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
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
How have we gotten to the point where 189 inches long is considered “relatively compact”?
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As the local chapter president of the Anti-Large-Wheels Club, I have to say that Lexus really doubled-down on stupidity with these 20" wheels.
- This is not a sports car -- this car is not particularly fast for an EV. Large wheels do nothing for handling for this EV.
- They significantly reduce range.
- (Questionable) visual benefit of larger wheels is eliminated by the plastic aero covers.
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That’s fair. One nice thing about modern cars is the choice. I can’t turn off the heavy hydraulic clutch in my old Alfa, or stick it in auto mode in traffic.
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Tesla is of course famously hostile to human factors like that.
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Maaaan, I drove a Milano once, and it was a delightful car, but I felt like I was trying to kick the clutch pedal through a bucket of chilly molasses. You're not joking about that clutch.
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I think you'd have to prove that.
I've never met a Hyundai or Kia that's anywhere near as nice as a Lexus.
Are you thinking Genesis?
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Manual mode is what makes a DCT a viable transmission in pickup that’s towing over mountains; you’d burn up your brakes without it. But that’s pretty much the only real world useful application for it. I never use it when I’m not towing.
I do wonder if regen on an EV can keep up with engine braking in such situations. But towing is kind of an unsolved problem for EV’s anyway.
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I think you can go drive them, as I have, and draw your own conclusions, but I don't have to "prove" mine. The EV9 and Ioniq9 are both finished to a very high standard and if there's a difference between their interior fit, finish, and design and that of this Lexus, it's subjective.
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The Genesis GV60 seems better in most every way except for the service experience.
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The Cadillac Lyriq, too. And definitely the BMW iX3, which is extremely good.
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the whole back end is just ridiculously busy.The evil-villain-moustache spoiler on the rear decklid is something else!
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Yes it's subjective on a lot of levels.
The Ioniq I've rode in was no where near as nice as my wife's older Lexus. BUT that's subjective.
Look at this site. Hell to some high end is a VW bus from 1967.
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Thanks for the warning as I've been considering one of these, not the sport though but if charging is going to be a real PITA I'm not sure I'm interesting anymore. I pass more super chargers than any other brands so wouldn't have much choice.
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The phone camera is required to make an audible shutter sound in many countries to cut down on the anti-social jerks sneaking in illegal up-skirt photos. This comparison works when you are talking about the low-speed “hi I’m here!” noise that EVs are required to make in some countries or a legally mandated backup beep.
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Nah, it's not an issue avoiding Tesla chargers. My car can charge just fine at them but I specifically avoid them. There are plenty of options out there. The only people who think you have to use Superchargers are Tesla fanboys.
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I was looking at the new 2025 Mini Cooper EV...until tariff wars made BMW decide never to sell it outside the EU, probably ever.
In the USA...no one advertises smaller cars, then uses the lack of sales to justify only selling more-profitable and larger SUVs.
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DCT in manual is wonderful for driving windy canyon roads in a spirited way. Keep both hands on the controls, and insta-click into desired gear with the push a finger.
Also works with motorcycle DCT.
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So much for me to not like. Fake gear shifts in an EV are just dumb, poor placement of the charging port, 20 inch wheels that do nothing but make the ride worse and reduce range while increasing but the cost and likelihood of a pothole running your day, and capacitive touch buttons on the steering wheel. I don't even need to start in on my normal rants about crossovers and standard features to dislike this vehicle.
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How does a sound that only happens once you'd already put your foot down give anyone a warning about what is about to happen? Are you power braking at stoplights? The copious tire smoke should get that message across.
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Ford says they have spied on customers and no one is using the frunk. Rude and intrusive. But the reason I don’t use the frunk daily (certainly not to fill with ice and shrimp for a tailgate party as they advertised initially) is that access to it is very badly designed. You still have to slam it down HARD with both hands to close it, leaving handprints. There is no button on the fob or app to open it either, you have to do it by opening up the driver door and yanking in a lever, twice. Clearly Ford doesn’t want you in there.
Furthermore, their telemetry may tell them that I very rarely open the frunk but it doesn’t tell them I have put very important emergency supplies in there which I will access if I’m stuck in a blizzard. It’s the perfect place for that stuff: I don’t want it in the way or my husband might remove it, and I put my portable charging cable (which I also rarely access) in the under-hatch area. Removing the frunk makes their EV less competitive with Tesla and other EVs, not smart.
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I remain unimpressed with DCT. It's just an automatic that takes requests like a normal automatic with sport shifting, but trips over itself if the transmission controller guesses incorrectly the next gear you're going to want.
And I really don't see the point of a DCT at all on a motorcycle when quick-shifters exist.
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Nope. I googled the above and maybe the location Jonathan was at did not have a v4 charger nearby or it might have not occurred to him at the time which is ok
Come to think of it maybe Toyota designed it this way expecting chargers to be updated to v4 eventually and for other brands to have longer cables
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I use the model Y frunk for groceries from Costco with a cold bag in their frunk
You do have to close it carefully with both hands
Other than that it seems to get good use
Maybe Ford is trying to cut corners here or do a money grab, it sets a bad precedent to the rest of the auto industry, much like BMW’s heated seats
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Mirrorless cameras have made that noise forever, not just phones.
