2022 BMW X3 30e vs Lexus NX450h+ F Sport comparison review

On the face of it, this review is about two mid-size SUVs from premium manufacturers – the BMW X3 30e and Lexus NX450h+ F Sport – going head to head to see which is the better of the two.

Step back a bit, though and there’s a broader question – given the cost of these cars, can they really compete with the fully electric mid-size SUVs trickling into the market?

I used to be thoroughly convinced that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles – PHEVs – were the answer for buyers hesitant to commit to a full battery electric vehicle (BEV).

For some reason the ABC has me on regularly, shouting at people who claim buying a BEV is a no-brainer (hint: it isn’t for many people) and they tolerate it because I’m still right.

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But after a week with these two, I’m not so sure. It’s not because they’re not good cars because they’re both as great as you might expect from these two titans. I just wonder, especially in the BMW’s case, if you’ve got access to a few more grand, why would you not buy the BEV version?

Of course, there are good reasons we will explore in this comparison but it’s a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone – which is the better of these two PHEVs and should you even buy one in the first place?

Pricing and Features

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The Lexus takes a clear and decisive win on pricing with the top of the range NX450h landing on your driveway for $89,900 plus on-road costs. BMW’s X3 30e is about fifteen grand more at $104,900 before on-road costs. Bosh.

Let’s start with what you get for your money on the Bavarian because for this price it had better be good – and not just because the Lexus is cheaper but because the BMW iX3 is ten grand more and doesn’t use any petrol at all. And the 30e is seventeen grand more than the unelectrified X3 30i.

While the M Sport package is standard on the X3, the NX450h+ is only available in F Sport guise. F does more than M in this case

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For your near hundred and five large you get 20-inch alloys, a six-speaker stereo, multi-zone climate control, cameras everywhere, keyless entry and start, front and rear parking sensors, electric front seat adjustment, adaptive cruise control, sat-nav, LED headlights (with automatic operation, auto high beam and active shadowing), head-up display, partial leather seats, auto parking, power everything (including the tailgate), auto wipers, digital dashboard, huge panoramic sunroof, tyre repair kit, run-flat tyres and wireless phone charging.

The Lexus counters with… well, pretty much all of this except the sunroof is a more traditional one that only covers the front row, the front seats are heated and ventilated, the stereo has four more speakers and you get a free 7kW wallbox charger at home. You don’t get auto parking, though, or the BMW’s clever system that backs you out of a tight spot from which you can’t work out how to extricate yourself.

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While the M Sport package is standard on the X3 (and seemingly every BMW sold here), the NX450h+ is only available in F Sport guise. F does more than M in this case, with a lot more visual frippery on the outside that appears more successful on darker coloured cars. The BMW’s is more subtle and looks great, although I’d prefer it if the grille was blacked out (which costs even more money).

BMW has resisted the urge to charge you for any of the seven available paint colours, which takes some of the edge off (it usually charges $2000) while Lexus will want an almost-scandalous $1750 for six of the eight colours. Also taking the Lexus closer to the BMW’s all-in price are a choice of two enhancement packs to better match the X3’s spec.

Comfort and Space

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The NX’s rear seat is the lesser of the two when it comes to space. The leg and knee room are perfectly adequate for me behind my driving position (I’m 180cm tall) but the tapering glass makes it feel smaller than it is and, in truth, there is less space compared to the BMW because the wheelbase is shorter.

The BMW has more glass and more space – we’re talking about a couple of centimetres of leg and knee room here – a big sunroof and a ceiling that doesn’t slope down over your cranium conspire to more conservative looks but deliver a more agreeable cabin for rear-seat passengers.

Both have climate controls for the back as well as bottle holders, door pockets, two USB-C ports and a centre rear armrest with cup holders. Neither have particularly attractive middle seats, but the BMW’s foot space is slightly better as the centre console doesn’t thrust as far rearwards.

I’d take a long journey in the rear of the BMW before I went for the Lexus.

