The 2026 Lexus NX 350h Is Efficient and Stylish, But With a Number of Trade-Offs: Review

What SUV Shoppers Need to Know

• The NX 350h is a gas-electric hybrid version of Lexus’ compact SUV.
• Earning an EPA-estimated 39 mpg combined with all-wheel drive, the NX 350h gets good gas mileage.
• There are also some reasons why you may want to consider competitors, including the NX’s cramped interior, a lack of sportiness from the F Sport Handling variant and pricing that can top $60,000.

Is the 2026 Lexus NX 350h a Good SUV?

There’s a lot to like about the NX 350h, an upscale, fuel-efficient, luxury compact SUV with a hybrid powertrain. It looks sharp inside and out, it’s thrifty on gas, and its user interface is intuitive. Unfortunately for Lexus, there’s also a lot to like about less expensive rival compact SUVs from mainstream brands; the NX we drove had an as-tested price that topped $60,000, and its F Sport Handling package brought no noticeable performance benefit. SUV shoppers would be wise to save some money by choosing one of the many more affordable offerings in the compact class — or wait for the NX’s looming update.

Expert Rating: 5.8/10

• Powertrain: 6/10
• Ride quality: 5/10
• Driver comfort: 4/10
• Passenger comfort: 5/10
• Interior quality: 7/10
• User interface: 8/10
• Cargo space: 5/10
• Value: 3/10
• Overall appeal: 6/10
• Fuel economy: 9/10

Our test vehicle: 2026 Lexus NX 350h F Sport Handling AWD
Starting price (all prices include destination fee): $55,495
As-tested price: $61,655
Powertrain: 2.5-liter four-cylinder hybrid, 240 horsepower, all-wheel drive, CVT
EPA fuel-economy ratings: 41/37/39 mpg city/highway/combined

The NX shares a platform with the Toyota RAV4, but while the RAV4 has been redesigned for the 2026 model year, the NX soldiers on with only minor updates; its last full redesign was for 2022. The NX is available with a gas-only engine, a gas-electric hybrid system or a plug-in hybrid powertrain; our test vehicle was a 350h hybrid. Newly available with the hybrid powertrain for 2026, the F Sport Handling trim of our test vehicle added mechanical suspension upgrades as well as a sportier look.

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What’s Good About the NX 350h?

Hybrid gas mileage: Even before gas prices began their race to the moon in the spring of 2026, the NX 350h’s fuel efficiency was a high point — especially because Lexus recommends pricier premium fuel. The 350h’s EPA-rated 39 mpg combined is worlds better than what competitors like the BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLC and Acura RDX offer, but the Lexus still provides ample power around town and for highway on-ramps.

Intuitive user interface: The NX’s available 14-inch touchscreen is a familiar Toyota design, but not its latest version. It’s easy to use and has solid graphics and response to inputs. More importantly, the NX’s paired digital instrument panel is also easy to use and doesn’t bury settings and controls behind several layers of frustrating menus.

Stylish interior and exterior: If you want a sharp-looking compact SUV with modern styling, the NX hits that ball out of the park. The exterior — especially with the F Sport’s black accents, unique 20-inch black wheels and color-matched fenders — projects a sporty air, while the interior stands out in a sea of blandness in this segment, especially in our test vehicle’s red and black color combination. The NX’s materials quality lives up to its appearance.

Comfortable ride around town: On a compact SUV, 20-inch wheels are usually a recipe for a bumpy ride, but the NX stays composed over potholes and pavement seams. The F Sport Handling’s adaptive suspension is smartly tuned and doesn’t produce an unnecessarily punishing ride.

Useful cargo space: The NX is a compact SUV, and it’s on the smaller side of the segment, with just over 17 cubic feet of cargo space by Cars.com’s measurements. It’s an acceptable amount of space for groceries and kids’ gear, but it’s not impressive.

What’s Bad About the NX 350h?

Price: Frankly, spending more than $60,000 on a vehicle this small should net you more than a competent, fuel-efficient compact SUV. There are several mainstream compact SUVs that are better to drive and roughly as efficient and/or upscale as the NX 350h — and they cost tens of thousands of dollars less. The Volkswagen Tiguan, which won our recent 2026 Compact SUV Challenge, is a bargain-luxury alternative to the NX, while the Honda CR-V hybrid delivers a smooth ride and similar efficiency. You may even consider the NX’s Toyota dupe, the RAV4.

A price tag of $60,000-plus puts you into larger-vehicle territory, too, including Lexus’ own RX. Given the lack of notable driving-related benefits in the NX, shoppers could consider trading a bit of fuel efficiency for significantly better ride and interior comfort.

Busy ride on the highway: While the NX F Sport Handling is comfortable to drive at lower speeds, it’s very busy on the highway, requiring almost constant small steering corrections to keep it in its lane. Any trip longer than 30 minutes was more tiring than it should have been.

Cramped interior: Despite sharing a platform with the Toyota RAV4, the NX is considerably smaller inside. Its cockpit is cramped, featuring a gigantic center console that cuts into driver legroom. The backseat lacks legroom and headroom, too.

Overly bolstered front sport seats: If the NX’s lack of interior space weren’t already enough, opting for the F Sport variant adds front sport seats that look fantastic but have far too much bolstering to be comfortable for daily driving. I’m not a small person, so your mileage may vary, but I felt like I was wearing a shirt a size too small whenever I drove the NX. It just wasn’t pleasant.

Not especially sporty: While the F Sport Handling adds things like an adaptive suspension, there’s no change to the powertrain or steering. The differences in the F Sport’s daily driving attributes are either negligible or, in the case of its busy ride on the highway, a bit worse than a regular NX 350h. Unless you love the appearance of the F Sport, it’s not worth it.

Should You Buy the 2026 Lexus NX 350h?

In a vacuum, the NX 350h is a very good compact SUV if a little cramped inside in the name of “sportiness.” But cars don’t exist in a vacuum, and there are very good rival compact SUVs from mainstream brands that are roomier, at least as fun to drive and at least as fuel-efficient — for significantly less money. There are also similarly priced and far more comfortable models a size or two bigger than the NX, and while they may penalize you with worse gas mileage, their interior space and ride comfort will be significantly better.

That’s not meant to condemn the NX; this SUV simply illustrates how far the industry has come since Lexus last redesigned it. Given the Toyota RAV4 just underwent radical changes as part of a 2026 redesign, we expect the NX to get its own glow-up soon. It may be prudent to simply wait for the next generation of NX and see if it better differentiates itself from its “lowlier” competitors.

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