It's not very efficient, and the synthetic gearshifts aren't great, but I liked it?
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2026 Lexus RZ 550e review: Likable, but it needs improvement
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No, it’s just behind the front wheel. You’d never reach if you tried backing in, the cable would be many feet too short.
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I went looking for YouTube review & the location is really bad or they did not think through the entire car design when they did the pointy front
Also from your other caption above
This one is a head scratcher as Tesla has the largest network in the US and made finding locations really easy and do publish their Supercharger map so it would be no brainer for any car maker to add that information to their Nav system as Rivian and others are doing so
It's seems as if they designed a compliance car because 1/2 the team wanted an EV and the other 1/2 did not care about aesthetics (my opinion)
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I find the obsession with 'gears' on EV cars weird - I've driven some cars with very nice gear shifts and many with ... not so nice ones. I've recently made the switch from a 20-odd year old daily driver to an EV saloon/sedan and changing gear is the thing I miss least.
It'd be like a quartz watch having a fake wind-up crown.
Given decent steering feel and reasonably aggressive regen, I've driven EVs that are nice to interact with in their own right without pretending to be an ICE vehicle.
Hell, decent steering feel, the right level of regen and hi-fi grade switches and I'd pay way over the odds for the vehicle?
It'd be like a quartz watch having a fake wind-up crown.
Given decent steering feel and reasonably aggressive regen, I've driven EVs that are nice to interact with in their own right without pretending to be an ICE vehicle.
Hell, decent steering feel, the right level of regen and hi-fi grade switches and I'd pay way over the odds for the vehicle?
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It would be useful to show someone sitting in the seats, rather than just a picture of the seat.
Similarly, it would be useful to place some things in the trunk. Showing a picture of it isn't particularly useful in a car review.
Similarly, it would be useful to place some things in the trunk. Showing a picture of it isn't particularly useful in a car review.
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ConnertheCat
Ars Centurion
The 450e is the far better RZ IMHO; and is pretty tempting. If they could eek out another 40-50 miles, it would be execellent. I currently have a NX PHEV, and would like to make the jump to a full EV at some point. The Rivian R2 is interesting, but I'm not sure I could live without the HUD and CarPlay integrations I've gotten used to on the Lexus -- the HUD especially is a make or break it for me I believe.
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I can't unsee the contrasting wheel arch designs. The front has a plastic overfender thing then kind of a swoosh, the rear has the overfender also but there is a flat arch stamped into the fender itself instead of the swoosh. So one arch in the front, two in the back and only the rear has the flattened part.
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What a piece of junk.
[EDIT BELOW]
So, I got a lot of down-votes. And I admit, if you didn't read the article, it might have seemed I was just trolling. Let me explain WHY it is a piece of junk:
1. A 225 mile range (in ideal weather!) for a new EV in 2026 that costs $50K and up is unspeakable. Maybe you won't want to take it on long trips, but if you ever try, you will find plenty of places where that won't get you reliably between fast-charging stops. Even more so in bad weather. Even more so when the car ages and its range drops. Such short range is acceptable in a low-cost ev intended only for local commuting. For a car in this price range, almost every choice of a new car is going to be a better choice. On range alone, this is a TERRIBLE car, well-deserving of being called a piece of junk.
2. No single-pedal mode.
3. A pointless fake gear shift experience.
4. Extremely difficult to charge at a Supercharger.
(2 and 3 are both characteristic of an EV being designed by people who don't like EVs for customers who don't like EVs. But making an EV that is a bad imitation of an ICE car will convert no one. Especially an EV that has such lousy range. 4 is characteristic of designers who aren't troubling themselves to think through what life with this car would be like.)
I maintain my view that it is a piece of junk.
[EDIT BELOW]
So, I got a lot of down-votes. And I admit, if you didn't read the article, it might have seemed I was just trolling. Let me explain WHY it is a piece of junk:
1. A 225 mile range (in ideal weather!) for a new EV in 2026 that costs $50K and up is unspeakable. Maybe you won't want to take it on long trips, but if you ever try, you will find plenty of places where that won't get you reliably between fast-charging stops. Even more so in bad weather. Even more so when the car ages and its range drops. Such short range is acceptable in a low-cost ev intended only for local commuting. For a car in this price range, almost every choice of a new car is going to be a better choice. On range alone, this is a TERRIBLE car, well-deserving of being called a piece of junk.
