The First Lexus Made Outside Of Japan Still Feels Great More Than 20 Years Later

Ask any car nerd what the first luxury crossover was and chances are they’ll say the Lexus RX. When the first iteration of this long-running mainstay of the Whole Foods parking lot debuted, there wasn’t anything out there quite like it, and it set a blueprint for brands all the way from Acura to Volvo to follow. However, while the RX 300 is widely regarded as a landmark car, there’s a solid chance its RX 330 successor might be just as important.

See, the RX 330 was the first Lexus built outside of Japan, and the brand’s top brass picked Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada in Cambridge, Ont. to fasten it together. It was a bold step at the time, but one that’s paid off. Nowadays, the NX compact crossover, TX three-row crossover, ES midsize sedan, and the RX midsize crossover can all roll out of North American plants, but there’s still an important question to answer. After more than 20 years, how is the RX 330 holding up? To find out, I went to the North American home of the model, where Lexus was celebrating 35 years in Canada.

Full disclosure: Lexus Canada invited me to Cambridge, Ont. as part of an event celebrating 35 years of the brand in Canada with a plant tour, and models new and old to drive. Accommodations and catering were provided by the manufacturer, and I drove myself down and paid for my own gas. -TH]

This RX 330 hasn’t been pampered in the possession of its makers since new. It’s a normal secondhand car, enjoyed as an everyday vehicle for more than 120,000 miles and purchased by Lexus Canada through a normal classified ad. This means it has a scratch here and a little crack in the corner of the dashboard there, but it generally exhibits remarkably little wear for a daily driver going on two decades.

On the outside, the RX 330 is aging gracefully. It helps that this silver-blue color is aging back into fashion as postmodern trend cycles continue to be an ouroboros of culture, but the most refreshing thing here is the lack of fuss. Creases were drawn only as needed, the surfacing is subtle, and the fast greenhouse and raked rear window are right in line with many crossovers of today. Sure, the abundant sidewalls, proud bumper covers, clear taillights, and door rub strips are practically quaint period pieces, but they bring out the sort of misty-eyed nostalgia that doesn’t impede cognitive functioning.

Moving inside, the leather upholstery is still almost immaculate, every button and switch is damped with the smoothness you’d expect while still retaining all of their labels, and even the carpets still feel deep. Of course, being from 2005, you get real controls for everything. Three buttons for the clock, knobs for volume and tuning and heated seats, switches for the moonroof and a stalk for the cruise control. If true luxury is ease, the uncomplicated nature of this cabin beats the gadget-laden screen-fests of many modern flagships.

Despite this RX 330 not being equipped with the optional 11-speaker Mark Levinson audio system, there’s an enveloping warmth to the sound signature that while not anything approaching reference grade, works well with certain genres. Post-punk revival, divorced dad rock, and boom-bap? Absolutely. Scrongly hippocampus-warping dirty riddim? Probably not, but I doubt many people in 2005 thought producers would be sidechaining dial-up modem noises to kicks.

Under the hood, you’ll find a 3.3-liter quad-cam 3MZ-FE V6 making 230 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 242 lb.-ft. of torque at 3,600 rpm. Hitched to a five-speed torque converter automatic, it won’t make you feel like Jarno Trulli but it’s more velvety than any turbocharged four-banger, and almost makes you feel like you’re going toward the light with its unusually ethereal song. It’s a similar deal with the well-weighted hydraulic power steering, light on feedback but strangely right.

Making my way onto a less interesting road fit for higher-speed straight-line cruising, I was astounded by how unsurprising the RX 330 felt. When we’re dealing with 20-year-old cars, it’s common for some aspects of them to be better than we recall and some to be worse, but Lexus’ crossover for the mid-aughts is exactly as I remembered. It still smothers road noise with a quiet sort of love, it still deals with frost heaves and potholes with modern dexterity and poise, and the wide, plush seats are as comfortable as they are honest. Leave the lateral grip heroics to the sport sedans, a crossover’s for schlepping a hybrid bike across town without decanting your mocha latte.

Pulling into a layby for some quick photos, it didn’t take long to start appreciating lovely little touches that constantly remind you that this is a car with an MSRP of nearly $62,000 in today’s money. Pressing a button to open the console lid is ordinary, but pressing a second one to close it and having the mechanism be entirely mechanical truly feels like a feat of engineering. Each front occupant gets their own adjustable seat-mounted armrest, because why settle for anything less? There’s even a space between the console and the shifter tower for a small tote bag, so you can always keep your most important things right at hand. A leather-bound journal, a fountain pen, a few favorite Polaroids, artifacts of a luxuriously leisurely life where stopping to smell the roses is a routine whim.

However, a second-generation Lexus RX isn’t effectively a $62,000 car anymore. You can pick a nice one up for less than 7,500 greenbacks, and other than infotainment, small-overlap impact rating, and advanced driver assistance systems, it does just about everything just as well as a modern luxury crossover. It’s also proof that reliability and quality is part of corporate culture and not just a product of the geographic region a car’s built in. Add in famed reliability and reasonable parts pricing, and you can see why some families simply hand down their old RXs rather than trade them in. So, if you have a reasonable sum to spend on a well-used crossover, want something nice, and don’t want to think about buying another car until 2035 at the soonest, get yourself one of these.

Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal

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