Overall, this is a lovely interior and very well designed. The U-shaped piece of wood trim capped by a pair of vents on the center console looks odd and unnatural to me, but my colleagues have disagreed, saying it complements the RX 300's interior and exterior design. Open the sunroof and the little sunroof spoiler generates quite a bit of wind noise.

Regardless, everything works magnificently. All the switchgear operates flawlessly and all controls are positioned exactly as one would expect. The one thing that isn't positioned exactly as you'd expect is the shift lever, which is mounted in the center of the instrument panel. This design frees some floor space between the front seats for small packages, purses or a brace of Big Macs. It also makes it easier to slide over to the other seat.

The rear seats slide forward and aft to create legroom or increase cargo space. They also recline individually.

For 2002, the DVD navigation system has been upgraded. Route calculation is nearly twice as fast as before, and map scrolling speed has increased as well. The database has been expanded to include more Canadian destinations. Aside from that, the RX 300 continues unchanged from 2001.