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Up front is far less clear cut. The Lexus seats look fantastic and I fit into them like a glove. They’re not snug in the bad sense, but they feel really nice and hold you in place.

The flatter BMW seats are less racy looking and curiously devoid of the blue stitching often seen in electrified Beemers, but are supportive and comfortable and, for me at least, slightly superior over longer distances with what I thought was better lumbar support. But as ever with these things, your mileage may vary.

I guess I liked the way I sat in the Lexus, it feels more like a raised coupe whereas X3 feels like an SUV.

The Lexus has an imposing dash structure, with a huge 14.0-inch screen set into a big surround. In front of the driver is an 8.0-inch digital dashboard that is really just a pixel-painted version of the old analogue dash as seen in the RC (among others), but is very serviceable.

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BMW’s LiveCockpit has evolved most satisfactorily over the years and looks terrific. The way it lays out information is clear and concise and you can either configure it manually or it will reconfigure itself depending on drive mode. There’s a lot going on, so the fact it’s easy to use is impressive.

The BMW’s architecture is more conventional and restrained than that of the Lexus. I can’t say I prefer one over the other but the Lexus has some really interesting design features that are there just to look good (which I appreciate) and the switchgear is really lovely compared to the BMW’s fairly conservative-looking if high-quality approach.

The BMW has more glass and more space – a big sunroof and a ceiling that doesn’t slope down deliver a more agreeable cabin for passengers

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Both have terrific head-up displays and you can charge devices wirelessly in the Lexus as well as via one USB-A and one USB-C in the centre stack. The BMW treats you to the same but the A plug is at the base of the centre stack and the C hidden in the console bin.

The wireless charger in the Lexus is on a spring-loaded tray that slides into the dash to reveal a hidden storage area and it reminded me of that bit in Thunderbirds where the pool slides away to make way for Thunderbird 1.

Debuting in the Lexus is the new Tazuna cockpit. With the huge 14.0-inch display on the central screen, you get a massive sat-nav display as well as either Android Auto or Apple CarPlay (both via USB).

The system is a huge step from previous Lexus systems and the company has finally abandoned both the stupid clicker device and the even stupider touchpad that has driven me – and I’m sure many owners – nuts for years.

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The screen is bright, useable and doesn't have everything crammed into it, which is nice, especially with the climate controls being Range Rover style dials with little screens in the centre to show the chosen temperature. The fan control is an annoying soft switch slider, so you can’t have everything but another win comes in the form of a physical volume dial.

Weirdly, there’s no home screen, so sometimes it’s a bit baffling how you switch between the functions, which are instead stacked along the right-hand edge of the display.

To go from the built-in sat-nav, you have to tap the music icon, select a source and then get Apple CarPlay/Android Auto or whatever else you might want (say, DAB+) and what I’m saying is, it could be smoother. It’s good now, though, compared to the old system that was pretty but hard to use.

Tazuna also helps declutter the steering wheel. On the spokes, you’ll find a four-way pad and a menu in the impressive head-up display

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Tazuna also helps declutter the steering wheel. On the left and right spokes, you’ll find a four-way pad and when you activate the pad by touching it, a menu pops up in the impressive head-up display. It’s quite easy to use once you know what you’re doing and renders the 8.0-inch dash display almost irrelevant.

BMW’s OS7 continues to be excellent in the 12.3-inch touchscreen. Again, there are plenty of physical controls for the stuff you want to be able to use with muscle memory and not have to work your way through menus and the iDrive OS is as good as LiveCockpit, with some nice connected features like weather and traffic conditions.

The wireless CarPlay is a bit finicky but works really well when it works while the Lexus’ USB connectivity was also a bit fussy.

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The NX’s boot will swallow 520 litres (45 up on the old car) and the space is no different to the non-hybrid versions. Dropping the rear seats doubles the available space and provides a nice flat floor.

