Dear Drive, how fuel-efficient is the Lexus NX hybrid?

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Lexus was the first luxury brand to introduce hybrid powertrains into the Australian market, and today over half its sales are hybrid or plug-in hybrid vehicles.

The top-seller in its model range is the Lexus NX, a premium medium SUV with the choice of four powertrains: two pure-petrol engines, one self-charging hybrid, and one plug-in hybrid. Three equipment levels are also offered, aided by a selection of option packs.

A hybrid vehicle provides several benefits, including efficiency, lower emissions, and a higher potential resale value. A hybrid car is also a great bridge between internal combustion engine cars and electric vehicles without making the full commitment.

We recently took the NX350h Sports Luxury 2WD on a drive from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, and even though the majority of our driving was at higher speeds and contained to highways, we returned a more than reasonable reading.

Lexus claims 5.0 litres per 100 kilometres on a combined cycle for this particular model, with a fuel capacity of 55L, using a minimum of premium 95 unleaded fuel.

As mentioned, we drove this car mostly along freeways, rather enthusiastically, and had the driving mode set to Comfort. At the end of our journey, our reading was not far off the claim at a very respectable 5.3L/100km.

This low freeway figure is all the more impressive when you consider fuel economy in hybrid cars tends to be better around town and in traffic, where the electric motor can capture energy in stop-start driving and offer more low-speed assistance. The consumption figure can be higher after a highway stint as the car relies more heavily on its petrol engine.

Based on Lexus's claimed figures, the NX350h isn't the most efficient model in the NX range, with the top-of-the-line 450h+ plug-in hybrid boasting a combined fuel consumption of 1.3L/100km, although this is heavily skewed by the car's ability to run on electric power alone.

At the other end of the spectrum, the pure-petrol NX250 and NX350 F Sport (petrol models) have much higher claimed figures at 6.9L/100km and 8.1L/100km respectively.

Managing Editor of Drive, Trent Nikolic, recently tested the NX350 F Sport and returned a real-world reading of 9.2L/100km.

The same car with a hybrid powertrain has a claimed fuel consumption of just 5.0L/100km.

While the hybrid models in the NX range are certainly more fuel-efficient than their petrol counterparts, there are plenty of factors to consider. How are you using your vehicle? Is your driving contained to urban environments, or do you travel longer distances on a regular basis?

Of course, it's also worth weighing up the potential fuel savings against the purchase price and other ongoing ownership costs.

Across the NX range, the hybrid variants are more expensive than the full-petrol variants. For example, the NX350 F Sport is priced from $77,511 plus on-road costs, while the comparable hybrid version, the NX350h F Sport, costs $81,350 before on-road costs.

Servicing costs, however, are the same for both models via Lexus's capped-price servicing offer, which covers the first three years or 45,000km of ownership.