HOW TO SPEC IT?
Black Line
For a long time, the styling of every Lexus looked as though the brand’s designers were trying too hard to be the cool kids in school. Time, however, or perhaps just my age, has caught up to the many angles and creases of almost every new Lexus today: suddenly the Lexus RX 350 looks perfect for the times, as crazy as they might currently be.
Even more current is the new-for-2021 Black Line Edition on the all-wheel-drive RX, enhancing what was already a pleasing stroke of penmanship with the 2020 refresh of the fourth-gen 350. Aside from 20-inch black wheels, of course, the bad-ass edition borrows some F Sport features including cold air intake, aluminum pedals, and sportier steering equipped with a heated steering wheel with paddle shifters. It also adds sassy black and white seats with blue stitching, a 12.3-inch touch screen, triple beam LED headlamps, and front and rear performance dampers. In our Grecian Water (blue) test unit, the RX looked particularly fetching. The Black Line option adds $8,850 to the $56,650 base price, before taxes, freight and fees — so yes, we’re smack dab in the heart of Porsche Macan S territory — an AWD competitor that has 348 horsepower and 354 lb-ft of torque from a turbo V6.