New Lexus RX 450h Facelift costs from £44,495

The Lexus RX 450h F Sport joins the 2012 range

The 2012 facelift for the hybrid SUV Lexus RX 450h will cost from £44,495, with the new RX 450h F Sport costing £51,995.

The Geneva Motor Show in March was the debut for the facelift of the 2012 Lexus SUV offering – the RX 450h – with a new, sharper, sportier option added to the range in the guise of the RX 450h F Sport.

Actually, to call the changes to the 2012 RX 450h is probably to exaggerate; they’re more a bit of botox than actual surgery. That means the new Lexus family grill, new headlights with LED running lights, re-shaped bumpers, titivated lights at the back and new alloys.

But it’s the new Lexus RX 450h F-Sport that is perhaps the biggest change, with the Lexus F-Sport body bits adding a sharper edge to Lexus’s SUV with a green halo, and successfully so. The honeycomb grill, butch bumpers, spoiler and 19″ alloys manage to make the RX look less fey and more purposeful.

But apart from the rather more butch F Sport and the cosmetic tweaks across the range, there are improvements to standard kit too. LED running lights are added to the RX 450h SE, the Luxury version gets a DVD Player and DAB radio and the new F Sport and Premier models get a heads-up display.

The influence of the new RX F Sport – which gets sharper dynamics thanks to a lateral damper system – has also coerced Lexus in to adding a ‘Sport’ mode across the range which modifies throttle and steering settings and gives you a bit more play with on traction. It also turns the dials red.

The 2012 Lexus RX 450h is now on sale.