Cruising L.A. With The Lexus UX Hybrid

If you know anything about the City of Angels, you know it’s a city requiring a car to get around. For our recent trip to Los Angeles, we needed a vehicle that was stylish and sleek. Stylish enough to grace L.A.’s trendiest neighborhoods but sleek enough to get through crowded freeways and tight parking situations.

We also wanted a vehicle that was great on gas and kind to the environment. A tall order … but fortunately, we partnered with Lexus to test-drive the all-new Hybrid UX (in Cadmium Orange), the first-ever Lexus compact crossover that was made for the city, with its compact size and sculpted style lines.

Here are just a few ways this first-in-class vehicle met all of our must-haves and made it easy to navigate the bustling cities of Los Angeles:

Adaptive Technology Features

As urban explorers, it’s important for us to have access to technology that makes city-to-city commuting more convenient. So naturally, we were thrilled to leverage the UX’s latest tech features. Amazon Alexa helped us to stay productive on-the-go, by creating grocery lists on the way to Laurel Canyon’s farmer’s market, staying up-to-do date on election news during our trip, and purchasing beauty products online that we didn’t get to during our Glossier store visit.

Another tech feature we really enjoyed was the Lexus Enform Mobile App, which we downloaded on our iPhones from the App Store. The Enform App allowed us to start the vehicle and even set climate controls remotely. During our hiking trip on the Hollyridge Trail (home of the Hollywood sign), we forgot where the car was parked. Enform allowed us to easily locate it! And with wireless charging in the center-console box, we never had to worry about our phones dying.

The UX also had plenty of music apps like iHeartRadio or Pandora so we could cruise to our favorite jams and create playlists. In L.A. people spend a lot of time in the car. So it was super helpful to use Apple CarPlay to take calls, get directions, and send texts.

Fuel Efficiency & Environmental Sensitivity

The most important feature of the UX for us is that its a Hybrid vehicle (also comes in a non-Hybrid option). Gas in L.A. is expensive and you have to drive almost everywhere, which creates so much pollution. Car pollution contributes significantly to climate change. Driving the fuel-efficient UX from Beverly Hills to Studio City (and everywhere in between) meant that we got the most out of every mile while reducing our carbon footprint.

Preserving our already fragile environment is an important touchpoint for many next-gen consumers like us; since conversations around global warming and climate justice are in the zeitgeist for youth culture. The technology of the UX and its Hybrid engine demonstrates that Lexus is creating vehicles with our values in mind. We love that the UX creates a connection between Lexus and younger car shoppers that want a fuel-efficient, smart vehicle that’s designed for digitally-native and environmentally-conscious city dwellers.

Without question, the experience of driving the Lexus UX Hybrid made our visit incredibly special–it was the perfect accessory for our L.A. trip.