In partnership with Auto Trader
New Lexus NX vs used Range Rover Sport: costs
Two plug-in hybrid SUVs battle it out: the brand new Lexus NX and the hugely prestigious Range Rover Sport, which is available for similar money if you buy used...
Buying and owning
Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
A new Lexus NX 450h+ in F Sport trim will cost you £56,700, whereas you'll need around £60,000 for a 2018 Range Rover Sport P400e in the HSE spec of our test car. However, that money will get you an example in excellent condition and with less than 40,000 miles on the clock.
Alternatively, if you'd rather buy on PCP finance, you can expect to pay £689 per month for the NX, assuming a 48-month contract, an £8730 deposit and an optional final payment of £24,197. By contrast, we were quoted £989 per month to buy the Sport on finance over 48 months, although here the annual limit was 10,000 miles, while the deposit was just £1000 and there would be no final payment.
Our experts reckon that the new NX will hold its value well over the first three years of ownership, but the Sport's original owner has already taken the initial hit in depreciation, and as such it's predicted to lose less money than the NX over the next three years.
This advantage will be partially offset by the Sport's higher running costs; our figures suggest you should expect to pay £3534 in insurance and £2460 in servicing, whereas the NX comes in at £3006 and £1390 respectively.
Then there's fuel economy. Not only can the NX go farther on electric power, but with its battery fully depleted it managed 36.7mpg in our hands, compared with the 27.6mpg of the Sport.
As these are hybrid cars registered after April 2017, they will both cost £145 per year in road tax. And because they both cost more than £40,000 when new, you'll also have to pay £335 per year for year's two to five (after they've been registered).
Although the latest NX is too new to have featured in our most recent Reliability Survey, the previous-generation model ranked first out of 14 cars in the hybrid car class, with an amazing rating of 99.8%. In the same survey, Lexus came top out of 30 manufacturers featured, with an average rating of 98.7%. Unfortunately, Land Rover's record is nowhere near as good; as a brand, it came 29th with an average reliability rating of 82.5% rating, while the Sport scored 83.5% and came sixth out of eight cars in the luxury SUVs class.
In crash-testing, Euro NCAP awarded the NX its maximum five-star safety rating. Automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping assistance and traffic-sign recognition are standard across the range, with more safety aids, including blind-spot monitoring, fitted to the F-Sport trim. The Sport hasn’t been tested by Euro NCAP, but like the NX, it has AEB and lane-keeping assistance as standard from new.
Continuing with equipment, you'll be glad to know that the both cars come with a plethora of it. The NX gets full leather seats and adaptive cruise control. What's more, its seats are heated in the front and rear, and cooled in the front, plus you get a heated steering wheel. The Sport has heated front and rear seats that are upholstered in leather, too, but adaptive cruise control was an optional extra from new.
Alternatives
New rivals, used rivals
The Audi Q5 is one of our favourite large SUVs, both new and used. We've even tested the plug-in hybrid 50 TFSIe model against the NX 450h+, and you can read that test here.
You might also want to consider a used Volvo XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid, because you'll get seven seats and will pay less for the XC90 than you will a Range Rover Sport, although the latter will continue to holds onto its value better.