Starting with a smaller 450 litres, the X3’s boot takes the lead with overall seats-down space at 1500 litres. Annoyingly, the X3’s boot has a fairly large step, which means the loading lip isn’t flat. It’s dressed in a nice looking metallic panel that may not take too well to the bashing and crashing of loading and unloading.

The iX3 manages a flat floor and you can put both cables beneath the floor, whereas the 30e only has room for one.

Charging and Battery

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The NX sports an 18kWh lithium-ion battery and with the supplied 7kW charger you’ll be back to full in less than three hours. Without the wallbox it takes considerably longer at around nine hours. Sadly, you won’t charge faster than 7kW anywhere because that’s as good as it gets.

Both cars allow you to charge with the engine, the Lexus charging at 6.6kW. Obviously, you’ll be using more petrol to do that but if you’re bombing along the highway the difference won’t be significant and that’s when the EV motor is used less anyway.

The NX’s charge port is on the rear right-hand side.

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BMW’s lithium-ion battery is rather smaller at 11.15kWh. There is a wallbox that gives you an even less impressive 3.7kW charging speed and you’ll take nearly four hours to fill the battery bars. Maximum charging is like the Lexus at 7kW, so fast charging isn’t a thing.

The X3’s charge port is on the front left-hand guard in front of the passenger door.

This is kind of where the PHEV proposition falls down. You have to be really disciplined with your charging, there’s no room for “I’ll do it later” because the daily grind sees you out electrons, or close to. I wonder how much research by car companies indicates how rarely people charge their PHEVs. It might be skewed right now by high petrol prices, but I do wonder.

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Again, if you’re looking at the 30e, it’s ten grand more to get into an all-electric iX3 that comes with a five-year Chargefox subscription and cheaper servicing so unless you’re doing really long trips, the 30e doesn’t look like a great idea. All you lose is all-wheel drive.

The Lexus might have more stuff than a Volvo XC40 Pure Electric Recharge or a fully-loaded Polestar 2 dual motor, but it’s more expensive to buy than either of them.

So if you’re looking for a PHEV to save money (yes, I know, if you’re spending this kind of cash on a car, it’s probably not the biggest issue), the total cost of ownership is suspect. In the NX’s case, a 350h looks like a smarter buy if you’re not going to be super-disciplined about charging.

On the Road

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While these two have quite different powertrains, they’re both able to do roughly the same things with their hybrid systems. They will tootle around on EV power until you run the battery down to a certain level and then switch to hybrid operation with just the addition of a distant engine note.

You can force them to drain the battery using EV power, let the car decide or switch to modes that use the electricity and hydrocarbons together for a bit of faster fun.

BMW’s cringey name for that is XtraBoost. Not even joking.

Lexus and parent company Toyota have been doing hybrids for two decades, so you’d expect excellence on that front. And you get it. The Lexus is a very smooth machine, while still delivering a similar off-the-line punch to the turbocharged BMW.

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In the NX you have two electric motors to the BMW’s one but that doesn’t really deliver the kind of advantage you might think. With 134kW and 270Nm at the front and 40kW/121Nm at the rear, you’d expect an appreciable difference.

The Lexus probably moves along more smartly in EV mode and takes longer to activate the ICE engine, but where you’re using the electric motivation probably doesn’t make a long-term difference.

You will notice the extra battery capacity, though, the Lexus shipping with 18kW and the BMW 11kW, so the Lexus’ EV range is longer by about 20km in the real world.

Despite having a bigger EV range, the Lexus delivered 7.0L/100km. The X3 went back to BMW with a 6.6L/100km average

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The Japanese car's two electric motors are paired with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol that develops 136kW and just 227Nm. Adding the permanent synchronous electric motors brings the totals to 227kW and in true Toyota style, a combined torque figure of 'we’re not telling'.

BMW takes a slightly different approach, sticking the X3 30i’s 2.0-litre turbo and eight-speed automatic with a single 80kW/265Nm motor. That torque figure is higher than the combined EV torque of the NX, which explains why the two are so close on performance.

