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Lexus UX 300e EV Plays the Long Warranty Card with 621k Worry-Free Miles

Like many other situations in life, there are two ways you can go about purchasing a new car: using your reason, or your heart. The former means you'll think about stuff like the resale value, resale appeal for the exterior color, fuel efficiency, cost efficiency for every option on the list, and, finally, the vehicle's warranty.
Lexus UX 300e 44 photos
Photo: Lexus
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During their revival in the mid to late`00s, Korean companies KIA and Hyundai made a big deal about their seven-year full warranty, and a lot of people bought into it. "They wouldn't offer that if they didn't know the car was well-built, would they?" And, looking at how well those two are doing now, it worked.

On the other hand, it may send a different signal to the more skeptical buyer. They'll think: "Hmm, this is definitely a smokescreen. The car has nothing exciting to offer and they decided to focus the marketing on the extended warranty." So, yeah, depending on how people want to look at it, it could be a double-edged sword.

With the Lexus UX 300e, things aren't that simple. The Japanese electric vehicle - the company's first all-out BEV - comes with an air-cooled 54.3 kWh battery, so it needs to reassure potential buyers who are used to trust water-cooled systems more. That's why in China, the only market where the crossover is available yet, the manufacturer offers a ten-year or 621,000 miles (one million kilometers) battery warranty, which is more than most people are likely to ever drive a single car.

At the same time, the specs of the UX 300e aren't that impressive now, and they sure won't be in 2021 when the model is expected to debut on the Japanese market - and likely the European one as well. With a maximum range of 248 miles (400 km) on the old and permissive NEDC. Expect a real-world maximum range of close to 200 miles (320 km).

Dynamically speaking, the UX 300e is nothing to write home about: just over 200 hp and 221 lb-ft (300 Nm) of torque on a fairly heavy vehicle will not get you anywhere in a haste, particularly if the destination is further than 200 miles away from your current location.

But just before you think the battery warranty might be the best thing about this EV, get this: Lexus will only activate it after the battery has lost 30 percent or more of its capacity. In other words, you might find yourself using 71% of that 54.3 kWh for a long time before you get a replacement, which equates to a real maximum range of no more than 150 miles. Why don't they put that in the advertisement?
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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