There are luxurious cars, and there are fuel-efficient cars. There are even some that offer moderate levels of both characteristics. But no vehicle has managed—nor even attempted—to simultaneously take both luxury and fuel economy to such high levels as the 2010 Lexus HS250h, the industry’s first dedicated luxury hybrid. Think of it as the Prius of Lexuses or the Lexus of Priuses—your choice—and you won’t be far off.
If any company can pull it off, though, it’s Lexus. But by Lexus’s own admission, the HS250h isnot one of the brand’s so-called “no-compromises” hybrids—such as the RX450h, the GS450h, and the LS600h—which supplement well-endowed engines with electric power for a driving experience that feels befitting of their luxurious trappings, while still delivering better fuel economy and lower emissions. By inference, then, is Lexus suggesting that the HS250h is perhaps a “compromised” hybrid? After our first drive in one on the roads around Newport Coast, California, it became clearly evident that that’s what it is.
“Mooing” Motor and Un-Lexus-y Loudness
So what happens when Toyota takes the small-car chassis on which it also bases the Prius and adds hundreds of pounds worth of Euro-market Toyota Avensis-based sheetmetal and luxo gee-gaws? Well, for one thing, it gets slower—which is why Lexus deemed the Prius’s 98-hp, 1.8-liter four-cylinder inadequate and replaced it with the Camry hybrid’s Atkinson-cycle, 2.4-liter unit with 147 hp and 138 lb-ft of torque. The nickel-metal-hydride battery pack and electric motor conspire with the engine for a system output of 187 hp (the 3050-lb Prius makes only 134 combined horsepower). Hustling the 3700-lb HS250h to 60 mph takes 8.4 seconds, according to Lexus, which is 1.4 seconds faster than the last Prius we tested. The HS pays the piper in fuel economy, though, as its EPA city/highway rating of 35/34 mpg doesn’t even come close to the Prius’s 51/48 figure.
In spite of the HS250h’s alleged acceleration advantage, both the Prius and the HS250h feel virtually identical from behind the electrically assisted steering wheel (which, unlike in the Prius, is thankfullynot ovular). Road feel is pretty much zero, even with the optional 18-inch wheels and 225/45-series tires. However, steering response is direct and reasonably quick. At the same time, the interior sound quality isn’t exactly up to the traditional Lexus-isolationist level. We wish it was, for as much as we like to hear and feel what’s going on beneath us, what we hear and feel inside the HS250h are the droning “mooOOOOooo” of the engine/CVT combination during acceleration, along with a fair amount of tire noise and low-level reverberations from road impacts. We understand that less weight is important to any hybrid in the interest of fuel economy—and to any vehicle, for that matter—but even we would like a few more pounds of sound-deadening materials for the HS250h so we don’t have to hear the powertrain’s pitiful drone. And we suspect that anyone who’s ever owned a whisper-quiet Lexus would agree.
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