2025 Lexus UX Hybrid SUV Gets Power Infusion From ... the Toyota Prius?
The entry-level Lexus's upgrade spurs a name change from UX250h to UX300h.
You might have forgotten that the subcompact Lexus UX SUV is for sale, but the automaker apparently hasn't left its entry-level model for dead yet. For 2025, the hybrid-only UX trades its older gas-electric powertrain for the newer setup also found in Toyota's excellent new Prius hybrid hatch. This brings a decent bump in output, from 181 hp to 196 hp now, thanks largely to the switch from a nickel-metal-hydride battery to a slightly higher-voltage lithium-ion unit, along with new electric motors.
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The extra output results in a name change for the UX, from UX250h to UX300h. As before, the UX300h combines a 2.0-liter inline-four engine with an electric drive motor as well as a starter-generator, blending the three power sources in a planetary-type continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) and sending it to the front wheels. Also like before, "E-Four" all-wheel drive is optional, and achieved by a third electric motor powering the rear axle.
Prius Power!
This time around, the engine produces 150 hp (5 more than last year) and the same 139 lb-ft of torque, while the front drive motor pushes out a more substantial 111 hp (up from 107 hp), and the AWD UX300h's rear motor delivers 40 hp—a big increase from the 7 hp the old motor spat out. We expect that, like before, the AWD version will be slightly quicker off the line—not thanks to its extra power so much as its extra traction; both front- and all-wheel-drive UXs are rated at the same 196 hp, just like the Toyota Prius. In fact, this setup is basically the same as the one in the newest Prius, though here it's described as Lexus's fifth-generation hybrid system. The UX is the first Lexus to get this newer, lithium-ion-powered hybrid setup.
Efficiency stays the same, despite the power increase, at 41 mpg combined (AWD models) and up to 43 mpg combined (FWD models). Lexus also says the UX300h will be quicker than its UX250h predecessor, with the front-drive versions reaching 60 mph in 8 seconds flat (versus 8.4 seconds previously). The 2025 AWD variant shaves 0.1 second off that time, for a 7.9-second run to 60 mph. If you're thinking the old UX must have been pretty pathetic for us to be celebrating its infusion of Prius power, you might not have noticed the Prius is powerful, quick, and cool now. Seriously.
Not Much Different
Other changes to the UX are more minor, including a shift to an electronic shifter—the same familiar nubby deal from the Prius, essentially—new switchgear on the door panels, and the adoption of a standard 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster on every UX save for the base model (which gets a 7.0-inch digi-cluster). Upper trim levels also get a new power opening and closing tailgate. However improbably, Lexus sells eight distinct versions of the UX300h, ranging from the "Base Premium" all the way up to the F Sport Handling, which comes with more equipment as well as an electronically adaptive suspension and snappier duds.
Full pricing and more details on those trim levels will be released later, closer to the 2025 UX300h's on-sale date. The Lexus will continue to do battle with Audi's Q3, BMW's X1, Mercedes-Benz's GLA-Class, and Cadillac's XT4.
A lifelong car enthusiast, I stumbled into this line of work essentially by accident after discovering a job posting for an intern position at Car and Driver while at college. My start may have been a compelling alternative to working in a University of Michigan dining hall, but a decade and a half later, here I am reviewing cars; judging our Car, Truck, and Performance Vehicle of the Year contests; and shaping MotorTrend’s daily coverage of the automotive industry.
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