2027 Lexus NX First Drive: Simpler, Quieter, and Easier to Live With

We’re all busy people, so anytime something is simplified, it’s a good thing. One less choice we need to make. Lexus has done just that with its refreshed 2027 Lexus NX by whittling down the powertrain options. Your decision has been made for you: It’s either the hybrid or the plug-in hybrid, with a focus on efficiency from here on out.

Plus, now there’s an upgraded interior experience for the luxury compact SUV, which includes a bigger screen and improved sound-deadening insulation. How does all this simplification and cabin elevation enhance the NX experience beyond the outgoing version?

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2027 NX 350h AWD Luxury

It’s Pronounced the ‘Lexus Nix’

Just kidding. But feel free to do so. It’s fun.

Anyway, as we outlined in our 2027 NX First Look, the purely gasoline-powered NX is no more, along with the standard-grade trim. The NX350h Premium is the new base model, and the compact luxury SUV is also offered in Premium+, F Sport, or Luxury grades across both hybrid powertrains. Only the 350h in Premium or Premium+ offer a front-drive version. The rest are all-wheel drive, and the 450h+ plug-in hybrid is exclusively AWD.

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2027 NX350h F Sport

Exterior design on the NX was already sharp, but the refresh hones it further by streamlining the lighting signatures, making them better integrated with the body. The only carryover parts from the outgoing car are the trunk and hood. There are two new paint colors: Incognito, which is a cement-gray color for F Sport models, and Shaded Ivy, which is a lovely and muted gray-green color.

NX assistant chief engineer Yukiya Uchimura said the team was insistent that the refreshed NX stay approximately the same size as when it launched because its size is extremely favorable to a global customer base. Packing the bigger battery into the smaller body while also adhering to all emission and safety regulations proved to be a challenge, but one he and his team were proud to accomplish. The final product is more or less the same size as the ones that came before it.

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2027 NX450h+ AWD Luxury

Step inside the new NX, and you’ll find a center stack area that looks and feels much airier thanks to its long, horizontal lines. In addition to expected Lexus niceties, the big 14.0-inch central screen and 12.3-inch driver display are now standard across the NX line, as are wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. A new integrated drive recorder and a secondary phone pad have also been added.

The upper F Sport and Luxury grades come with standard Lexus Sensory Concierge, a feature with three mood settings that have their own ambient lighting, seat temperature, audio signature, and in-cabin cologne.

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2027 NX 350h AWD Luxury

Hardware-wise, Lexus compacted and lightened the new sixth-generation hybrid components to help lower the vehicle’s center of gravity. Improved battery power management means the powertrain leans more into its electric motors for a torquier driving experience. More rigidity in the engine block helps cut down on vibration and noise.

Smooth Hybrid Cruising

In a recent drive of a 2026 Lexus NX, we praised it for being a highly pleasant daily driver. The 2027 model takes those pleasantries to a higher level.

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First, several of the little annoyances we found with the 2026 have been addressed. For example, the touchscreen-only climate controls are gone and have been replaced by a separate button bar below the screen. Pushing these buttons feels like pushing them through the fabric of a shirt—there’s definitely switchgear under there. (Thank God!) Second, the steering wheel’s haptic buttons have been replaced by the same thing, so it’s harder to accidentally brush against them now.

Seating remains prodigiously comfortable, with the seat foam and contouring striking the perfect balance between relaxation and sportiness. The steering wheel has been shrunk slightly in diameter, so it doesn’t block any part of the big screen. The only thing that stuck out to us is because the digital driver cluster is positioned so low, we had to adjust the steering wheel lower as a result to better see it.

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2027 NX 350h AWD Luxury

Once underway in the 2027 NX, everything is quieter and vibrates less. After scooting away from a red light on electric power in the NX350h AWD, the engine rumbles to life with noticeably less shaking than before, and hard acceleration didn’t yield much drone from the powertrain’s core 2.5-liter engine. Lexus said it reduced the amount of cabin noise over the 2026 models by 20 percent thanks to better weather stripping, new front door glass, and noise-absorbing material at the rear. During cruising, everything was smooth and we could barely hear or feel the engine working. To be fully transparent, the route Lexus chose for our drive didn’t include any highway stints, so we’re curious to see how that NVH holds up at freeway speeds.

Increased body rigidity gives the NX an even better sense of being a tightly put-together product. Lexux also upped the responsiveness of the steering, so it now feels more linear than before, and braking is easy to modulate when driving around town.

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2027 NX350h F Sport

The NX350h F Sport, with its exclusive adaptive variable suspension system, displayed good body control—at least on the rather straight and well-paved roads on the drive program. It rides a little more athletically and is better damped than the NX350h Luxury, which is a bit more chattery across bumps. But the differences in driving feedback between the two are fairly minor.

EV Like Plug-In Power

In the NX450h+ plug-in hybrid, it’s easy to pretend this is an all-electric-powered Lexus, as only under harder acceleration does the gasoline engine ever noticeably fire up. Lexus estimates the 450h+ is capable of 45 miles of all-electric range, and when you’re cruising along on local roads, battery-only driving is the way to go. It’s heavier than the hybrid models due to the larger battery, but on the plus side, there’s a lower center of gravity given that the battery’s weight is concentrated in the floor of the vehicle.

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2027 NX450h+ AWD Luxury

Lexus says the battery of the NX450h+ can charge from 10 to 100 percent on a 240-volt AC charger in 2.5 hours and needs 35 minutes to charge from 10 to 80 percent on a DC fast charger. A NACS port is standard, allowing for ease of use at the Tesla Supercharging network.

The PHEV version is our pick of the NX litter at this point, with its all-electric range and gasoline engine backup offering the most flexibility. And for 2027, it’s available on the base Premium grade, meaning the powertrain isn’t locked behind a higher trim level.

Just a few minor demerits: There isn’t a hard button to change the drive mode of the NX450h+. Instead, it’s accessed via the touchscreen and some menus, though you can create a tile shortcut for it on the home screen. The Sensory Concierge should also be a fixed tile on the home screen, because we weren’t crazy about the in-cabin cologne and couldn’t immediately figure out how to turn it off from the stacks of menus we had to navigate through.

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Lastly, the paddle shifters. On the hybrid models, they can “shift” the CVT’s “gears,” but realistically who’s doing that? On the PHEV, it’s a little better because you can quasi adjust the brake regen severity, enough so you can slow down smoothly without relying too much on the brake pedal. (The setting clears after acceleration, however, so you need to paddle up and down frequently.) It would make more sense if the hybrid versions could do that, too.

Incremental Improvements

Lexus will announce pricing for the 2027 Lexus NX lineup closer to its launch date late in 2026, but we figure since the hybrid was already the most affordable variant in the NX family, the new all-hybrid lineup shouldn’t significantly increase prices moving forward. One thing it doesn’t really increase is the EPA ratings, with the most efficient FWD 350h model expected to check in at 44/35/40 mpg city/highway/combined, only besting the equivalent version’s 42/38/40 number in city efficiency.

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2027 NX350h AWD F Sport and 2027 NX450h+ AWD Luxury

The 2026 Lexus NX was already pretty dang nice, but the refreshed 2027 model takes things a step further, thanks to the simplified powertrain lineup and added standardized equipment. Lexus improved the things that needed improvement and refined things that were already very good.

All that means the NX is better than ever. More refined. More tech-forward. More efficient. Simpler. We can’t wait to get our hands on one for a longer evaluation.