Contrary to what some of us would like to believe, the average automobile doesn’t age especially well.
Oh, sure — there are classics from just about every era; but the very nature of these kinds of depreciating assets means wear and tear takes its toll, while the newest ones to hit the market get better with each passing year. It’s a combination that can leave even the greatest models from their respective generations feeling tired by today’s standards. But behind the wheel of a 2005 Lexus RX, there’s a specialness that can still be felt two decades later.
Big Aspirations
What makes this experience unique isn’t just the novelty that comes with climbing behind the wheel of a 20-year-old time capsule and reminiscing about bygone days. As interesting as that exercise may be, the second-generation RX simply isn’t as good as the latest one by any and all reasonable metrics. That’s not a slight against the older of the two, either — once again, it’s just the way technological evolution works.
Bringing together RXs old and new is significant for one particular similarity they share: where they were made. Because the second-generation version happens to be the first one that was built in Canada, kicking off a legacy that continues to this day.
Turning the pages of the history books back even further, the launch of Lexus more than 35 years ago was a big deal, with the brand established by Toyota to take on some of the best luxury automakers on the market. The lead-up to its first model, the 1990 LS, is said to have taken seven years and cost $2 billion — equivalent to more than twice that much today when adjusting for inflation.
Several more sedans and a coupe followed, with the brand’s first SUV hitting the market in 1996. But the LX was more or less a rebadged Toyota Land Cruiser with a few unique touches and a leather-clad interior. It wasn’t until a few years later that Lexus charted its crossover course with the launch of the 1999 RX, which was built on a unibody platform to give it the characteristics of a car to go with the size and space of a small sport utility.
The success was almost instant, with RX sales accounting for nearly half of the brand’s total in Canada in its first year on the market. More than that, it helped kick off the crossover craze that took the premium segment by storm shortly after its launch, with every brand building competitors of their own in subsequent years.
Coming to Canada
In spite of its critical and consumer acclaim, the first-generation RX wasn’t around long before its replacement was ushered in. And as part of the changes came a new production location: about 100 km west of Toronto. Of course, this wasn’t a roll of the dice for Lexus — it was a strategic decision based on years of quality production at Toyota’s pair of plants in Cambridge, Ont. (A third in nearby Woodstock, Ont., started producing vehicles a few years later.)
This is where the significance of Lexus’s place in Toyota lore comes full circle, because the move to Canada marked the first time one of the brand’s vehicles was built outside of Japan — a major milestone that included an investment of $650 million, equal to more than $1 billion today.
“We were the first Lexus plant outside of Japan, which is a huge accomplishment for us,” said Scott MacKenzie, director of corporate and government affairs for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC), who started his career at the company all the way back in 1999 in the quality inspection department.
“We were trusted to do that, and that was largely based on our quality reputation.”
According to MacKenzie, initial production capacity was around 80,000 units when the plant started building the RX at the so-called South plant back in 2003. Today, between the RX and the smaller NX that’s built at TMMC’s North plant in Cambridge, some 185,000 Lexuses are made locally each year.
Considering it isn’t some sort of museum piece — it was traded in at a Toronto area Lexus dealer late last year — the 2005 RX seen here is a testament to the plant’s production quality. Yes, it’s obviously been well cared for over the past two decades, but how it drives defies the parts that have surely been replaced along the way. Likewise, the suppleness of the ride has gotten better with age, like a living room recliner that’s been broken in just right. But that only serves to enhance the underlying excellence of the experience.
Skip ahead to the 2025 RX, and it still rides on conventional coil springs instead of air suspension like so many of its contemporaries. It’s also equipped with much larger wheels — and thus far less cushy tires — than its forebear. Yet in spite of these facts, it offers the same kind of comfort to go with vastly superior handling characteristics.
Their drivetrains, too, while exceptionally different — the 2005 RX 330 was powered by a 230-horsepower V6, while the 2025 RX 500h relies on a turbocharged hybrid four-cylinder that spins up 367 hp — deliver strikingly similar smoothness despite the age gap. While the modern turbo motor is unquestionably gutsier, shifts of the transmission were about as imperceptible then as they are now. Once again, maintenance plays a part here, but so does the longevity baked into these Lexus models made on Canadian soil.
Final Thoughts
While there’s certainly some truth to the old adage that they don’t build ‘em like they used to, in the case of the Canadian-made Lexus RX, they absolutely do. There’s a reason this crossover sells so well, besting models from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and countless other luxury brands. While that might not be directly attributable to where the RX is made, the reputation it’s earned along the way absolutely is.
Countless manufacturing quality awards over the years are what Lexus’s leaders bet on when they first moved production of the RX to a plant west of Toronto known for cranking out Corollas. The ones it’s earned since are why that same factory is still building the brand’s best-selling model to this day, along with the smaller NX that was moved to Cambridge in 2022.
As Lexus commemorates 35 years in Canada, it’s celebrating more than its time on the market. The brand is marking a journey that’s seen it become deeply rooted in this country’s auto sector. While a simmering trade war probably isn’t the party Lexus’s people were hoping for, it serves as a reminder that when it comes to Canadian quality and luxury, no one else does it like Lexus.
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