Welp day trip up to hiroshima was mostly fruitless. Can't test drive anything "because of covid", have to go to their website and book an appt and bring a negative covid test with me, ugh. Mind you I was sitting in the car with the salesman for 30+ minutes going through all the options, but somehow if the car is moving then covid becomes a thing.
Other than test driving to get a feel for the difference between the 275hp Turbo vs 244hp hybrid, I wanted to check out the various options/packages and well, JDM version is just, way, way better? Not sure if it's language barrier or translation issues but it seems they only have a 300 (which is like a suped up 250 with the 2.5L engine), 350 F Sport (2.4L Turbo, 275hp), 350 Luxury (which is the same as the US 350H, 244 combined hp hybrid) and Plug in Hybrid (same as the US 350h+, 30+ mile all electric range). UX isn't a thing apparently and I didn't see any RXs.
All their versions come with almost all luxury/technology options standard which are sold piecemeal/via packages for the US version. I was mainly on the fence about F Sport or not because while I prefer the styling of the F Sport and some of its handling features, the US version of the F Sport doesn't offer some of the tech options like the Heads Up Display, but for JDM they all have the Heads up display by default for example. The main tech difference between the JDMs is not all have the birds eye view backup camera.
There's 3 lexus dealerships in hiro and each one has 5-10 NXs, the full variety on the lot ready to sell (and mind you japanese dealerships are much smaller, they only hold about 25 cars on their lots so like 1/3 of their space are brand new 2022 NXs for sale). I tried to explain how hard these were to get in the US and if I could just buy a US model and have it shipped, which of course I can't. I tried to explain that I would be willing to drive to the factory or their HQ in Nagoya and pay cash, but they can't sell US models direct to consumer. I can order a JDM version if I want custom built (no need, they have any variety you want on the lot already), but their production line is 12-17 months behind so i'd have it before christmas 2023. I almost convinced myself to consider just going through all the hoops and costs to import the JDM version but besides never being able to go through a drive through again, I can't understand any of the fucking menus
I'm about as sold as I can be on a vehicle without test driving it, but that won't count for shit if I can't find one for sale in the US.
