2026 Lexus LBX Morizo RR review

In the Brothers Grimm tale of The Three Brothers, said siblings had to prove their mettle to their father in order to win his love (and their inheritance). The eldest brother was the mature, pragmatic one, the middle child was the brave, skilled one, and the youngest was quick and clever.

While comparing a car line to an old fairytale may seem an editorial stretch, the analogy fits the Gazoo Racing (GR) stable perfectly.

When a car wears the Morizo badge, you’re looking at a direct blessing from father himself: Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda. The grandson of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, and the brains behind GR, he races under the pseudonym Morizo with his Rookie Racing (RR) team. To bestow the badge means the car is a sporting special.

This has created a three-way sibling rivalry of the best kind. The smallest of this trio, the GR Yaris Morizo RR, is getting a tiny 200-car global run in 2026 to prove its mettle. The middle child, the GR Corolla, exists in this space as the skilled but rare 'Morizo Custom' concept.

Then there is the Lexus LBX Morizo RR as the mature, pragmatic eldest sibling. Australian buyers have already swarmed the family home. The initial 100-car allotment sold out quickly, leaving a year-long wait for its arrival.

So, is the LBX Morizo RR father’s favorite? Toyoda famously calls it "his buddy, his friend" and his "favorite Lexus", proving that even in a family of high-performers, the one that hides a sharp sword under a tailored suit gets paternal devotion.

The LBX Morizo RR is priced from $76,490 before on-road costs, placing it significantly higher than its siblings.

It demands $19,850 more than its LBX Sports Luxury, which is also AWD but houses a 1.6-litre hybrid powertrain. The more powerful Toyota GR GTS Corolla auto is $6000 less at $70,490 plus ORCs, and the GR GTS Yaris auto is $13,500 less at $62,990 plus ORCs.

While it shares DNA with Toyota's hot hatches, the Morizo RR maintains Lexus-level refinement and luxury. This places its rivals more in the league of the Mercedes-Benz GLA250 at $80,500, or the Mini Countryman SE Favoured or JCW Sport at $75,990 and $77,990 respectively, all prices before on-road costs.

Of note is the lack of option packs and accessories, as this Lexus is loaded. The only option is the almost mandatory two-tone paint at $1750, which is available as a black roof and C-pillar topping a white, red, blue or grey body. Without the paint pack, the only option is black.

If you are looking for the Lexus LBX, or this hot Morizo RR version, check out Drive Marketplace for the best new and used car deals.

Inside, the cabin remains a sublime but sporty space that is unerringly Lexus, proving that performance doesn't have to mean stripped-back seating and hard composite panels. However, it does seem to mean that the rear seat is negligible.

Dark suede and perforated leather cover almost everything, lifted by contrasting red stitching, aluminium inserts and pedals, and that archetypal flat grey panelling that has draped this marque's shifters and centre consoles for about 20 years.

The centerpiece of the driver’s experience is not the 9.8-inch central touchscreen, but the larger 12.3-inch digital cluster that flashes up a sweet, bespoke Morizo startup animation and a choice of tachometer modes, switching theatrically to a gaming-style horizontal tacho when Sport mode is engaged.

This is complemented by a crisp, adjustable head-up display that projects vital information directly into your line of sight, allowing you to keep your eyes on that apex.

The driver's seat is a highlight, featuring supportive perforated leather sports seats that are designed to hold you snug at the hips and lower back, without sacrificing long-distance comfort.

While the driver enjoys eight-way power adjustment, the passenger makes do with a manually adjustable seat that, notably, lacks height adjustment.

The shorter among us may not like the rear pews either. The design brief's focus on the driver has left the second row rather forgotten, as is the sacrifice for many performance cars and small SUVs.

The back seat is cramped, with leg room at a premium even for average-sized adults. Practicality is further limited by a total lack of adjustable rear air vents or a fold-down center armrest, making it a strictly short-trip space.

Cargo capacity is equally tight at just 266 litres with the seats in place, which isn't great in a class where 400L is considered cosy. Under the boot floor, the AWD underpinnings, subwoofer and relocated battery means there are no real storage cubbies to utilise either, despite the lack of a spare tyre (a tyre repair kit is supplied).

While that expands to 880L with the seats folded, the Morizo RR is clearly a car that prioritises the driver over anyone and anything else.

While the Morizo RR is busy channelling its inner race car, the cabin remains a hub of modern tech. That said, one of its tech features, Active Sound Control (ASC), uses its audio system to enhance the three-cylinder engine note from the firewall.

