Lexus LS600h: Test Drive (continued)

Date: 29 June 2007

LS600h - rear seats

Category: Luxury Prices: £82,000-£88,000 Key rival: Mercedes-Benz S-class

Get on the road and refinement is as you'd expect, with a little road noise intruding into the cabin but only at higher speeds. Wind noise, however, is more noticeable, the big mirrors creating an audible air disturbance at motorway speed, though it may be exaggerated by the lack of other noise penetrating the cabin.

There's no hint the car is a hybrid, with low-speed town cruising possible using just the electric motor that, at higher speeds, gives a handy boost to the 5.0-litre V8, making for incredibly rapid acceleration for such a large and weighty car.

The only slight concern was the car's tendency to be unsettled by particularly poor roads, more so than you'd expect from its rivals. Otherwise it's an incredibly relaxing car, whatever the circumstances.

As you can see from the rivals box below, the LS600h's biggest advantage is in the emissions stakes. It is five benefit-in-kind bands under the maximum 35% group, has CO2 figures more than 100g/km below its rivals, and promises hefty claimed fuel economy benefits, although there is the continual question mark over whether hybrids are less likely than conventional models to approach their claimed figure. But no matter what, it's clear that the Lexus is the greenest option for the chairman's next car, if you can accept it falls a shade short of some of the best saloons in the world. We'll have the whole-life costs data when Lexus finally signs off the pricing, but for now the environmental and therefore social benefits make the LS600h our choice.

BACK...

Subscribe