2024 Lexus UX250h Premium - What makes a luxury car luxurious?

Sometimes I get in a car and it just doesn't click with me. I try to view every car I drive through the lens of its intended customer. I don't check the intended demographics because most of the time they are fairly obvious. So my guess is that the UX250h is aimed at either empty nesters or young couples of certain means (fairly well off).

Over all the UX250h is a nice car. I'm not taken with the look (mainly the nose) but it seems to work for Lexus. 

Inside is not lush, no velour seats (thankfully), it's just well put together. I was impressed that Lexus still uses a real gear shift lever, thank you. I had no trouble with the controls, well no more than usual (new cars have way too many switches and buttons but that's another story). 

I admit that I like heated and cooled seats, and a heated steering wheel. Sometimes I have to hunt to find the switches for them but not in the UX250h - they are right there. Thank you.

Lexus says there is up to 33.13" of legroom in the back seat. Maybe if the front seat is fully forward. The above photo shows the legroom with the front seat set for me (a tad under 6'), there's about six inches of knee room.

There's over 17 cubic feet of storage behind the rear seats, that's more than enough for a couple to go on a nice trip. 

Thanks to the UX250h being a hybrid fuel economy is rated at 41-mpg on the highway and 43-mpg around town. If you opt for AWD that goes down 2 or 3 miles per gallon. The performance isn't stunning but that is not the point is it? The UX250h is more than up to the task of merging onto any freeway or quickly passing that slow moving truck. 

I felt the tires were a bit noisy, not so bad that the sound system didn't cover it but for a luxury car I was surprised. 

Overall I liked the Lexus UX250h, the size is right for me. It was easy to get these old bones in and out of, it drove nicely (that's not to say it's a sports car although there is a F Sport version), and in a sea of over-sized SUVs and pickups it was nice to drive something that actually fit in a normal parking spot. 

The 2024 UX250h is not overly pricey, it starts at $36,490; the Premium starts at $38,950. Given that the average transaction price of a 2024 vehicle is almost $49,000 the price looks like a deal!

So what makes a luxury car luxurious? I think it is a state of mind. What is luxurious to you might be over the top to me. For me the Lexus UX250h fits the bill.