Itching to go electric
There’s a good EV trapped inside a hybrid package. By Chris Chilton
SUVs from Toyota’s luxury-leaning posh brand have often struggled to get noticed among German rivals, which have gone bigger on sportiness.
Maybe the tide is turning. Car makers are realising that comfort, refinement and quality, the very things Lexus has always championed, are more relevant to many luxury buyers than the ability to hang with an M3 around the Nürburgring. After six months in this Lexus, we can confidently say the latest RX gets plenty right in 2024.
And that includes finally offering a PHEV variant. While the 350h and 500h are straight hybrids, our 450h+ has a socket and a 42-mile electric range. That 42-mile capability meant that some weeks we never fired the engine up at all.
Which is just as well, because it sounded awful. Older-generation
RX hybrids fused a smooth V6 with an electric motor, but the latest trio all make do with just four cylinders. Car makers tell us that electric assistance allows four-cylinder engines to make as much muscle as V6s used to, and that might be true, but you lose all of the mechanical refinement that a £70k car deserves. In the RX 450h+’s case that problem is compounded by a drone-inducing CVT; the posher 500h gets a conventional eight-speed auto.
So the plug-in RX really felt like two cars: a wonderfully smooth and silent EV that we loved spending time in while there was still charge in the battery, and a slightly uncouth hybrid that we liked rather less when there wasn’t.
Long, fast motorway trips when the EV range soon became a distant memory netted a fairly unimpressive 33mpg, but it was hard to mind when the excellent seats, low noise levels, clear dashboard and large media screen helped the miles slip by. What we did mind was the nannying electronics that refused to let you open a door until you’d pushed a button to unlock them, or threw on the brakes when we tried to reverse park with people walking past. And in terms of pure practicality, some rivals have bigger boots and seven seats to the RX’s five, or fully electric powertrain options.
The RX isn’t quite a perfect SUV then, but it is one that feels like a more convincing option than ever before.
Count the cost
Cost new £73,350 Part exchange £50,945 Cost per mile 9.9p Cost per mile including depreciation £2.49
Lexus RX 450h+ Premium Plus Pack Month 6
The story so far
Fifth-generation Lexus RX SUV, now with plug-in power ★ Quality; comfort; EV refinement
- Rowdy engine; nannying electronics
Logbook
Price £73,100 (£73,350 as tested) Performance 18.1kWh battery plus 2487cc fourcylinder, PHEV, 304bhp, 6.5sec 0-62mph, 124mph E ciency 256.8mpg (ocial), 108.8mpg (tested), 26g/km CO2 Energy
cost 11.5p per mile Miles this
month 933 Total miles 9360