ELECTRIFYING LUXURY
Lexus adds electric silence to its luxury credentials and creates something truly serene
While there has been a lot of expectation around Toyota and Subaru’s twinned EV — the bZ4X and Solterra — what with them being the first proper mass production EVs from the two Japanese brands and all, there is another member of the e-TNGA platform family that has flown a bit under the radar, possibly due to it not actually being the first EV from the brand in question.
It is, of course, the Lexus RZ 450e, the most luxurious of all the vehicles to share the e-TNGA underpinnings that quietly slipped into the country ahead of either of the first two cars that actually released globally on the same platform before it.
Normally when Toyota releases a high-grade vehicle you do find yourself wondering how Lexus will top it when their turn comes and be able to justify the usually substantial price differential. But, invariably, they always manage to. And in rather convincing fashion as well.
But because the Lexus version of the new EV is here first, I find myself wondering just what exactly Toyota will not do in order to get the bZ4X down to its market.
In fact, the Toyota is stuck between a rock and a hard place with the bZ4X. Actually, make that a Subaru and a Lexus place; as, where the Lexus starts at $134,900, the Subaru Solterra will start at $79,990, meaning Toyota has a tricky tightrope to walk.
Whether or not Toyota manages to make a compelling case for the bZ4X is largely irrelevant though, because the RZ 450e is here now. And Lexus customers are unlikely to care anyway.
Lexus is currently only offering the RZ as a single model — the twin motor 450e — with two trim levels: Core and Dynamic.
The Dynamic model we test here adds 20-inch machined alloy wheels (the Core gets 18s), a power dimming panoramic glass roof, adaptive high-beam headlights, Ultrasuede seat fabric and a headup display, while our specific car also packed the optional two-tone paint finish that adds a further $2000 to the Dynamic’s $144,900 asking price.
Of course, for that money, you get the full Lexus experience and then some, thanks to the new addition of silky silence and the sheer effortlessness of the electric drivetrain.
Driving a Lexus is always a serenely relaxing experience (excluding the more ferocious sporty models like the LFA and IS F, that is . . . ) and the subtraction of engine noise and addition of the wonderfully chunky wall of torque that full electrification brings to the Lexus package takes things to a surreal new level of serenity as the RZ 450e wafts quietly and effortlessly along.
The ride is typically well-sorted as well, albeit surprisingly firmer than you would normally expect from a
Lexus SUV. It’s is still nothing less than beautifully supple, however, and the firmness just bolsters the RX’s handling abilities, that are also impressive.
But while those handling abilities are impressive, the RZ still remains largely unengaging to hustle along a winding road, simply because it follows its brief to be a mid-size luxury SUV; that means it is impressively capable and extremely competent in even the most demanding conditions, but rather remote. Which is pretty much exactly how you would want a mid-size luxury SUV to be, really.
The interior is surprisingly traditional by Lexus standards, with the company holding itself back from going all space-age with its first EV, as you might have expected it to. A large central touchscreen dominates the dash, while drive selection is handled by a simple dial on the centre console.
While we don’t get the nifty/weird steering yoke shown off at launch, the RZ’s steering wheel is a traditional Lexus affair, complete with Toyota’s excellent touch controls (why is Toyota the only company that can seem to get these right?) and rearmounted paddles to adjust the amount of regenerative braking.
It is, of course, all finished to a typically remarkable standard that simply oozes quality and only adds to the RZ’s utterly serene atmosphere.
One area that is slightly puzzling is the performance — I can’t shake the feeling that the RZ actually has more than it really needs. Not something I have ever really felt before, to be honest . . .
Where the Toyota/Subaru twins get a single 150kW electric motor on the front axle for the 2WD models or a pair of 80kW motors (one on each axle) for the AWD models, the Lexus ups the ante by keeping the
150kW motor on the front axle and adding an 80kW one on the rear for a combined output of 230kW, with 268Nm and 169Nm from each motor.
This gives the RZ 450e fairly prodigious performance, particularly when it is up and running — the 0 to 100km/h time of 5.3 seconds actually undersells the RZ’s real world performance, as it doesn’t give its all from a standing start, with the power rolling on progressively after launch.
So why do I feel the RZ should dial back the performance?
Well, because a Lexus mid-size luxury SUV doesn’t really need it, but mainly because winding back some of the grunt would address the RZ’s biggest weakness; its range.
While Lexus claims to get 470km from the RZ’s 71.4kWh lithium-ion battery, that is rather cheekily the NEDC tested range, which is woefully out of touch with reality.
The WLTP range for the RZ is closer to 400km, while its real world range is slightly less than that — we struggled to see much more than 360km out of it at any time.
Which, given the ever-increasing ranges on the latest EVs, is a hard sell, even if the rest of the car is truly exceptional. Which the RZ ultimately is.
We can only hope that Toyota and BYD expand their Chinese partnership that has seen them create the Toyota bZ3 that uses the same e-TNGA platform, but with BYD Blade batteries and has a claimed range of more than 600km.