In contrast, the LBX range gets Active Noise Control (ANC) to eliminate instead of enhance the engine. The trade-off for the Morizo RR is that road and tyre noise particularly at speed also filters through without this helping hand.

The 13-speaker Mark Levinson premium system helps here, with 1800 watts of power and a mighty subwoofer balanced by crisp, clear high-end clarity.

The centrally mounted 9.8-inch display is nicely tilted towards the driver, functional and easy to navigate, though the graphics are a bit minimalist and we are spoilt these days by more surface area to the screen.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Wireless Android Auto both connect and display easily, and a wireless charger is tucked into the bottom of the center stack next to three USB-C ports. Two USB chargers are also dedicated to the rear seats, and an extra 12V socket sits in the boot.

Lexus Connected Services is the inbuilt connected service offering features like SOS emergency calling, stolen vehicle tracking, and remote climate control functions via your mobile.

While the Lexus LBX hybrid range sailed through its 2024 ANCAP testing with a full five-star rating, the high-performance Morizo RR remains technically unrated. One could assume the LBX Morizo RR would achieve the same result as the hybrid, were it tested today.

The LBX range all get the Lexus Safety System+ suite, which includes a rather sophisticated pre-collision system working alongside Intersection Collision Avoidance Support, Emergency Steering Assist, and Acceleration Suppression at Low Speed to effectively prevent a crash before it even happens. Even better, the beeps and bleeps aren't overbearing.

Adaptive cruise control and lane-centring handle the highway cruising, while the road sign recognition system offers subtle flashes on the digital dash if you creep over the speed limit.

Vision is excellent with a 360-degree camera and a reversing camera that includes its own camera washer, which is always supremely handy for a hatched back.

Blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert offer extra eyes, and parking sensors with a supporting braking system are there to save those expensive 19-inch forged alloys from gutter rash.

The door E-Latch System works with Safe Exit Assist (SEA) so you don't accidentally door a cyclist. There is also driver alert and attention monitoring, and the Emergency Driver Stop System (EDSS) is tasked with bringing the car to a safe halt in an emergency.

The Morizo RR deletes the hands-free parking feature found on the LBX Sports Luxury hybrid models. Presumably, if you're buying a car named after Akio Toyoda’s racing alter-ego, you are able to park it yourself.

Servicing and cost of ownership is where the Morizo RR version falls down compared to its tamer LBX siblings. The price to pay for sporty prowess and performance is a trip twice yearly to the dealership, requiring a service every six months or 10,000km.

In comparison, the standard range is 12 months/15,000km, though it is capped at up to 75,000km versus the Morizo RR's 100,000km over five years.

Not only are these visits twice as frequent, but they also carry a higher price tag of $745 per service compared to the standard car's $645. The tuned engine and required fluids increase the bottom line each time, and this is not before calculating costs for other bigger-ticket consumables like the 19-inch performance rubber.

Whereas a three-year ownership bill for servicing a hybrid LBX would cost a manageable $1935, or $3225 for five years, the Morizo RR will be racking up $4470 and $7450 respectively. That's a $4225 premium for performance, plus your time and trouble to take it in twice as often.

Comprehensive car insurance is about right at $2510 per year; the standard hybrid is $2217. Both are a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

This car can be a cruiser, but it's hard. With the little engine always rumbling and grumbling away, it is far too easy to sacrifice efficiency for fun. The claimed fuel consumption is 9.2 litres per 100 kilometres, and on test we used 10.5L/100km and were surprised it wasn't higher.

On paper, it is only a smidge thirstier than the auto GR Yaris at 9.1L/100km, but technically more efficient than the automatic GR Corolla that claims 9.5L/100km.

Despite being down a little on power versus its cousins due to its Euro 6C-compliant particulate filter, the Lexus’s 1485kg luxury weight penalty ensures its real-world figures will be above the tens, and likely above the GR Corolla if constantly pressed.

The Morizo RR is where the true juxtaposition between Lexus luxury and Toyota turbos really collide. For decades, we have been conditioned to expect a sporting Lexus to house a thumping V8 or even that LFA's V10; we certainly aren't used to a tiny three-pot turbo buzzing away under the bonnet.

The Morizo RR offers a semi-subtle hint at its sporting drive with a more aggressive front and rear bumper treatment, twin exhausts, unique LED light treatment, 19-inch forged wheels and a sporty brake treatment.

