The Mitsubishi Outlander and Lexus UX 300h in review!

2025 Lexus UX 300h Review

Speaker 1 0:04

time now for this hour's car review . I had the opportunity to drive the 2025 lexus ux 300 h . Okay , final assembly location is miyawaka , fukuoka , japan . Can you spell that ? Yep , there you go . F go , f-u-k . Oh yeah , it is U-O-K-A . Yo mama , okay . So I can only imagine Mars trying to pronounce that .

Speaker 3 0:35

I was trying to imagine it myself while you were saying it .

Speaker 1 0:39

The reviewed trim level . It comes in several trim levels base , premium and F-Sport . I had the F-Sport handling package Top of the line , Compact SUV seats , five , all new for 2024 . I never got a chance to drive this . Did you ever drive it before ?

Speaker 3 0:56

No .

Speaker 1 0:56

Uh-uh , I hadn't either .

Speaker 3 0:58

It's kind of like a secret .

Speaker 1 0:59

Well , you know , and I didn't really know what to expect . And I didn't really know what to expect . It wasn't an RX , it wasn't an LX or LS or any of those . It's a UX , all new for 2024 . Smaller version of the RX with oversized spindle grille . Faux brake duct inlets Help quell the big grill . Kind of A nicely sculpted fastback rear hatch . Awesome side sculpting Helps the UX stand apart from its competitors . Overall , design is top notch . What could use improvement ? I got nothing to offer there . Interior highlights Modern dash with optional big screen , which we had . The optional big screen . Controls are well placed with easy to use features . Seats are extra comfortable with nice side bolstering Materials . Nothing but high end all the way with attention to detail . The cargo room small with the second row up , but this is a compact . What I liked about it ? The compact design . It puts everything at your fingertips and it goes through parking lots with a breeze . What could use improvement ? Nothing Must be nice if you're a car manufacturer to hear that . Yeah , what could use improvement ?

Speaker 2 2:22

It's a good-looking vehicle .

Speaker 3 2:23

I really do , particularly if you don't have the recalls to contradict it .

Speaker 1 2:26

Yeah , well , there's that too . Yeah , new for 25 is upgraded power system a two liter inline four hybrid . That turns out 196 horsepower , which is just the right . It's perfect , yeah , just the right level for this small of a vehicle . Cvt transmission Get this Miles per gallon in the city . Now , this is a hybrid and it's not a plug-in hybrid , so you don't have to do nothing but you put on the gas and go 45 miles per gallon in the city , 41 on the highway , for a combined of 43 . I got 40.7 . Wow , over 682 miles back and forth to Austin and then around Houston . Yeah , it was a good-looking car , it was and it was comfortable . What I liked about the mileage and the handling and all everything Use improvement . I got a question mark here . I don't know what could use improvement . It rides great . I was really surprised because usually when you get in a short wheelbase , it's choppy , it rides rough .

Speaker 1 3:24

Like a funny car ? Yeah , not like this . Ride and handling superb , but could use improvement . Again , nothing . Base trim price $44,805 . Prices tested $48,200 . Loaded up it was that's not bad . The base model price $36,540 for a Lexus Wow , I'm liking it . Yeah , good stuff . Competitors Audi Q3 starts at $39,800 . The BMW X1 starts at $41,350 . The BMW X1 starts at $41,350 . And the Mercedes-Benz GLA and also the GLB $43,000 . This one starts at $36,540 . Cool , I'm impressed . As I told you , I owned a Lexus way back in the day , back in the 90s . I bought a press car . Back in the day , back in the disco days , yep , back in the days when you could actually buy a press car . Back in the day , Back in the disco days , yep , back in the days when you could actually buy a car out of the press fleet . They stopped doing that because some moron ruined it for everybody . But whatever the case may be , I will tell you that I bought it and it had 12,000 miles on it .

Speaker 3 4:31

They were getting ready to get rid of it , Turn it over yeah .