The ICE delivers 135kW and 300Nm. Combined power comes out at 215kW and torque 420Nm (for reference, the 30i ships with 185kW and 350Nm, the iX3 210kW and 400Nm).

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Despite the two only being separated by fifty or so kilos, the Lexus feels heavier, with a greater focus on ride comfort than the BMW. Where the X3’s body is kept well in check and the front end has a more positive feel, the Lexus is a little lazier on the change of direction.

They both run on Bridgestone Atenza rubber, so it’s definitely down to the two different brand philosophies rather than any specific part of the car.

BMW probably has the edge on overall responsiveness. In EV mode they’re almost impossible to split and in suburban running with the cars in low battery/hybrid mode, they’re also fairly close. But when you’re wanting a bit more, the X3 has the edge with the excellent eight-speed ZF doing the shifting and a more rear-biased feel in the corners.

You don’t get that CVT engine flaring either and despite both of them being pretty quiet, the BMW’s engine sounds better.

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The X3 is more engaging to drive than the NX, with a tauter chassis through the corners no matter the chosen driving mode. The Lexus is very competent but doesn’t have that edge.

On the open road, the NX again has the edge with less road noise. Both of these cars are running on the same tyre, which isn’t the quietest of rubber, but the NX has less wind and other road noise for a quieter cabin.

Despite the two only being separated by fifty or so kilos, the Lexus feels heavier, with a greater focus on ride comfort than the BMW

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The two were quite close on fuel consumption, although the BMW did manage to best the Lexus.

Despite having a bigger EV range (although nothing like the claimed 87km), the Lexus delivered 7.0L/100km on a mix of suburban and highway running.

The X3 went back to BMW with a 6.6L/100km average and pretty much nailed its claimed 42km of EV-only range.

Ownership

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Lexus wallops the three-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty of the BMW with a five-year, unlimited-kilometre deal, making BMW look ever more isolated on its three-year perch. The BMW’s battery is also only warranted for six years or 100,000km, which is less than the big battery in the iX3.

Five years of servicing on the X3 can be prepaid at $2010 and while BMW says it’s condition-based, you’ll almost certainly be paying the dealer a visit once a year or at around 20,000km, give or take.

Along with two more years on the warranty clock, Lexus offers capped-price servicing, expecting you back every 12 months or 15,000km, with the first three services costing $495 each, so about the same as the BMW program but for two fewer years.

You get a loan car as part of the deal (or Lexus will come and fetch the car) and delivering a killer blow is the Lexus Encore Platinum program you get for three years. Usually, Platinum is reserved for rather more expensive Lexuses.

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Platinum chucks in Lexus OnDemand where you can book a different Lexus four times for up to eight days per booking over the three years of the program and you grab the cars from some dealers and airports in both Australia and New Zealand.

You also get eight valet parking visits to Westfield and Chadstone shopping centres. I reckon that’s worth ninety grand just for someone to park your car for you in the run-up to Christmas.

On top of that, there are the usual track days, tedious (well, I think so) horse racing type activities and if you go to one of these events you’ll no doubt meet the usual coterie of celebrity chefs, retired sports stars and interior designers who act as brand ambassadors.

VERDICT

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The BMW started this comparison with one wheel propped up against the wall. It costs a lot more than the Lexus without delivering a lot of extra features and falls down on warranty length. It is a sharper car to drive, though, which will convince a few folks. But given the yawning price gap between other BMWs and the Lexus itself, probably not too many.

I almost feel like the 30e is going to be a bit of an orphan, which is sad because it’s not a bad car, not by a long shot.

The Lexus is more affordable, has an overall better ownership proposition and did I mention it’s cheaper? They’re both good plug-in hybrids but I’ve come away thinking that while the Lexus is the proposition for the head, perhaps the head needs to look further afield if it wants more electrification in its motoring life.

SCORING

Lexus NX450h+ F Sport

VERDICT: 8.5/10

BMW X3 xDrive30e

VERDICT: 8.0/10

2022 BMW X3 30e and Lexus NX450h+ specifications