2024 Lexus RX450+ Review
MSRP: Base price $70,000
Specs: 2.5 Liter 4 Cylinder with 18.1 kWh battery pack
304 HP
0-60: 6.3 Seconds
MPG as observed: 50!!!
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Guy who did stuff: Yousef Alvi
The 2024 Lexus RX450+, is the singular vehicle in Lexus’s entire lineup that proves the sustainability, resilience and reliability a Hybrid powertrain has now and for the foreseeable future. How you ask?
Simple, two reasons:
Lexus is the leading authority in hybrid powertrains for 27 years!
The RX is perennially their best selling and most thoroughly engineered vehicle made for the masses.
Let’s break down both bullet points.
Starting all the way back in 1997, Toyota released the first generation Prius. The first mass market hybrid vehicle that was affordable, reliable and efficient. It was the Model T of the Hybrid revolution, democratizing Hybrid technology for the masses. Everyone from celebrities, politicians to the obligatory kid totting parent flocked to the Prius. This led ToMoCo to go ‘all in’ into Hybrid Technology.
In the ensuing years, everything from full size luxury sedans, grand touring sport coupes, midsize SUVs, down to subcompacts were powered by their ever evolving Hybrid technology. Each update to the technology enabled a leap in efficiency, power and refinement. Enabling the drivetrain to do what few would ever expect a complex drive system to do…fade into the background. The drivetrain evolved to the point that it seamlessly faded into the driving experience. This is on top of huge leaps in efficiency, such that it begs the question:
‘’Why get a full EV again?”
Let’s take this 2024 Lexus RX450+ as an example. In our week of testing we got damn well close to 50 MPG! Unlike PHEVs of the past, where the EV mode would shut down going over a pebble, 1% incline, a speed bump or having a heavy meal…the RX450+’s EV mode actually…works. So that means, you can drive without a care in the world and using a drop of gas! The RX450+’s EV mode is so good that we had 3 days worth of pure EV driving alone! That’s a combination of city and highway driving, with a full load of people and a heavy foot. What did that yield us in efficiency? After a full 7 days worth of driving, the gas gauge went down a tenth…that’s it.
So what powers this witchcraft you say? Welp, first off the 450 portion of it’s name doesn’t represent horsepower/torque, displacement or anything of the sorts. The 450 means Hybrid (combining a 2.5 liter 4 cylinder paired with 18.2 kWh battery pack) and the + means AWD. Which gets you a total of 304 HP and a motor driving each axle, giving a 0-60 time of around 6.3 seconds.
The RX series has never been known to be corner carver and this generation RX changes that just a tad bit. No longer flopping from side to side while the tires howl for mercy, this 2024 RX deftly handles the twisty stuff with aplomb! The body stays nice and flat, the steering gives decent feedback and chassis just grips! Dare I say it was fun-ish? Yes. Yes I dare.
Interior wise it’s another leap forward. The interior is just damn beautiful to behold from the beautiful alcantara inserts to the diamond stitching on the seats down to the light up Lexus logo in the rear hatch…one of the best if not The Best in it’s class. Elevating the interior even more is the fact that Lexus, not being cheapskates like their German competitors, retains physical buttons throughout the entire interior! It’s sad that I even have to say this but damnit it’s nice to click on a damn button instead of punching a display to do something. Oh and since it’s a Lexus, everything is where it should be and the interior is whisper quiet and the room in first and second row is generation if not commodious. So well done!
So what do I think of the 2024 Lexus RX450+?
It’s amazing to think that this generation Lexus RX plays such a pivotal role showcasing the brilliance and fortitude of Hybrid technology. But it does and it does so brilliantly. Why would you get a Model Y again?
Yousef Alvi