2. No single-pedal mode.
3. A pointless fake gear shift experience.
4. Extremely difficult to charge at a Supercharger.
(2 and 3 are both characteristic of an EV being designed by people who don't like EVs for customers who don't like EVs. But making an EV that is a bad imitation of an ICE car will convert no one. Especially an EV that has such lousy range. 4 is characteristic of designers who aren't troubling themselves to think through what life with this car would be like.)
I maintain my view that it is a piece of junk.
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.
So I'm not in the USA, and I'm sure Dr Gitlin is correct, but that is exceeding my vision of 'compact'.
As someone not hauling kids around, my Golf-sized daily driver hatchback is 20 inches shorter and I think it's too big and will be trying to shop a size down on replacement. It's got a very usable trunk, but fold down the back seats (which have barely seen a passenger) and it swallows enormous amount of cargo.
I get that some people have kids, dogs, camping gear etc but the market (even here in NZ) is trending towards ever larger vehicles leaving a diminishing pool of choices for those who don't need all that space and would rather haul around 20% less weight.
/rant
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Yes, the Coke can reference comes to mind. Not sure what a standardised size for trunk or seats might be? Real doll?
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Also worth noting that NACS (ugh) is popping up at plenty of non-Tesla chargers as well. There are usually more CCS plugs though. But with an adapter you can go either way so no big deal.
I'm going to have to try a Hyundai N, because I just don't see the point. I say that as someone who has always preferred rowing my own, and my current ICEV (very likely my last) has three pedals. Faking an auto just...I don't see why. Maybe it's just really fun.
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Certainly looks like it. Parking cam so the nose isn't blocking the view from a windshield camera.
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This is another one of those cars where I wouldn't necessarily think someone was a complete idiot if they bought one....but in a world where the EV6/Ioniq5, bZ Woodland/Trailseeker, i4, Equinox, and Blazer exist, why?
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Since it really seems to be mostly a reskinned a BZ or Solterra, what are the benefits of the Lexus for the extra money, besides worse range?
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In the US, we literally don't have anything smaller than a Golf. That's a tiny car here.
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Lexus badge.
I do kinda like the looks of it. Well, the back half at least. Something about it makes it look like the front half and back half were designed by different people who had been told to make two separate cars.
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And if you read that word that came before compact, it's "relatively." That modifies compact. "Relatively compact," together, modifies the noun "EV." This is, in fact, a relatively compact EV, for this market, the one this article was written in and for. It might not strike you as absolutely compact in a universal or global sense, and that's ok, but it's not really relevant.
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It's a pretty good spot for it in their home RHD market.
Do they sell these in Japan?
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Pulling a paddle to increase regen seems like it would be similar to using a lower gear in an ICE for engine braking. Upshifts, if it isn't a manual, why? All automatic transmissions try to smooth the shift so it is near imperceptible these days. Gone are the snappy shifts like a GNX.
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Yeah, the front end slopes down more than the rear half seems like it's flowing toward. Or something.
But for $58k, holy shit, get an EV9 or Ioniq9, Jesus. They go further and are just as swanky.
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I agree. But brand loyalty can be a hell of a drug.
I really need to go find an Ioniq 6 to test drive. I'm afraid I'd be tempted to buy it though.
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I'd actually be more amused by a buggy whip, some neighing sounds and a clatter of hooves when I step on the accelerator, but the fake noises must get old fast. Maybe it's for guys entering their second childhood, vroom vroom and all that.
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I drove our EV with the fake engine sounds for awhile when we first got it. They're actually not really engine sounds, it's just some sound. It felt really weird being totally silent but driving around at first. It took a little getting used to it being off.
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Legacy auto thinking and that will be their demise
Rivian, Lucid, BYD, Hyundai etc get it
Look at the market leader (Model 3/Model Y), see what they do really well and copy that in terms of manufacturing (casting, less wires etc) and then refine/add value to target your market segment and avoid the temptation of fake gears and engine sounds
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That is some bizarre styling, with the blacked out wheel arch cladding making the wheels look oddly undersized. Maybe it's just the relatively low-contrast photo.
