Lexus UX 300e vs Vauxhall Astra

The Lexus UX 300e costs £17,500 more than the Vauxhall Astra. For that premium it adds 35 kW more power and a 1.8s quicker 0-62mph time. The Vauxhall Astra is not just cheaper - it also offers 50 kW faster peak rapid charging. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Vauxhall Astra comes out ahead overall.

The Vauxhall Astra is £17,500 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £168 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Vauxhall Astra comes out roughly £17,540 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 233 miles for the Lexus UX 300e and 191 miles for the Vauxhall Astra - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Lexus UX 300e goes roughly 42 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 80 minutes in the Lexus UX 300e and 26 in the Vauxhall Astra, so the Vauxhall Astra loses less time at each stop. So the Lexus UX 300e stops less often while the Vauxhall Astra stops for less time - pick on which you would rather do.

The two are within 20 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 560 mm of total clearance for the Lexus UX 300e and about 540 mm of total clearance for the Vauxhall Astra.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Lexus UX 300e and 84% for the Vauxhall Astra. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.