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What model year? Early build 2021s didn't have the software to electronically release the frunk, but some on forums claim it eventually came in an update. Later models absolutely do have electronic frunk release in the app and via the screen. That's the only way I ever open mine.
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My DCT never guesses the wrong gear. You're either going up one or down one, and it's quite obvious which, from the amount of braking or gas you're giving it. Also comes with 4 sets of programmable points, so you can tell it to sip gas lugging on the commute or rev up in the canyons (and can switch between modes in a second, or instantly override with the buttons or by flooring it).
Quick-shifters still require you to shift. It's engagement and fun, but up-5-down-5-up-5 gets boring when the commute lights just hate you. And they sure hate me.
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It's hard to make out, but it looks like those tires say 235/50. That's a sidewall of 58.75mm. That's...eh. They could have gone much worse. Michelin makes a Pilot Sport EV in 235/40R20 and a Pilot Sport 4S down to 235/30R20.
More would be better, but they could have also been even dumber.
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If you want CarPlay or Android Auto, GM cars are out. Hyundai and Kia dealers can be very hit or miss. Lexus cars tend to have nicer interiors than their Toyota XSE/XLE/Limited counterparts.
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Rising customers expectations and associated rising prices of all new cars in the US market was already making it more difficult for companies like Toyota/Lexus, Honda/Accura, etc. to differentiate cars that it's fairly clear start out the same and are made into both a either a Toyota or a Lexus depending on what's put in to them. It use to be easier with a bigger, more powerful engine, leather, and more tech toys, but when you can easily spend $46K on even a RAV4 and get what would have been considered a luxury vehicle by the standards of a couple decades ago, product differentiation starts becoming more difficult. Up until recently you saw a lot of companies deciding to use I4 vs V6 and gearbox as the main separator, but electric cars blow that idea out of the water for all but performance car buyers, who don't seem to be electric car enthusiasts at the moment anyway. Even putting aside electric cars, efficiency means V6s are endangered species, with even the "luxury" model often sporting a turbo I4.
Unfortunately for the auto manufacturers, I think between efficiency targets, safety mandates, (it's insane how much of the physical design of a car is now dictated by the EU commission), and customer preferences; the options companies will have to make a car unique will continue to decrease, until the sea of anonymous blandness is complete. It's no wonder then we see car companies doing things like making their emblems larger and glowing to better stand out when the car's shape is no longer enough to identify even the brand, never mind the model. Along with cramming as much possible tech in as possible try and transform the car from just a vehicle you might enjoy, to a rolling living room with it's own smartphone/tablet/laptop OS/platform/ecosystem. All in a desperate bid to prevent cars in the coming decades from becoming equivalent to an incredibly expensive TV/kitchen appliance. Something you buy because you need to, but don't care much about the particulars, because they're mostly the same within their price class.
Wow that got bleak, to distract us, shout-out to the old iMac still rocking in the upstairs window in the second article picture.
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Motorcycles are so easy to shift quickly with stock gear I had no idea there was a quick shifter. Though I have heard of a few back in the day with buttons to kill the engine briefly for upshifts instead of blipping the throttle.
A regular DCT just has the next gear queued so when you want to change gears it swaps clutches.
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Why is every single review for the RZ 550e? I guess that's all they give to the press, instead of the more sensible 350e which can be bought for less than an XLE premium Rav4. I bought an RZ 350E with 10% off MSRP (still terrible since it loses so much value so fast), it's nice to have such a cheap Lexus if you get free charging.
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In a manual - you naturally raise the revs before you start slipping the clutch. Not so much I guess in an auto but it depends on how the torque converter bites?
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There's no clutch or torque converter in an EV. They're (almost all) single speed transmissions. They don't even have a reverse gear, you just spin the motor backwards.
Maybe one of us is missing something, but we were talking about synthetic "engine" noise in EVs.
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Eh, maybe I just haven't driven a good one yet. Maybe they've improved since the McLaren I drove a few years ago. They do work great when you're steadily acceleration/decelerating. The trouble I've seen is if you change what you doing just before a shift-point, letting off the throttle for a half second just before getting back on the throttle while the transmission is upshifting, requiring the transmission to downshift twice since it can't easily skip a gear. As might happen in a corner.
And I've spent the last three years on a bike in traffic, most of that on a fully manual bike in Honolulu heat and traffic, and shifting never got boring, even on my 500. But, I'm also the kinda guy that prefers a manual even in Boston rush hour traffic so absolutely understand I'm not classified as normal by any stretch of the imagination. Now that I've upgraded to a Transalp, man, shifting is anything but boring. This thing is a riot. Honestly, my 1.5hr/day commute is the most fun part of my day
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Well that supercharger situation is a bit of a disaster, I guess some of the blame also lies with Tesla if they are open to all EVs.
I've never actually been to a supercharger location, anything to stop people be parking these at 45 degrees & taking 2 bays rather than risking it front on?
I've never actually been to a supercharger location, anything to stop people be parking these at 45 degrees & taking 2 bays rather than risking it front on?
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