Had a 40 minute test drive of this new to market Lexus EV yesterday. Dry,sunny,warmish conditions-about 16 degC.
Takumi edition demo car which is the top spec edition. Not that familiar with the spec but 3 grades I think. This has a normal sized tilt/slide sunroof and HUD and came with the Mark Levinson sound upgrade.
Plenty of positives. Wonderfully crafted cabin and high quality materials throughout. Combination of different textures etc. A Lexus strong point. Very comfortable seats and fully electric adjustment. Clear instrumentation and fairly large HUD which is always nice to have in a car. Takumi spec so not sure if lower grades have these or you can option them.
Nicely supple ride and refined with good wind & road noise suppression. Just like most other EVs.Although it is heavy, had a very good turn of speed. I am pretty sure it is FWD but no sign of torque steer on heavy throttle inputs from
Low speeds but tested on dry tarmac. May be different in the wet. Direct and fairly fast steering so quite an enjoyable car to drive. Not much steering feel but that is a common modern car issue. Surprisingly fast. Fast enough in that high torque punchy EV way. Rear seat space just ok.VW ID3 in comparison was very spacious in the back. And although I had my front seat raised a little not much space to put your feet under them. A bit of a squeeze. Boot. High floor. Not huge. Slim underfloor boot tray for the 3 pin cable and other stuff. Not sure if Type 2 cable had an allocated space as it was left in the boot. No frunk which is a shame.
The not so good stuff: Lexus have persisted with this awful touch pad infotainment system. It is one of the worst on the market. Very difficult to use precisely when driving and the system as a whole not very intuitive. For example I thought the ML sound system sounded a bit tinny. Wanted to adjust the bass/treble etc or at least check what the settings were. Was not able to on the move.I am sure things become easier with time but the BMW/last gen Audi etc scroll wheel/jog dial is the best/safest system. Touch screens are not the answer either, in a moving car on our notoriously bumpy UK roads.
Had a charge port on rear wing drivers side. Type 2 socket. For domestic/public charging. Another charge port on other rear wing. Chademo for fast charging. 50kW Max !! Would have been acceptable in 2014 but for a car costing around £54k in 2021, a terrible joke.
This car has a 54 kWh battery. 54.3 or 53.4?? Something like that.Not sure if net or gross. Dealer did not know either.
Now the other bad biggie: Efficiency. On starting the test drive efficiency was at 2.7 mi/kWh. On a dual carriageway run. Got it up to 3 mi/kWh. Last part of test drive was urban. Ended at 3.3 mi/kWh. Pretty terrible. Real world range therefore probably 150-160 miles AT BEST. (Lexus I think quote “up to 196 miles”)
This car costs between £44-54k. In winter, range will probably be just over 100-120 miles I reckon. May be even under 100 miles. They have missed the mark on this.
It is therefore an excellent short range urban vehicle/compact SUV EV only. But there are far better and cheaper options that will do the same job. But this EV has been released to market quite hobbled by Lexus.
Will have to add these are MY OPINIONS only after MY experience on MY test drive. Other users may vary! Some people are a bit touchy on here...
Takumi edition demo car which is the top spec edition. Not that familiar with the spec but 3 grades I think. This has a normal sized tilt/slide sunroof and HUD and came with the Mark Levinson sound upgrade.
Plenty of positives. Wonderfully crafted cabin and high quality materials throughout. Combination of different textures etc. A Lexus strong point. Very comfortable seats and fully electric adjustment. Clear instrumentation and fairly large HUD which is always nice to have in a car. Takumi spec so not sure if lower grades have these or you can option them.
Nicely supple ride and refined with good wind & road noise suppression. Just like most other EVs.Although it is heavy, had a very good turn of speed. I am pretty sure it is FWD but no sign of torque steer on heavy throttle inputs from
Low speeds but tested on dry tarmac. May be different in the wet. Direct and fairly fast steering so quite an enjoyable car to drive. Not much steering feel but that is a common modern car issue. Surprisingly fast. Fast enough in that high torque punchy EV way. Rear seat space just ok.VW ID3 in comparison was very spacious in the back. And although I had my front seat raised a little not much space to put your feet under them. A bit of a squeeze. Boot. High floor. Not huge. Slim underfloor boot tray for the 3 pin cable and other stuff. Not sure if Type 2 cable had an allocated space as it was left in the boot. No frunk which is a shame.
The not so good stuff: Lexus have persisted with this awful touch pad infotainment system. It is one of the worst on the market. Very difficult to use precisely when driving and the system as a whole not very intuitive. For example I thought the ML sound system sounded a bit tinny. Wanted to adjust the bass/treble etc or at least check what the settings were. Was not able to on the move.I am sure things become easier with time but the BMW/last gen Audi etc scroll wheel/jog dial is the best/safest system. Touch screens are not the answer either, in a moving car on our notoriously bumpy UK roads.
Had a charge port on rear wing drivers side. Type 2 socket. For domestic/public charging. Another charge port on other rear wing. Chademo for fast charging. 50kW Max !! Would have been acceptable in 2014 but for a car costing around £54k in 2021, a terrible joke.
This car has a 54 kWh battery. 54.3 or 53.4?? Something like that.Not sure if net or gross. Dealer did not know either.
Now the other bad biggie: Efficiency. On starting the test drive efficiency was at 2.7 mi/kWh. On a dual carriageway run. Got it up to 3 mi/kWh. Last part of test drive was urban. Ended at 3.3 mi/kWh. Pretty terrible. Real world range therefore probably 150-160 miles AT BEST. (Lexus I think quote “up to 196 miles”)
This car costs between £44-54k. In winter, range will probably be just over 100-120 miles I reckon. May be even under 100 miles. They have missed the mark on this.
It is therefore an excellent short range urban vehicle/compact SUV EV only. But there are far better and cheaper options that will do the same job. But this EV has been released to market quite hobbled by Lexus.
Will have to add these are MY OPINIONS only after MY experience on MY test drive. Other users may vary! Some people are a bit touchy on here...