2017 Lexus RX450h review, test drive

What's it like to drive?

As with the rest of the car, the driving experience is very different too. To begin with, on the move, the RX is quite refined, especially when driven in a relaxed manner. While you can't beat the initial hush of the electric motor, especially the silent take off delivered by this full-on 288V (650V system voltage) hybrid, the RX is also pretty refined once the petrol motor kicks in. Both wind and road noise are kept impressively low, no doubt helped by the double-glazed windows, and the RX even manages to cruise silently with the petrol motor merely ambling along. Ask for more power, and though the performance is there with 0-100kph coming up in a claimed 7.7sec, the E-CVT plays spoil sport. For one, there are no virtual gears. So when you use the paddles and click down, all that happens is that the rpm jumps up a bit. This increases the rate of acceleration, but the stretch and strain from the CVT's belts and pulley system is so much, the whine from the gearbox so loud and the disconnect between your right foot and engine speed so vast, that the feeling of accelerating hard is nowhere near as immersive as it should be. It's not that you don't enjoy the performance, it's just that the experience could have been much more enjoyable.

Ride comfort however is much nicer. This is especially true in Normal mode, which, helped by its adjustable dampers, seems to have the best balance between suppleness and control. Even medium size holes are ridden over with a good amount of comfort and this in some part is due to the 18-inch tyres and high 65 tyre profile. The suspension can be tripped up over more severe intrusions, especially if you stiffen it by using Sport +, and it (the suspension) can get noisy in this mode too, but the overall ride is pretty good.

The upside of the stiffness in the suspension is that body control is very respectable. The Lexus RX 450h doesn't roll much, even when you are driving it in an enthusiastic manner, and grip from the front end is good enough for it to manage a bit of sporty fun, as it turns into corners crisply and allows you to carry a fair bit of speed through corners.  Steering responses are decent, and it feels nicely geared and direct, but there's very little road feel. Grip levels however are only moderately good on the 18-inch wheels of our test car, with understeer presenting itself quite early on.