Speaker 1 4:34

And so I said I want the car . I said yeah , and so I said I want the car . He said , okay , well , here's the prices , no negotiating . I said I'll take it , bought it , had it for many years and loved that car and it was the original RX body style and all that , the little egg shape . Yeah , yeah , what a great vehicle . And I fell in love with the Lexxus brand through that and now with this one and taking this on the road to austin . I want to thank , uh , the guy from lexus that allowed me to do that . It gave me a a different sense because I got to spend some highway time with it right typically don't do right .

Speaker 1 5:08

I do around houston , but it's not the same yeah , it's not like having two hours .

Speaker 3 5:12

Yeah , going different roads , going up like to austin and then the highway .

Speaker 2 5:16

The 35 minutes or whatever for him on the highway really doesn't give you that .

Speaker 3 5:19

And that's just in traffic . Yeah , yeah , it makes a big difference .

Speaker 1 5:22

So it was a great vehicle and I really appreciate the loan . Thank you , Lexus , once again for coming through . Remember , I took the RX up to the top of Pike's Peak . Remind me never to . No , you won't have to remind me , I'll never do that again . Listen , you see those knuckles . They're still white , aren't they ? I white knuckled it all the way up there and all the way down .

Speaker 3 5:43

So I should give up on trying to get us a remote broadcast from the top of that . See , I was thinking , don't keep going with that Go right ahead .

Speaker 1 5:52

I'll keep it all tuned in for you . You just go up there , go on , get up there , be gone with you . Was it 12,000 , 14,000 feet ?

Speaker 2 6:00

It was up there .

Speaker 3 6:01

Well , if I can find us a sponsor we're in these days , we're going to do that .

Speaker 1 6:04

No , you find yourself a sponsor , because I'm not doing it .

Speaker 2 6:07

We're getting the Legends car and you're driving it with Rodney Pikes Peak .

Speaker 1 6:12

Anything you want , we can arrange that we have connections with the Pikes Peak Hill Climbing .

Speaker 3 6:16

Yeah , yeah , we can get it through Sison .

Speaker 1 6:19

I can see you doing that , not Talk about Chicken Little , hey , if you'd like to . And time now for Jeff's Car Culture Two-wheel drive , four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive .

Speaker 2 6:35

Show us what you got . Well , you know , I play with mine all the time . We know that . I know , let me get that going there . There you go , michael . All right , so do you really need it ? Foul weather , deep snow , muddy roads I'll have drivers craving for more traction , but there's four distinctive drivetrain configurations that we know about now .

Speaker 1 6:53

That are possible on your car .

Speaker 2 6:54

Yes , absolutely . Front-wheel drive , rear-wheel drive , all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive . So by learning how each of these systems work , you can better adjust on your mileage and what you really need for the road . So the front-wheel drive majority of passenger car vehicles on the road today use a front-wheel drive configuration . Engine power is routed to the front wheels . We all know that Front-wheel drive designs are cheaper to manufacture , more space efficient than the rear-wheel drive systems because of the engine configuration with the transmission . It's right up there , right up front . Then you have your rear-wheel drive RWD is what they're calling it . It's commonly found in full-size pickup trucks , old-school trucks and cars truck-based SUVs , along with sports cars , high-performance and luxury vehicle sedans also have a rear-wheel drive . So it's a heavy-duty axle suspension components that are designed to handle the large loads . Who doesn't like a large load ? The large loads . Who doesn't like a large load ?

Speaker 2 7:50

All-wheel drive , as the same implies all-wheel drive or AWB , can feed power to each of the corners . Depending on the system and there's a lot of variations and designs for all-wheel drive vehicles depending on your manufacturer that you're buying they can provide maximum forward traction during acceleration . It's especially helpful in sloppy road configurations when driving over moderate or off-road terrain Got a lot of sloppy road conditions out there . Sophisticated clutch systems , which more of the modern vehicles have nowadays more recently , used the electric motors to allow for precise control over the power sent to each wheel . High-performance vehicles with all-wheel drive often send power to each corner at all times but can be altered by using the balance control among the wheels , depending on the condition of the drive . So it's commonly used for car-based SUVs , as well as certain cars and minivans for the all-wheel drive systems .

