Like many other Lexus models, the 2022 Lexus NX earned an excellent overall score and a recommendation from Consumer Reports. That said, while the NX is well-liked by other reviewers, it also offers a hybrid powertrain option, and that option has some unique advantages and disadvantages. Here’s a look at the 2022 Lexus NX and the pros and cons exclusive to the hybrid version.

What’s good and bad about the 2022 Lexus NX overall?

Though the 2022 Lexus NX is a good SUV overall, it actually has more negatives than positives, according to Consumer Reports. Additionally, most of the negatives are true no matter which powertrain you choose, while there’s only one positive across across the board. But that one true positive is a good one: the Lexus SUV’s interior. Its fit and finish are great, and the NX’s cabin “feels like a proper Lexus,” Consumer Reports says.

On the other hand, the NX has three negatives across all models. The SUV’s electronic door releases can be “annoying” until users grow accustomed to them. A similar problem plagues the NX’s gear selector, which CR testers call “unintuitive.”

But one of this luxury SUV’s bigger issues is visibility. Due to its small windows, side and rear outward visibility aren’t great, which can be annoying for the driver and potentially cause accidents. However, those visibility issues don’t appear to hamper the NX’s safety ratings — it’s an IIHS Top Safety Pick+.

What are the pros and cons exclusive to the hybrid 2022 Lexus NX?

The 2022 Lexus NX offers four powertrain options, two hybrid and two gas. The two hybrid options are 2.5-liter four-cylinders, one making 240 hp and the other harnessing 304 hp. Customers who choose the hybrid option get an obvious benefit: better fuel economy. The standard NX gets only 25 mpg combined, while the hybrid gets 38 mpg combined. 

On top of that, one of those hybrid options is actually a plug-in hybrid, and this allows it to go 37 miles on battery power only. Customers who pick the hybrid option will save a lot of money on fuel.

However, the NX hybrid comes with two unique issues, and both have to do with its brakes. At low speeds, the hybrid’s brake pedal can feel “touchy.” Furthermore, at higher speeds, the brakes feel “spongy.”

That means it doesn’t feel like the brakes are doing much at first, but when you put your foot down more, the brakes suddenly engage. This issue is more than a feeling, because Consumer Reports measured it. CR evaluated both versions of the Lexus SUV in a braking test, and the hybrid needed significantly more distance to fully stop than its gas-powered counterpart. 

The regular gas-powered model has 1 unique benefit

Because of the hybrid’s braking issues, the gas-powered 2022 Lexus NX has one unique positive trait: a good stopping distance. In Consumer Reports braking tests, the gas-powered NX scored well overall. It needed 127 feet to come to a full stop when traveling at 60 mph on a dry road and 138 feet on a wet road. In comparison, the hybrid needed 11 more feet on a dry surface and 14 more feet on a wet surface. 

Lexus offers two engine options for the gas-powered 2022 NX. The first is a 2.5-liter four-cylinder making 203 hp, and the other is a 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder producing 275 hp.