He says
In the animal world, there are always in-between steps of evolution that are necessary to reach the next stage, but that serve little purpose beyond that. Similarly, in the motoring world, sometimes it’s hard to figure out the actual purpose of certain cars aside from being a stop on the road to progress. Which brings us to the Lexus RX 450h F Sport, a racier version of the Japanese hybrid crossover. In a nutshell, it’s saving the planet versus going faster, a somewhat brain-boggling conundrum from the get-go.
With its 3.5L V6 engine, which pumps out 308hp, the F Sport rocks similar stats to my regular daily driver, a fully petrol 2012 Ford Mustang. And the projected fuel consumption isn’t vastly different, either. OK, so it will be a bit less of a squash to get a family and luggage into the Lexus, but it raises the question: if we’re not securing the future of the Earth here, what exactly are we doing?
The L and the X in Lexus have always been a subtle alphabet-based arrow at the type of luxury the brand has tried to push, but clambering inside the F Sport isn’t about to have you double-taking in case you have accidentally sat down in a Range Rover Sport. Yes, the red leather seats in our test model give off a bolshie nod to this RX’s ambitions in rapidity. But elsewhere, the trim and dash feel less than space-age, despite a deluge of tech and nicely thought-out cubbyholes.
Being a man, I’m allergic to reading user manuals (not that one was provided in our test model), so I would probably reach retirement age before I worked out some of the finer details of the F Sport’s gizmos. The 12.3-inch widescreen multimedia display collates all the data you could ever need (and more), although the uber-sensitive navigation knob demands a rock-steady hand.
The speedometer is strangely slow to keep up with the gathering momentum when you plant your right foot down. Which could provide a windfall for speed cameras, because the F Sport picks up nicely from standstill. The mid-range acceleration is disappointingly whiny, but it’s a fun car to drive in town, with enough zip to nip between lanes when necessary and the height to see around traffic. The light steering is great for manoeuvring, although it feels a touch too wispy at speed.
The brakes are super-sturdy, which is just as well, because it doesn’t handle corners very well, meaning you might be jabbing at the left pedal with mild cold sweats on slip roads and junctions. You need to apply the same brutality to the accelerator, too, because it doesn’t really respond to subtlety.
Visibility is a minor issue: the unwieldy door mirrors have blind-spot-assist warning lights, but I would swap that for real-world blind-spot visibility in an eye-blink. The tech provides a couple of my main other bugbears, as well. The heads-up display is hard to see in harsh sunlight, but distractingly bright in the dimness of, say, an underground car park, where you probably don’t need to know you’re doing 8kph. More concerningly, overtaking is positively dangerous with “radar” adaptive cruise control switched on – if you lift off the accelerator halfway across lanes, the Lexus has a tendency to slam on the anchors if it detects a car, in its opinion, too close in front in the lane you’re just vacating.
The exterior styling will doubtless divide opinion. “Aggressive luxury” is how Lexus sells this car, which seems a bit of an oxymoron – how cocooned are you going to feel if somebody is shouting in your ear the whole time? The protruding front bumper will have you cursing kerbs, never mind considering off-roading, but the subtle nods to machismo over its RX brethren means it’s easy to see what Lexus is getting at here, with its squinty, angry LED headlamp “eyes” and gaping “mouth” grille. Resplendent in 20-inch alloys, it’s nothing if not a grower.
Its eerily quiet start-up provides one comedy moment during my test, when a hotel valet is perplexed by the hybrid technology. “Sir, sorry, your car will not start,” he protests, after a 20-minute wait has me concerned. The stand-off is only solved by a trudge to the parking area to demonstrate that, yes, actually it is on, you just can’t hear it.
If your desire for ride height and road presence means that you must buy a crossover SUV, but you can’t bear the thought of not being able to give a sports car a run for its money off the traffic lights, the RX 450h F Sport is your steed. For the rest of us, it’s hard to rationally detail why you would invest such a chunk of money in a hybrid that doesn’t really push the envelope as much as one might hope. – Adam Workman
She says
I’m the first to admit that I really don’t care about the numbers. It makes no difference to me how fast a car can get from 0 to 100kph, because I’m rarely ever going to put it to the test. I don’t care about horsepower, torque or how much the car weighs. What I want to know is how comfortable the car is, how safe it is and how easy it is to park. And it helps if it’s a bit sexy-looking, too.
So my few days getting to know the Lexus RX 450h F Sport are all about putting these things to the test. First things first – what does it look like? I'm impressed by the sleek styling, with a new grille, angular headlights and LED strip lighting, but I can't help but think it looks like something out of Transformers. It's futuristic and modern-looking, and definitely has a visual presence on the road.
Inside, the styling is a bit confused when compared with the stylish exterior. It’s very modern in some ways, particularly with the multimedia display, but the dash has a retro feel – quite square, with an analogue clock in the middle.
For some reason, it reminds me of the 1984 Toyota Land Cruiser Troop Carrier I learnt to drive in – and that’s probably not a good thing. I also have mixed feelings about the red leather seats in our test model – they’re funky, but I’m not sure I could live with them on a daily basis. Thankfully, they’re optional.
Being a hybrid, the car is silent when not moving, which is confusing the first time I try to start it and sometimes when I’m not sure if I have switched it off. But I love a car that’s quiet, and have never seen the appeal of a loud beast that wakes the neighbours and screams: “Look at me, I’m full of myself.”
Having said that, it has a nice little gutsy purr when you put the pedal down, and for the most part, it has the power to follow through. I guess this is the bit where guys would babble on about horsepower, but as I said, I don’t care about the numbers.
A lot of motoring journalists moan about technology ruining the driving experience, but I’m all for tech – as long as I can work out how to use it. I love all the gadgets and safety features in the RX 450h – the blind-spot monitor (which I think should be mandatory in all new cars sold in the UAE), lane-departure alert, collision warning and parking assist. My favourite feature, though, is the 360-degree camera, which gives you a full view around the vehicle when parking. And if you can work out how to use it, the car can also park itself.
I find the controls fairly easy to navigate (although the centre control panel is a little too sensitive) and I love the heads-up display, which means I don’t have to take my eyes off the road to keep track of speed. The display can also be changed to show other details, such as whether the vehicle is running on electric or traditional energy.
This is the first hybrid car I have driven, so I can’t compare its credentials against others, and although I really like the potential advantages of hybrids (lower emissions, better fuel economy), I still find the RX 450h quite thirsty with petrol, so I’m not convinced it suits my driving needs.
For comfort, I give it 8 out of 10, looks 8 out of 10, safety features 9 out of 10 and ease of parking 10 out of 10. But all of this comes at a price – Dh265,000 to be precise. Price is a number I am interested in and I’m not convinced this one suits my needs either. – Amanda Tomlinson
