I’ve always believed there to be something of the old English gentry in a Lexus owner. Peer into his garage and next to his shiny Lexus, no doubt, will reside some old rust bucket: an old Volvo station wagon or MkII Golf perhaps, cars that have suffered at the hands of the family pets as much as the elements over the years.
The reason for this is simple. English-gentry types aren’t self-made, they don’t have a lot of disposable cash lying around and their wealth and belongings come through succession. It’s a type of wealth that’s cut a steady path through the decades, unlike the torrents of the impulse-buying nouveau riche. Every old car is driven to within an inch of its life before being handed over to the next generation. And new vehicles are never purchased on a whim.
This is why Lexus is an inevitable heavyweight for the well-heeled gentry type when it does come time to dip into the trust and buy a new car. With more JD Power and Synovate quality survey plaques than wall space back at head office, a Lexus will stick around well after cars have learned to fly and we have glassy bubble domes over our zero-emissions, turquoise cities.
By then, the wonderfully quaint hybrid engine will seem as cutting edge as Betamax or a pager, but for now it’s rather a special piece of kit in the world of motoring. And in the battle for reduced carbon-dioxide emissions, the RX450h goes one step beyond.
Forgive me if I get technical, but it’s important to explain how the Lexus RX450h achieves its impressive 148g/km carbon-dioxide figure — a figure just 10g more than a 1600 Fiesta. Thanks to a new system of exhaust recirculation, the RX’s catalytic converter maintains an optimal temperature, helping limit noxious gases created in the exhaust because of excess heat.
The 3,5-litre V6 combined with the battery and electric motor in the 450h also runs on a thing called the Atkinson cycle.
What this does is lengthen the expansion stroke and limit the compression stroke in the combustion chamber according to how economically you’re driving.
Lexus hybrids are all wonderfully complicated, this new RX even more so, and yet hybrids are still a divisive topic. The fact is, if you floor the RX, the performance and returns between the 350 and the hybrid will be identical. It’s when you forget to floor it that the stop/start, hybrid, Atkinson cycle and exhaust technology start to pull ahead.
Our 400km launch route proved the perfect test cycle. From A to B in the RX350: average consumption 14,5-litres/100km. From B back to A in the RX450h: 8.0-litres/100km. Both off the claimed Lexus figures, sure, but still impressive.
This is a whole new RX model, so there are other changes to explore. It has a bolder stance, bigger fenders and coupé-like roof line. The 450h does get a sharper face with more futuristic details to discern it from the 350.
As a tool for driving enjoyment, however, the three German guns are hard to beat in the premium SUV class. The Lexus RX’s electronic continuously variable transmission (CVT) gearbox is whisper smooth in most situations, which is fine, but when you want to get a move on, particularly in the 450h, it’s as involving as a pair of elbows dipped in molasses.
That said, out-and-out performance is obviously not what the RX450h is all about.
What it does do is revel in its technology and refinement — managing to be the closest thing to an SUV with a conscience.