2004 Lexus RX330 in Clive

Del Mar, California—
The original car-based luxury SUV (or, in today's parlance, crossover vehicle) is already going in for its first redesign just as a flood of competitors are emerging from the starting gate. First introduced in March 1998—were the late '90s really that long ago?—the Toyota Camry-derived RX300 immediately became a runaway hit, tripling its maker's conservative sales estimates. It's been the most popular Lexus every year since (and with no incentives).

No surprise, then, that the new model hews to the same lucrative path. Predictably, the new version is larger, stiffer, and heavier. Good thing the V-6 engine has been enlarged from 3.0 liters to 3.3 (hence the name change) and has been imbued with an additional 10 horsepower and 20 pound-feet of torque. That's enough to enable both the front-wheel-drive and the all-wheel-drive RX330 to snap off sub-eight-second 0-to-60-mph times, which, Lexus says, makes the RX330 quicker than the Acura MDX, the BMW X5 3.0i, the Mercedes-Benz ML320, and the Volvo XC90, its major competitors. It also returns a commendable 18 mpg in the city. But although the RX330 steps lively off the line and now packs an additional gear in its automatic transmission, we still wished for greater urgency in passing maneuvers.

Besides the larger engine and the five-speed automatic, another powertrain upgrade is the redesigned (optional) all-wheel-drive system, which has a center differential that splits torque 50/50 front to rear and then uses the Vehicle Skid Control sensors to send torque across an axle in the case of wheelspin.... Read full article