And how hard is it to figure out where to put the charging port? If you're bothering to put in an NACS port largely to provide access to a charging network, you'd think they'd take the 5 minutes to figure out where to put the port to work with that charging network. Toyota continues with their seemingly lazy approach to EVs.
And how hard is it to figure out where to put the charging port? If you're bothering to put in an NACS port largely to provide access to a charging network, you'd think they'd take the 5 minutes to figure out where to put the port to work with that charging network. Toyota continues with their seemingly lazy approach to EVs.
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That's a Tesla problem. They engineered the solution first -- port behind the left rear wheel, Supercharger cables just long enough to reach that location -- and expected drivers to alter their behavior by backing into a perpendicular parking space. The rest of the CCS-based automotive world designed around the driver's typical behavior of pulling forward in to those parking spaces, and designed port locations and charger cable lengths around that. Tesla opening up their Supercharger network to other manufacturers is magnifying this difference in design philosophy.
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That's fine. I happen to like it, in some circumstances.
More like a phone camera making a shutter sound. It's useful feedback, even if it doesn't reflect actual mechanical function.
Sorry, no, there's a lot of interaction that's just missing there. I don't miss it in my daily driver, which is an Ioniq5, but it just feels right to bang through gears in a performance vehicle. Yes, they're fake and yes, they don't add any function, but it gives a little bit of otherwise missing engagement and feedback, just like force feedback in a driving game or a rumbler in a gaming chair. You can skip it if you want. It sounds pretty pointless in this particular car.
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I absolutely love my Ioniq 6 and am bummed that they are not selling them in the US anymore (at least from what I can tell). My only complaints are no wireless carplay and no heated steering wheel/driver seat profiles unless you get the most expensive trim.
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I ran into this gem below when looking at the review above and trying to find the video review for it.
Ford will now charge $495 extra if you want a "frunk" in the 2026 Mach-E
https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-mustang-mach-e-frunk-now-costs-extra
Ford will now charge $495 extra if you want a "frunk" in the 2026 Mach-E
https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-mustang-mach-e-frunk-now-costs-extra
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Wow. Nobody's demanding you justify your preferences or insulting them, so stop being an asshole and do me the same courtesy.
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Oh shit, they're not selling them in the US anymore? Bummer. I guess that makes it easy for me to not accidentally buy one I guess.
I did look at them on the used market for a friend just recently. Holy hell you can get some deals on some "used" models that were never actually driven. Just a few miles on them from moving around the lot and maybe a few test drives.
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Paddles for regen are a good interaction where you’re using an existing control for an EV analogue. Not the same as a gear shift, but similar idea.
Unless it’s as charismatically cranky as an old Alfa selespeed automated manual, I never use the manual mode in a DCT or slushbox as it’s not difficult enough to be rewarding nor automatic enough to be as good as leaving it in drive. The great thing about an EV is not having that uuuurghhh-euuuurgh-eeuuurgh feel of a slushbox auto slipping its converter. It’s just direct.
Porsche tiptronic where there was a considered ‘thing’ to interact with (flick the throttle to downshift, shifts blocked with any appreciable steering lock was maybe the peak ‘auto’ but out of my price range at least.
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It sounds like they might only be selling the "N" variant.
https://electrek.co/2025/12/11/hyundai-scrapping-another-ev-in-the-us/
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Thats now a Toyota problem, because if you want to access a large network you take that into consideration like Rivian did or else make your buyers suffer and lose sales
- V3 Superchargers: ~6.5 ft (1.98 meters).
- V4 Superchargers: ~9.5–10 ft (2.9–3 meters).
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no, this is how Tesla creates scarcity. by equipping superchargers with short cable cables that don’t work with some other EV’s
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As someone recently looking into the least expensive new cars available, I can say the Hyundai Venue is smaller than the Golf. It might have a bit taller roof as it pretends to be an "SUV", but it's really just a subcompact hatchback.
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That’s be more fun than fart-noises-for-indicators. I’d also like some proper vroom-vroom straight six howl for when I’m feeling juvenile/nostalgic/inconsistent with my other comments.
For me it’s more for passengers. There is no warning in an EV that you’re about to welly it at some traffic lights to get into the correct lane, and then you hear heads hitting headrests…
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