Lexus NX 300h practicality & boot space

It’s hard to imagine a compact SUV with a more accommodating cabin than the Lexus NX. It makes ferrying a load of passengers a piece of cake, but the cramped boot is another story.

Lexus NX 300h interior space, storage & comfort

There’s decent room for all passengers in the NX, and those up front are especially well catered for with eight-way power-adjustable seats and a power-adjustable steering wheel for the driver. There are good-sized door bins that accept a large water bottle, a big glovebox, plus a couple of drinks holders in the central console and a place to wirelessly charge your phone.

Moving to the back, and the advantage of that electrically driven rear axle is clear. There’s no driveshaft tunnel to create a hump in the floor, and as a result the middle passenger on the rear seat isn’t left battling for foot room with their neighbours on either side. Shoulder room is in good supply, too, and while the NX has less rear headroom than many rivals due to its sloping rear roofline, it’s still just spacious enough for six-footers.

Boot space

The Lexus is let down a little by its cramped boot, which is a side-effect of having batteries stored under the floor. As a result, it has a volume of just 475 litres with the rear seats in place, which trails everything in the compact SUV class apart from the Range Rover Evoque, which can muster only 420 litres. The Volvo XC60 Recharge offers 505 litres of boot space, and the Audi Q5 can hold 550 litres.

With the seats down, the volume goes up to 1,520 litres, and there’s a totally flat load area and a wide boot opening. If you pick a model with a powered rear hatchback, you’ll find it frustratingly slow in operation, and the towing capacity of the NX 300h is lower than most diesel rivals, too, at just 1,500kg.