Speaker 2 8:41

Then you get into the four-wheel drive guys . The four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive are designations that are oftenly interchangeable in advertising and sales literature from your manufacturer . There is a difference . Generally , the four-wheel drive is optimized for severe off-road driving situations , such as climbing over boulders , going through deep water , tackling steep hills with loose gravel and low-traction surfaces . So that's the main thing .

Speaker 2 9:10

What do you need for these ? Well , for rain and light snow , two-wheel drive will probably work fine and for most vehicles , front-wheel drive is the preferred setup , likely to be less cost effective or likely to cost less than the equivalent of an all-wheel drive model . For performance cars , rear-wheel drive is preferred , but all-wheel drive is available and can increase traction . Is all-wheel drive safer ? Not necessarily . One of the reasons people buy a traditional sport utility vehicle is for extra security and traction , because you're out there with a family , you might get in that loose gravel situation

Affordability and Competitor Comparison

Speaker 2 9:41

and so on . So that's part of it . Drivers can be fooled into traveling in quick , slippery conditions with all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive vehicles , only to discover that they're going too fast and trying to keep them from stopping . So be careful .

Speaker 2 9:54

Mileage does have a factor in this . The two-wheel drive . I was telling Don earlier I get about 32 miles to the gallon on my vehicle , four-cylinder , turbo . I can flick it into the or check it into the all-wheel drive . It gets a little bit less gas mileage . The sport version runs like a little go-kart . I love the feel of it . But you're getting like 25 miles to the gallon . So I play with mine in the car all the time . Uh , seeing what mileage I can get , I'll change it at a stop light or whatever the case . I was playing with it last night on the way home . Kathy says stop playing with it . I said okay . So , uh , use your judgment . If you get better gas mileage in the two-wheel drive , go for it . That's what I do . I like the auto mode . Auto mode , auto , oh , where it shuts off .

Speaker 1 10:35

No , no , no , no , no , no , no . The drive mode in automatic , because if it senses that it needs four-wheel or all-wheel drive , it'll automatically flick into that mode . It'll automatically flick into that mode , or it can sometimes , on different manufacturers , send power to one wheel or the other . It's automatic , so you don't have to actually manually turn it into all-wheel drive , four-wheel drive , two-wheel drive . You have to do it as an automatic setting . Not all of them do right , but if they do , that's where mine are , yeah .

Speaker 2 11:07

Mine's a little button and once you hit the button it gives you your options on this , this , this or this , and I can toggle through it and hit one Right now , coming over two-wheel drive . My car is a sporty little car . I like it . I really like the car a lot .

Speaker 1 11:21

Well my 2001 Corvette has got , obviously , its rear-wheel drive , but it also has the traction control device and you can turn it on or off or you can have a mixed level with it by holding the button down . And it's more complicated and they had a video on it when they first came out with it , because it was one of the first cars that you were able to actually control with the button and I was impressed .

Speaker 1 11:46

Good deal Well there it is I'm impressed with a lot of things , a lot of things . All right Time now for this hour's car review . Mr Mars had a chance to drive the Nissan Rogue oh no , I'm sorry the Mitsubishi Outlander . Because this car right here is actually , underneath the skin of it , nissan Rogue . Just thought you'd like to know .

Speaker 3 12:13

Well , I appreciate that Good to know . So I mean , it's been a long time since I've actually got to drive a Mitsubishi , particularly the Outlander , because this is the bigger SUV vehicle that they have Comes in four trim levels an ES and se and sel and the platinum edition . Now we happen to be driving the sel 2.5 sa wc . Now the as the sa wc stands for the super all wheel control , like we were talking about . It will shift the power from wheel to wheel depending on what you need and where you need to go . So , uh , again , sel is the trim level that we were driving . The government says this is a small SUV . I found it a little bit to be bigger . It is a three-row SUV , seven passenger , so to me I would not call it small .

