located on the sides of the rear seats with extras available in the boot.

Courtesy of the GA-K platform, its athletically stocky silhouette offers generous head, shoulder and legroom, thus front and rear occupants get ample space. 

This results in its slightly bigger scale (25 MM wider, 10 MM taller, 60 MM longer wheelbase) compared to its predecessor.

Specifically, it increases the rear legroom by 12 MM, and thanks to its planted stance, the floor that’s lowered by 15 MM helps with the boot height by 30 MM.

Installed is a three-spoke steering wheel, wrapped in black leather with wood ornamentation. 

It gets multi-switches (touch-type), power adjustments with memory steering column (tilt and telescopic), pedal shifters, and Electric Power Steering (EPS).

Numerous storage areas. E.g., a decent-sized glove box, centre console box with two-way opening lid, front tray, front box with lid, side door and backseat pockets, and under boot floor with easy-one-touch operation stowage.

There are four cup holders, two located in the front centre console, while the other two are in the rear. Also, there are four bottle holders, located at each side door pocket.

It features a wireless charger, five USB-C and one USB-A ports, and two 12-V sockets, strategically located around the interior.

Its powered-tailgate (kick-to-open/smart key walk-away) opens up to 612-Litres of boot space, and up to 1,678-Litres with the seats folded.

Passive safety includes seven SRS airbags (driver, passenger, front side, front-rear curtain, driver's knee), seat belts (reminders, pre-tensioners, anchors), ISOFIX, parking sensors (four-front, four-rear), 360-degree camera, door ajar warning, crash sensor, emergency brake signal, Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), and security alarm with anti-theft and engine-immobiliser.

Four drive modes at the driver’s disposal. Normal, Eco, Sport, and Custom.

Installed as the infotainment system and the control centre (vehicle operations), is an ‘Intelligent Cockpit’ setup, featuring a centrally-mounted full HD 14-Inch Electro Multi Vision (EMV) touchscreen display. It supports Lexus’ Dynamic Voice Recognition System, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (Wired/wireless).

Cocooned in the 2023 Lexus RX is a 2.4-Litre four-cylinder, 16-valve turbocharged dual VVT-i petrol engine (T24A-FTS), producing 275 HP at 6,000 RPM and 430 NM of torque at 1,700 to 6,000 RPM.

Mated to the engine is a direct shift eight-speed automatic transmission.

Power is transmitted to all four wheels, via an electronically-controlled full-time all-wheel drive (AWD) system.

Acceleration from 0 to 100 KM/H is done in 7.6 seconds, and top speed is 200 KM/H.

It has a fuel tank capacity of 68-Litres.

There are rear air-conditioning vents with a set of dedicated controls.

Fitted up front is a set of MacPherson struts, providing sharp turn-in and linear handling. Whereas, the rear is fitted with a five-arm multi-link setup, featuring new suspension arms and bushings to better absorb the road’s high frequency vibrations and shocks.

The accompanying Adaptive Variable Suspension (AVS) with two damping force modes (Normal, Sport), controls the damping force of the shock absorbers on all four wheels in response to driving operations and road surface conditions. 

Overall, the ride comfort is excellent even when driving over rough roads without increasing the damping force significantly.