NICE LOOKS ..SHAME ABOUT THE RANGE

WHY FIRST FULLY ELECTRIC LEXUS IS A 70-GRAND LET-DOWN

‘‘ I fear in winter with heater on the car might struggle to do 180 miles

Next year you’ll be able to buy a Lexus RZ450e with something called a One Motion Grip steering system. Essentially it lets drivers carry out manoeuvres via a rectangular yoke-style steering wheel without having to turn it more than 150 degrees. In other words you will be able to make a U-turn without your hands having to leave the ‘10-to-three’ position. I’m rather looking forward to trying it – but meanwhile this week we’re testing the RZ450e with conventional steering. This car is the first fully electric Lexus and from the kerb it looks extremely promising. The styling is sharp and fresh and our Premium Plus Pack version looks particularly fine in its Sonic Copper/ Black two-tone paintwork. Its looks go a long way to justify the £69,600 price. There’s no disappointment as you climb inside, either, as you’re presented with a smart cabin with very high quality materials that we’ve come to expect from Lexus. And you can bet both reliability and service from your local dealer will be up to the usual high standard too. Lexus has ditched the annoying touchpad controller that was unpopular with owners and has left the 14-inch infotainment screen to be controlled either by touch or voice. One of the first things you’ll want to access via the screen is a way to turn off the various bings and bongs that warn you of impending disaster. Or not. More and more these systems ruin what should be a tranquil driving experience, especially in a car as quiet and refined as the RZ450e. The Lexus is powered by a pair of electric motors, one on each axle, that have a total power output of 309bhp. A fellow journalist described the performance as adequate rather than rapid and then quoted a 0-62mph time of 5.3sec. He is too young to remember the celebrations when a Lotus Esprit Turbo SE broke the five-second barrier in the late 80s. Trust me, the RZ450e feels fast enough. Also, you will not want to be driving this car in anything but a restrained fashion. And here we get to the point at which the Lexus salesperson has got a real problem on his or her hands – namely, range. The RZ450e is fitted with a 71.4kWh battery which Lexus says gives the car an official range of 252 miles. Our car rides on 20in wheels but those with smaller 18in ones have a longer maximum range of 271 miles. That’s not very impressive either – not for a car costing almost 70 grand. Tesla’s Model Y in Long Range spec may not, in my opinion, match the Lexus’s styling or quality – but at least a full charge gives you 331 miles. The RZ450e’s poor range will, for many people, rule it out. That’s if you could even achieve a range of 252 miles. On our test, in warm weather, it looked like it was going to run out of juice well before that distance. Turning on the air-con immediately dropped the range by 20 miles. I fear in the winter with the heater on the car might struggle to make much more than 180 miles on a charge and possibly worse. Still, we’ve come this far so we’ll carry on. Next trim down in the RZ450e range is the Premium Pack at £64,500, and this saving of £5,000 over our test car is worth it because the equipment list on the cheaper spec is more than adequate with leather heated seats, electric tailgate, 10 speaker sound system and pretty much everything else you need. The Lexus is comfortable front and back with impressive rear legroom and adequate headroom. The boot holds 522 litres, similar to others in this class. Smart, stylish and very well made, the Lexus RZ450e should be a luxury electric SUV on many people’s shopping list but its unspectacular range is going to put off many punters. The range is too low for this money.