Speaker 1 13:03

That's the face of it .

Speaker 3 13:04

That's the face of it . It looks like several things that are out there on the market . Up front you're going to find LED lighting , which is going to have the auto high-low headlights , the fog lights , daytime running lights . Even the license plate light is LED , got heated power side-building mirrors , got a panoramic sunroof on it , a body color spoiler , silver roof rails to kind of give it a little contrast . Hands-free lift gate . Roll on some nice 20 inch two-tone alloy wheels . And there's no spare .

Speaker 3 13:35

There is a tire repair kit I'm seeing a list more and more , and I'm not a big fan of that . But you got to save a little room and wait . I guess now you get to the inside of it , you're going to find that you've got semi-aniline seating surfaces . Now the first row is heated and ventilated . The second row is a 40 20 40 folding setup and the outboard two settings the 40 40 . They are also heated up front . You got a 12.3 inch display .

Speaker 3 14:01

Now this is a smartphone link display , so you want to do some things in this car . You're going to have to hook your , your smartphone to it to be able to do it . It's where you're going to have all your audio , your nav , your comfort controls , your Apple CarPlay audio , android Auto wireless charger , and there are also front and rear USB-C plugs . Now , again , that's a C , they don't use the A's in this car . So if you got into the old school type plugs , you're not going to be able to use them in this . You're going to have to step up . It has a 12.3-inch digital driver display that's pretty easy to configure to what you want . But it also has a 10.8-inch heads-up display that in the daytime it's a little light , you know , at night it works really well Daytime . You've got to kind of look at it . The designer rear view view . It's got a digital rear view mirror and then so it's got the rear camera in it and I like that . I'm seeing that more and more because you get a little wider angle view with that camera than you do if you're looking through the mirror . You're looking out the back glass now , uh , it also had the rear door pull-up sunshades . You don't see that much anymore , but this is the second car this year I've got that had that . It uses a Yamaha Ultimate Sound System , 12 speakers in it instead of some of the others that you hear about . So Yamaha is a little different .

Speaker 3 15:20

Now the Outlander , regardless of what trim you get , has a 2.5 liter four-cylinder in it 181 horsepower , 181 pound-feet of torque . It has an eight-speed automatic . Cvt is the way they have it listed . It does have paddle shifters on it . You can try and shift it manually , but it's basically a CVT . Towed 2,000 pounds when properly equipped .

Speaker 3 15:45

Epa says you should be looking for about 24 in the city , 30 on the highway , 26 combined . Now I drove this vehicle 222.2 miles and I got 24.2 out of it . I thought it did rather well . It's not bad for a big SUV , it is Probably . I didn't have a chance to tow it like some of the pictures and stuff I've seen of them , but Mike could use a little more juice under the hood . But it works fine .

Speaker 3 16:04

Solid driving experience . Feels good out on the road , surprisingly quiet . It's very roomy for the passengers in the front and the rear . The road , surprisingly quiet . It's very roomy for the passengers in the front and the rear . It does have a third row seat . I would save that definitely for the littles . Base model price for this vehicle is $29,645 . You want to step up to the base trim price for the SEL is $38,795 . Msrp is tested $45,930 , which I thought was rather cheap . The honda crv is a comparable at thirty thousand one hundred . The mazda cxv at cx5 at twenty eight thousand five seventy . The nissan rogue that don mentioned is twenty nine thousand two hundred thirty . I also want to point out this is one of those vehicles that comes with a 10 year hundred thousand mile warranty on it and and I don't drive them

Jeff's Car Culture: Drive Systems Explained

Speaker 3 16:50

very often , but I'd like to drive this for a long time to see if it'll hold up as well as it drove for the short term thank you , sir .

Speaker 1 16:55

In real time car talk show continues after this quick break .