The F-Sport Series 1 goes for $50,850 and has the navigation system and rain-sensing wipers found in the Luxury, but includes F-sport specific upholstery, and interior accents, silver interior trim (rather than wood), tighter suspension and steering settings, unique 18-inch wheels. F-Sport Series 2 adds many of the items found in the Executive, but also includes adaptive variable suspension to the mix.

Our tester was this top-line sport model, the F-Sport 2, and had on it a sticker price of $53,550 before destination and taxes. Consistent with Lexus model structuring, there are no individual options (other than dealer-installed accessories) available.

There’s also a hybrid NX 300h model available, but at a starting price of $59,450 it’s a six grand premium over the loaded 200t and only four grand less than the larger RX hybrid. I’m not quite sure how that happened.

But back to the NX 200t, which is the first production Lexus with a turbocharged engine. Lexus makes a bit of a big deal about this, but since most other luxury marques (and mainstream ones too, I might add) have been using turbocharged mills for eons, I’m not sure I would want to advertise being last to the party with something. The formula is familiar too: at 2.0 litres, the engine uses direct injection and that forced induction to pump out 235 hp and a heady 258 ft-lb of torque. The NX’s aforementioned competitors also use two-litre direct-injected turbos to produce between 200 and 240 horses.

Not as familiar, though, is this engine’s use of the Atkinson cycle, a technology more commonly associated with hybrids. While the Atkinson engine is praised for its efficiency in extracting all of the available energy thanks to more complete combustion of fuel with its unequal compression and expansion strokes, it’s also known for producing lower torque than a more conventional Otto-cycle engine of the same displacement. That’s what makes it well suited to being a part of a hybrid powertrain, where the system’s battery can effortlessly shore up the engine’s low-speed power deficit.

But in this turbocharged Lexus, no such low-speed power assist is available; instead the engine slugs through a bit of turbo lag before the twin scroll turbo spools up and contributes meaningfully to forward motion. While peak torque sits on a plateau between 1,650 and 4,000 rpm, power delivery just isn’t as broad as that provided by competing turbocharged fours. And the expected fuel consumption advantage doesn’t materialize: at 10.8 L/100 km in the city and 8.8 on the highway, the NX sits right in the thick of its esteemed competitors in that department.

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