The boot of the Lexus UX 250H is sooooo small! It is not even deep enough for reusable shopping bags without removing the parcel shelf! The parcel shelf is surprisingly flimsy and felt more like a sun shade! It did keep falling off throughout the week too as it is only held on with loops on the side that kept coming unfastened and I would guess they may not last the test of time and family life.
Once I had removed the parcel shelf I could fit ten bags in the boot.
The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.
Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.
I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.
With the parcel shelf removed the Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller fitted face down on the floor of the boot with no shopping bags but you could balance them on top.
The Britax Flexx tandem stroller fitted with two shopping bags beside it.
The Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle single stroller fitted with two shopping bags in alongside it.
The Mountain Buggy Nano compact stroller fitted with seven shopping bags around it.
Or you could transport a small dog.
The boot door opens and closes electrically but it has a very loud baby waking beep.
Storage in the front of the Lexus UX 250H is good, there are two cup holders in the central console, and they were a good size for a travel or disposable coffee cup. In front of them is a cordless phone charging tray and beside it a pop up 12V socket.
There is a long central console storage between the front seats and the lid doubles as a comfortable armrest and the lid can be opened on either side so both front passengers can easily access it which is a thoughtful feature. I did need to store my sunglasses inside it as there is no sunglasses case in the ceiling.
The front door pockets are large enough to hold my large refillable water bottle and an iPad would not fit. The doors also have handle storage wells.
The glove box is small in the Lexus UX 250H; with the manual in there I could just fit my wallet with the iPad out of its case.
In the back, the passengers have a single map pocket in the back of the passenger seat that would hold an iPad.
There are also two cup holders in a fold down in the central seat back and two USB sockets in the back of the central console storage box.
The rear doors do not have door bins just the little handle wells.
The reversing camera image is quite clear in the Lexus UX 250H which helped to make reversing and maneuvering easy.
The parking sensors are VERY BabyDrive friendly! They can be muted easily by pressing the OK button on the left, on the steering wheel.
The lane departure warning in the UX 250H is also a BabyDrive friendly vibration in the steering wheel and no beeping! YAY! This is really good as it doesn't disturb other passengers. You can turn it on and off with a button on the right on the steering wheel.
Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!
That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.
If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?
It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?
A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.
Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!
I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.
The indicators in the UX 250H would not disturb a sleeping passenger.
The media system in the Lexus was surprisingly confusing to navigate and use, it has no Apple Car Play or Android Auto and I found the medley of central console controls difficult to get to grips with during a week of use. The touchpad was okay but the different buttons and rollers on the end of the storage box lid meant I had to look at them to use them while driving.
You can lock the doors and windows using the controls on the driver's door panel.
There is an alarm and a light display on your driver display that alerts you if a seatbelt is undone while driving.
The windows and doors in the UX 250H are quiet to open and close, and would not be baby waking in volume.
Since becoming a mum I spend A LOT of time parked up somewhere with a nice view while my daughter is asleep in the back! If it's hot I need to leave the engine running and the aircon on but I do like to get out and drink my cuppa tea in the fresh air while enjoying the fact my limbs are free from said dangling child!!
SO this is a very important test as I have found that sometimes I have been held hostage by a cars BEEEEPING alarms when I have taken off my seatbelt or opened the door while the engine is still running!! (I only stand outside the car, I am not a bad mother!!)
Road and engine noise are fantastic in the Lexus UX 250H, it is an insulated and peaceful drive, that feels solid, smooth and quiet on the road. I did miss this when I moved into another car after my week of testing!
How many child seats fit in the Lexus UX 250H?
I found there was room for two child seats and not room between them for a person to sit.
The Lexus UX 250H is a small five-seater SUV, it has top tether anchorages across the back of all three rear seats, they are not within plastic guides but I found them quite easy to attach to and reach through the boot.
There are ISOFix points in the two outer seats, within plastic guides, and they are nice and easy to connect to.
I found legroom quite tight in the Lexus UX 250H, especially with a rear facing child seat installed. We found a 180cm driver could just sit in front of the rear facing child seat but it was a squash.
It was much more comfortable with two forward-facing child seats in the back and then a 182cm adult could sit more easily in the front.
When posting bub into their seats from outside I found space was a bit tight, bending in to fasten the harnesses and physically swinging a toddler into their seat without hitting heads is an art form.
