The 2000s are back. Kendrick Lamar wore flared-bottom jeans during the Super Bowl halftime show, Charli XCX’s 2000s club-esque “Brat” was one of the most popular albums of the year, and everywhere you look, the young and hip (not me) are dressing like the cast of Friends. So get in, loser, we’re going nostalgia tripping.
The mid 2000s feel so close and simultaneously so far away. We’ve only had three different US presidents in the past 20 years and yet, in 2005 the iPhone hadn’t been introduced and texting was still relatively new. It’s not a long time ago but what a time it’s been.
The Lexus brand also feels somewhat old and new simultaneously. It lacks the 100-year history of “legacy” brands like Ford, or Mercedes, but it’s also much more established than the newer crop of (mostly EV) carmakers like Tesla, Rivian, Fisker, and Lucid. Lexus is old enough to have heritage models but too new to have those models driven by Steve McQueen or Arnold Palmer.
Lexus burst into the luxury space in 1989, back when the segment was almost entirely dominated by German automakers. The inimitable Lexus LS400 sedan led the charge. That car was the product of six years of work, two billion 1989 dollars, 1,400 engineers, and millions of development miles. It is rumoured that even with its lofty MSRP, Lexus lost money on every single unit sold. Why? Because as Heath Ledger said in 2008, “It’s not about the money. It’s about sending a message.” The LS400 was a shot across the bow of all German makers. Lexus inserted themselves squarely in the mix with the best cars in the world and simply never left.
Possibly because they were moved by the resurgence in mid-2000s culture, the fine folks at Lexus Canada brought a mint 2005 RX 330 all the way to Baie St Paul in Quebec for us to test and compare to a brand new 2025 RX. Though it may look like a pampered museum piece in these photos, the “Girl Blue” 2005 RX actually shows over 200,000 km (120,000 miles) on the odometer. Its well-preserved state is a strong testament to Lexus’s build quality even after all those Canadian kilometres. Lexus paid $10,000 for this RX, which was sourced from a used car ad.
Stepping inside of the 2005 Lexus, the contrasts with today’s cars couldn’t be more clear. There’s so much natural light pouring into the cabin. The windows are large and the tint seems less severe than on a modern car. The dashboard feels farther away and the area around my knees feels so much more open. There is no screen for a backup camera but I hardly need one! To me, visibility is the most acute area in which cars have regressed over the past 20 years.
You won’t find a touchscreen inside and hard buttons control every single vehicle function. Heck, there are three dedicated buttons solely to set the clock! The other thing you notice immediately is how wide and soft the seats are compared to newer ones. We clearly care a lot more about side bolsters and firm seats than we used to. The RX 330 chairs may as well be pillows. And fold-down elbow rests for the front seats—now that is true pampering for your elbows!
On the move, the RX 330 is serene. Back in the day, a vehicle’s name used to make actual sense. In this case, because it has a 330 badge on the back, there’s a 3.3L V6 under the hood. That V6 makes a respectable 230 horsepower and does so without any drama. Far smoother than modern turbo-four engines, it simply oozes out smooth power with a distant mechanical hum. Fuel economy is an equally commendable 12.8 L/100 km city and 9.0 on the highway. Those numbers aren’t much worse than modern cars and that’s because the RX 330 weighs substantially less at 1,844 kilograms (4,065 pounds). It’s obviously not a hot rod but one surprise was the weight and tactile feel of the old-school hydraulic power steering, which is far more satisfying than the huge majority of today’s electrically-assisted racks.
Honestly, the 2005 model acquits itself far better than I expected. The sound from the stereo is full and rich with detail, the heated seats work gangbusters in the chilly Quebec winter, and the overall experience is very refined considering this is a 20-year-old car with 200,000 km on the clock. Even today, the “vintage” RX is still rather impressive and leaves some big shoes to be filled. And the new model is certainly big.
Seven percent larger, with a corresponding 101 kg (223 lbs) of extra heft if you compare the old RX 330 to the modern 2025 Lexus RX 350. Parked side by side, there is hardly anything to link the old to the new version in terms of exterior styling. The past twenty years have seen Lexus evolve the smooth aero-lozenge shape of the original RX into the more angular and aggressive design we see today with flame-surfaced sides and an imposing spindle grill. Perhaps the graceful downward curve of the D-pillar is the only trait left shared between the two.
Once inside the modern RX, the differences are equally apparent. There are two huge screens that dominate your view ahead, one for the gauges and vehicle information, and the other centrally mounted screen for the infotainment. The window sills come up higher as does the dashboard, an effect of heightened safety requirements. Compared to the 2005 model, the materials are more premium and sophisticated. We have suede, perforated leather, and plenty of “piano black”. The doors shut with a more satisfying thunk and there are more luxury amenities like ventilated seats and wireless phone charging. One interesting link between the two is the presence of generous quantities of wood trim in both. This was fairly common in luxury vehicles of the mid-2000s but in today’s market, it’s something of an anachronism. Where the 2005 used rich, reddish burled walnut appliqué, the modern version uses beachy Ash Bamboo.
Despite the 2025 being larger on the outside, it’s actually smaller on the inside. The front seats are noticeably less spacious, with more intrusion from the centre console and there is measurably less cargo space whether the seats are up or down.
On the road in our sparkling Nori Green 2025 tester, there’s once again hardly anything reminiscent of the 2005 Lexus RX 330. The 2025 RX 450h hybrid is smooth when operating on electric power but coarse once that large four-cylinder kicks in. It must be said that the new model moves out with considerably more authority when prodded, thanks to its extra 74 horsepower and the low-rpm torque of the electric motor in this trim. And thanks to that same hybrid technology, the 2025 Lexus RX 450h delivers 7.5 L /100 km in the city and 8.4 on the highway. In terms of performance and efficiency, the new model blows the old one away. It’s also more athletic on a winding road, even if at a slight cost to ride quality versus its classic companion.
It’s also worth noting the price differences between these two. Interestingly, if you account for inflation and compare the RX 330 to the modern non-hybrid Lexus RX 350, the 2005 model was some $13,000 more expensive! The RX 330 had a base price of $50,200 when new and adjusted for 2025 inflation that would be $76,900 in today’s money. The base RX 350 today starts at $63,570 but the loaded hybrid we drove starts at a costly $87,800. It’s hard to say which has the edge in value because the two cars are so different and the new one literally costs nine times what the old one is worth.
The resurgence of mid-2000s fashion and culture has brought all kinds of millennium-era items back into vogue. Flared-bottom jeans, OG iPods, tiny LV purses, and fish-eye-lens music videos. While I don’t think that the RX 330 will become a popular classic, cars of the mid-2000s are currently riding a wave of millennial nostalgia mixed with Gen Z ironic cool.
It’s interesting for me to drive a “normal” car from the past and not a hallowed favourite among enthusiasts. It’s not an SLR McLaren or a Porsche 996 GT3, but for better or worse, this is what regular cars used to be like. It’s perhaps a bit of a slight to call the RX “regular”. The RX basically invented the crossover SUV segment and built on Lexus’ sterling reputation for quality established with the LS. Driving it gives us a chance to view the foundation on which the Lexus reputation is built and appreciate what the modern iteration has gained and lost.