Lexus RZ review

Lexus makes some bold claims about having reinvented the EV driving experience, although maybe not so bold given how long EVs have been around in their current form. The exciting looks write cheques that the driving experience can’t quite cash, which is mostly down to the anonymous handling and the difficulty you have getting a feel for the car from behind the wheel. 

How so? 

Having good sight down the bonnet is useful for placing the car on the road, or good feedback through the steering helps you know where the wheels are pointing: one compensates for the other if it’s lacking, but here the RZ suffers with both. It can even make parking or passing through width restrictors a little nerve-inducing.

What else do I need to know about the RZ?

Let’s talk powertrains, shall we? With 309bhp available when the two motors are working together, the RZ is certainly very brisk. It may weigh just over two tonnes, but there’s much more shove available than in the 214bhp all-wheel drive bZ4X. The brakes lack any sort of feel through the pedal, but we do like the use of paddles behind the steering wheel to adjust the level of regen on the move.

On the move the Direct4 torque vectoring system is designed to send up to 80 per cent of the grunt rearwards to reduce understeer, but as standard you’re looking at a 70:30 front-to-rear torque split. It makes the car feel more secure, but you won’t be hunting down apexes any time soon.

How’s the refinement?

This is an important point for any Lexus. As with many EVs, it’s quiet and relaxing inside. There is a little bit of wind and road noise at motorway speeds, but otherwise it’s well sorted. 

The 20in wheels really let things down though: the ride is calm enough over things like speed bumps, but potholes and ridges along one side of the car leave the RZ with a sort of pogoing lateral movement that can make your passengers feel a bit queasy. On smooth tarmac it’s great, but you’ll find yourself weaving about to avoid even the smallest pits and crevices in the road. 

Is it efficient? 

With mixed town/country driving and the air conditioning on, we managed around 3.5mi/kWh. Not bad, not outstanding. A heat pump is standard fit too, and there’s a Range mode that goes further than the standard Eco mode by switching the air conditioning off completely and limiting power and top speed.

What about the yoke?

We spent a good chunk of time driving an RZ equipped with the yoke wheel on real roads, and perhaps the biggest compliment we can pay it is that we got used to the whole thing pretty quickly.

The ratios do vary massively depending on speed, so you’ll only ever be exploring the 300 degrees of lock to lock motion at walking pace. On the move you make much smaller and smoother inputs than you do in the standard car, and on flowing roads it’ll feel like you’re barely moving your arms. There’s obviously no real sense of what the tyres are doing below you, but there is at least a decent weight to the yoke and you can add even more in Sport mode.

Now, we can’t consider this a definitive verdict as we haven’t been able to test the steering on a properly bumpy road to see if Lexus’ claim that it offers more control holds true, but first impressions seem reasonably positive. Our only real issue was winding lock off too quickly when pulling out of a junction can make the experience rather jerky. Oh, and we’re not exactly sure why you’d need the whole thing in the first place, but that’s a bigger question than we have space for here.