With only one child seat installed and posting bub into their seat from inside the car felt awkward too as it just feels abit cramped in the back.
Australia being a country of weather extremes- blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!
With only one child seat installed in the second row, there is room for feeding bub in the back.
The Lexus UX 250H I tested was upholstered with black and red leather, the central seat panels are perforated, for the heated and cooled seating, and there are a lot of seam details. All of which would be a magnet for trapping child crumbs and spills and be quite difficult to clean.
The interior of the Lexus UX 250H is all very dark, the ceiling, seats, dash etc and that adds to the cramped and bunched up feeling especially in the back.
The seats are comfortable in both the front and back of the car, the front ones are electronically adjusted and have lumbar support too.
I couldn't wear a ponytail either with the shape of the headrests.
I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get this ponytail just right too… said no new mum ever!!!
The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down, with an electronic control on the side.
The cruise control buttons are on the right-hand side of the steering wheel, they are nice and simple to use and I found it didn't go too far over the set speed on undulating roads at slow speeds or on motorways. The Lexus UX has traffic sign recognition and speed zone alerts, which resulted in the car beeping very loudly when it went over the speed limit, but also over the speed I had set the cruise control to. So it was very frustrating to set my speed in line with the speed limit and then have a baby waking alarm going off at me because the car wasn't capable of sticking to the set speed!
There are four air-con vents across the front dashboard; two in the centre and one at either end.
For the second-row passengers, there are two air vents, in the back of the central console storage box. They are reachable while driving which I found really useful.
The air-con controls are a row of paddles on the dashboard and are relatively easy to reach and simple to use while driving.
I found once you had two child seats installed in the back of the Lexus UX 250H, the visibility is minimal out of the back window, although you do have the gap between the two child seats out of the rear windscreen. I found I did really rely on the reversing camera.
The Lexus UX 250H is only small and I found it easy to maneuver and park. For a car with small interior space, it does feel like a much chunkier car to drive.
The camera image quality is good which definitely helps when parking. Visibility out of the back is not too bad because you can see out a little between the two child seats.
One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread when we get big SUVs or Utes as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, the Lexus UX 250H, quite a small SUV was not too tricky to reverse park due to the camera quality!
For little passengers in the back, the rear seats do sit quite low so for forward-facing kids it is better than rear-facing because the windows are too high up for rear-facing to easily see out.
The interior lights in the front are touch-sensitive, there are also lit vanity mirrors in both front visors. The visors are not extendable.
In the second row, the light is centrally located in the ceiling but I could not reach it while driving.
I have found Tulsi does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it’s really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.
Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bed time and I DEFINITELY DON’T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a 5minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it’s not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!
It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.
The Lexus UX 250H was nice to drive around the town and suburbs, I especially enjoyed the peace and quiet. I found the silent start really useful when I escape the house every morning at 5.30am and don't want to wake my family or neighbours as I leave.
It got me imagining a day when all cars are electric and no parent has just got their child to sleep and someone roars up the street in a loud car, waking the child up and undoing sometimes hours of your hard work!!
There are handles in the ceiling above both rear doors, for forward-facing child seats they are situated too far back and for rear-facing child seats they are high up so you need some extension links.
The interior of the Lexus UX 250H is very nice and I liked the central console dividing the front of the cab completely. I found the dark ceiling made the car feel even more cramped inside and a lighter ceiling may help with that.
There are simple carpet floor mats throughout the Lexus UX 250H and it does have keyless entry which I found really useful throughout the week I drove it.
The tailgate opens and closes electronically with a loud baby-waking beep.
The Lexus UX 250H is yet to be tested and scored by ANCAP. It comes with eight airbags, both front passenger and driver get frontal dual-stage airbags, knee airbags and side airbags. As well as left and right full-length airbags giving protection to rear outer seated passengers.
The Lexus UX 250H comes with front seatbelt pre-tensioners, speed zone alerts and traffic speed sign recognition, electronic park brake and traffic auto hold and auto hill start, tyre pressure monitoring, automatic dusk-sensing headlights, pedestrian detection, radar pre-collision safety system with auto braking, lane keep assist (LKA) and lane departure warning (LDW), automatic high beam, blind spot monitoring (BSM), rear cross-traffic alert.
Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and the parking sensor beeping sound.
I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when my daughter's asleep!
Be the first to comment