The Lexus RX: Seventeen Grades, Four Powertrains and Not a Single Front-Wheel-Drive Version — Rated 8.2/10

Four powertrains, seventeen grades and one drivetrain. That is the shape of the Canadian RX, and the last of those three facts is the most unusual: there is no front-wheel-drive RX sold here at any price, in any grade.

The range opens with the RX 350 Premium at $60,885 and climbs through Luxury, F SPORT, Ultra Luxury, Executive and F SPORT Black Line grades to $79,164. The RX 350h hybrid runs $63,645 to $79,064 across five grades. The RX 450h+ plug-in hybrid is offered in two, at $78,495 and $87,385. The RX 500h F SPORT Performance tops the range from $83,214 to $89,804.

Lexus Canada itemises its fees the way Toyota does, and the transparency is worth noting in a market where several rivals do not. Freight and destination is $2,205, air conditioning $100, OMVIC $22, the tire levy $30 and environmental handling $1.92, with dealer fees up to $999 on top. The prices above are MSRPs before those charges, and none of them is net of incentives.

The powertrains divide neatly by purpose. The RX 350 uses a 2.4-litre turbocharged four making 275 horsepower and 317 pound-feet through an eight-speed automatic, and returns 9.9 litres per 100 kilometres combined. The RX 350h pairs a 2.5-litre four with electric assistance for 246 horsepower and a remarkable 6.5 litres per 100 kilometres — and note the split: 6.3 in the city against 6.8 on the highway, the reverse of the usual pattern and a direct consequence of how hybrids recover energy in traffic. The RX 450h+ plug-in makes 304 horsepower, carries an 18.1-kilowatt-hour battery and is quoted at 60 kilometres of electric range, though Lexus Canada does not state which test standard produced that figure and this desk will not assume one. At the top, the RX 500h F SPORT Performance produces 367 horsepower and 406 pound-feet through a six-speed automatic.

The practical numbers are consistent across the whole range, which simplifies the decision: five seats, 838 litres of cargo behind the second row and 1,308 behind the front, and a 1,585-kilogram towing rating whichever powertrain is chosen. Buyers wanting a third row are directed to the larger TX.

Cabin technology steps up in a clear place. A 9.8-inch touchscreen is standard, with a 14-inch unit on everything except the two Premium grades and the RX 350h F SPORT Design — meaning every plug-in and every RX 500h gets the larger screen. A 12.3-inch instrument display is standard throughout, as is Lexus Safety System+ 3.0 and blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert. The 21-speaker Mark Levinson system is reserved for Executive, F SPORT 3 and Black Line grades; everything else runs twelve speakers.

Two cautions from the specification sheet. Lexus Canada publishes no torque figure for the RX 450h+, and its own spec table has corrupted legroom and shoulder-room rows for the RX 350h and RX 500h, printing legroom values in the shoulder-room cells. We have left all of those numbers out rather than repeat an error.

The historical claim is Lexus's own, and worth attributing as such: the company says the RX 300 of 1998 was the world's first luxury crossover. Whatever one makes of that, the segment it named is now the most profitable in the industry.

An 8.2/10 from the Torbrook Rating Agency reflects a range with genuine breadth, standard all-wheel drive, honest fee disclosure and a hybrid whose city consumption embarrasses most cars half its size. The specifications above are Lexus's; the score is ours.