Payne: Efficient Lexus UX 250h dresses up

Oakland County — The auto industry’s emerging electric car segment begs the question: how do you differentiate brands if everything sounds like a quiet, electric motor-driven Tesla? Porsche’s answer is Porsche-like handling. The Mustang Mach-E pipes in an artificial growl. Dodge says its Daytona Banshee’s electronic Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust will roar like, well, a banshee.

Actually, luxury automakers have been struggling with this issue for a while. As electronics democratize auto tech and nanny mpg laws forced drivetrains to downsize to 4-cylinders and CVT transmissions, premium brands have had to hone their brand identities.

Take the Lexus UX 250h F Sport sitting in my driveway. You can see it from space.

Lexus’s entry-level ute wears a wild wardrobe that would make Gene Simmons proud. Yuuuuge front grille. Angular peepers with L-shaped eyebrow running lights. L-shaped gills. Dramatic swept flanks that look like the sheet metal was shaped by desert winds. Narrow greenhouse that finishes with three-dimensional taillights arching across the rear.

It’s polarizing. Outrageous. A design statement. At $47,930, my hybrid F Sport Handling tester added a moonroof, power-folding mirrors and a kick-open rear hatch. This is a brand you won’t confuse with any other.

Open the front doors and the drama continues. The front seats wrap me in red leather. A Cyclops-eye instrument gauge slides back and forth, depending on how you like your drive data displayed. Drive modes are selected using one of the devil’s horns that sprout from the instrument hoodie. Tweak the horn to SPORT or SPORT PLUS and the instrument gauge glows (appropriately) red.

Loud mouth. Red leather. Hoodie. Devil’s horns. Oh, this bad boy wants to misbehave. Grab the shifter, yank it into DRIVE and the Lexus’s bark ... is worse than its bite.

Stomp the throttle and the 181-horsepower engine drones. Never mind that similarly priced luxury competitors like the Audi Q3 and BMW X2 boast much more powerful turbo-4s — the Lexus will be eaten for lunch by mainstream brands like the 250-horse Mazda CX-30 or 210-horse Kia Soul Turbo.

The latter pair cost less than 35 grand while also offering all-wheel drive and distinctive styling.

Indeed, for a grand less than my 250h tester, you could buy my coveted all-wheel-drive hot hatch VW Golf R with 315 horsepower, digital tech, two more inches of rear legroom/two more cubic feet of cargo space and be the envy of every motorhead on your block. Heck, for the same coin, the BMW X1 has 60 more horsepower, four more inches of rear legroom, and eight more cubic feet of cargo space.

But they don’t carry Lexus badges.

The auto industry talks about the Cult of Tesla and its hordes of fans who worship the brand’s pioneering, risk-taking, high-tech EV cars. Never mind the, ahem, quality issues. Lexus owners are no less cultish — they just prioritize.

Lexus vehicles are bone reliable, winning so many quality trophies that Tokyo HQ long ago ran out of shelf space. That quality is backed by Disney-quality dealer service, which lavishes customers with attention. I’ve met Lexus owners who love their dealer contact more than their dog.

Tesla fans marinate in sex appeal but, um would like a little show of quality every once in a while. Over on the Lexus side of the dance floor, they are at home in the trusty arms of their brand, but, um, would it kill them just to take me out on the dance floor and do the swing?

Just once?

Tesla quality is improving and so is Lexus sex appeal. Beneath the UX 250h’s wardrobe is a good ol’ conservative, reliable appliance.

While autos like the $35K Chevy Bolt EUV (Super Cruise) and $50K Tesla Model 3 (Autopilot) push cutting-edge driver-assistance features, my Lexus offered adaptive cruise control. Cruising down Telegraph Road toward stopped cars at a traffic light, the Lexus’s average system would only brake hard once it was nearly on top of the traffic. Um, better to intervene.

BMW and Cadillac sport superb interior ergonomics like tactile steering-wheel controls that you can locate easily with your thumbs so you never have to take your eyes off the road — or squint at the controls in the dark. UX’s average control buttons, however, are flat and hard to locate by touch alone.

Lexus steps it up when it comes to infotainment.

Long a laggard in tech like voice command software and Apple CarPlay, Lexus offers an “Intelligent Assistant” system with a native navi system on par with Google Maps. On the way to the airport with Mrs. Payne, I barked our destination — Hey Lexus! Navigate to QuikPark, Romeo, Michigan — and the system understood my West Virginia accent like we’d grown up together.

Still, Mrs. Payne prefers Apple CarPlay (and Android Auto) so she can play her Spotify music lists and pre-set a destination on her phone in the house (that then translates to Apple CarPlay in the car). It’s a wireless world (except, ironically, for government edicts forcing automakers on the electric car cord), and the Lexus hybrid is in sync.

As the car rotated onto Telegraph, my wife instantly grabbed for the ceiling handle to brace herself. But the Lexus is no Mazda CX-30 Turbo, so I took the corner at a moderate pace.

The F Sport trim offers paddle shifters, but I never touched them. Indeed, the AWD system is hardly necessary for burning rubber out of stoplights — Lexus clocked an 8.4 second run from 0-60 mph — but owners will find it useful in Michigan snow. Indeed, the most interesting drivetrain feature was to gauge how long I could maintain electric power at low speeds before the gas engine kicked in.

True to the commoditization of vehicles today, the UX 250h has the same CVT automatic transmission found in a Toyota Corolla Cross. But unlike the UX Darth Vader-mobile dressed in red leather, Gene Simmons would never give the Toyota a second look.

Next week:

2023 Lexus UX 250h

Vehicle type: Front engine, front- and all-wheel-drive, five-passenger hybrid SUV

Price: $36,490, including $1,150 destination fee ($47,930 F Sport as tested)

Powerplant: 2.0-liter 4-cylinder mated to twin electric motors (as tested)

Power: 181 horsepower

Transmission: Continuously variable transmission

Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.4 seconds (mfr.); top speed, 110 mph

Weight: 3,604 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA est. mpg 41 city/38 highway/39 combined (AWD as tested)

Report card

Highs: Much improved interior displays; lots of personality

Lows: Tight rear seat; personality ends when you press the pedal

Overall: 3 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.