While other Morizo cars featured yellow calipers, the Lexus version gets red, with four pots clamping onto 356mm ventilated front discs. But we say 'brake treatment', because the rears are standard with solid discs, and only painted red and not uprated in any way, which seems a bit sneaky.

The 19-inch alloys, which are aggressively multi-spoked, are wrapped in Continental SportContact tyres, which are quite fat at 235/45. This allows for a better quality ride despite the wheel diameter and slightly lowered suspension. Again, they aren't quiet, but this car isn't leaning on its reserved nature.

Its suspension is lowered by 10mm and the rear track is 15mm wider, the dampers retuned, and the rear is connected to the real grip trick: a Torsen limited-slip differential (LSD).

The variable all-wheel-drive system defaults to a 75:25 front-to-rear split, but a dedicated AWD mode button will lock the Torsen LSD into a 50:50 distribution.

The chassis has also been strengthened with over 400 additional spot welds and other reinforcements, and the result is a drive that feels really tied down, resisting the body roll you'd typically expect from a lux-laden crossover, and the confidence of all-wheel grip and control.

Even the fatter, wider tyres resist folding and push down into the road without the front-push protest one would expect of a front-biased all-wheel-drive system, particularly when that AWD button is selected.

The ride on less than smooth suburban streets is just short of sublime for this kind of car. There aren't many vehicles on showroom floors with an aggressive engine and tuned, lowered suspension that ride this well. Bumps are absorbed without jitters, and the car settles over undulations without waffling nor the clattering of teeth.

The 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine snatched from the Gazoo Racing back catalogue loudly pumps out 206kW and 390Nm, which is slightly lower than its GR cousins' 221kW/400Nm due to the fitment of a petrol particulate filter for Euro 6C compliance. However, it feels only a little less feral, and that is largely due to the cosy and cosseting cabin, not the lesser power and torque.

The figures translate to a 0–100km/h sprint in 5.2 seconds, which seems feasible with launch control in play.

The power is managed by a quick-shifting eight-speed torque converter (read: proper) automatic. While a six-speed manual exists in Japan, it isn't coming here; that is saved for the Toyotas. But set in Sport and manual mode, the wheel-mounted paddles offer super-fast changes and sweet blips on the downshift.

The Morizo RR won't let you open the throttle until it is genuinely warmed up, going so far as to warn the driver on cold start that full throttle fun is not only unacceptable, but unavailable, until it is toasty.

Once the rev limiter is released, acceleration isn't neck-cracking but rather piles on with aplomb, and when combined with the locked-in all-wheel-drive and sport mode lift, provided a sweet steer on a short twisting country road.

It is a typical departure for the brand when horsepower is shoved into it. Lexus and Toyota know how to have fun when the fuzzy cardigan is thrown off.

Yes, but not much. Braked towing is 400kg, which is just over half the weight most other vehicles can tow without trailer brakes. Lexus does not disclose the unbraked weight it could tow, so it's braked or nothing.

This is more than enough for a trailer with some gear or a couple of dirt bikes, but the payload for the vehicle is also a little limited at 415kg, so weight limits can be hit pretty quickly if you were to tow anything over a couple of dirt bikes, particularly on the Morizo RR's slightly lower, sports-tuned suspension.

The LBX Morizo RR is more than a GR drivetrain stuffed into a spiffy sports jacket. It is genuine Lexus outside and particularly inside, which is what luxury car buyers (and Lexus owners) always really want.

When you look at the price tag, the question of value becomes as much about emotion as engineering. You are paying nearly $20,000 over the flagship LBX Sports Luxury AWD hybrid, then there's the rather horrendous servicing cost which are effectively doubled... but you are effectively buying into GR performance wrapped in a sophisticated, and rare, package.

This is a limited-run passion project through and through. Lexus Australia was initially allocated only about 100 units for the first year, and wait times are stretching well over 12 months. While a production cap isn't strictly permanent, the Morizo RR is destined to be a rare sight on the road both now and in the future.

Ultimately, you are left to justify both the purchase price and the after-sales costs through sheer character and rarity. Fortunately, that is exactly what car enthusiasts do on the daily.

Samantha has been obsessed with cars and combustion engines for most of her life, and has spent the past 25 years deep in the automotive and motorsport industries. An automotive awards judge, rally driver and motorsport tragic, she spends weekdays writing about cars and weekends off-road, off-grid or running amok at the track.

Read more about Samantha Stevens