Fifty Shades of Green: The Lexus RX 450h Is For The Opulent And The Eco-Conscious
Blog Aug 19th, 2019

To start: that marvel of a powerplant. With a total system output of 308 horsepower, the RX is no slouch. The dash to a hundred happens in just 7.7 seconds, which is still respectable considering its carbon footprint, and it only starts to run out of ideas at 200 km/h. Impressive, no doubt. But to try to sum up the RX450h in numbers is like choosing between a single malt or a blended whiskey based on alcohol content—it’s just not about that.

It’s not hard to appreciate why. Slip behind the thick, meaty steering wheel that is generously wrapped in premium leather and run your fingers across every surface: you won’t find a coarse edge or a bit of substandard material anywhere—yes, even in the places you can’t immediately see. Press the start-stop button and watch the Lexus quietly rouse from slumber without uttering a single decibel. As you glide your foot off the brake pedal, the RX crawls forward so silently it feels almost surreal. A slight dab of the throttle summons the combustion engine into this technological orchestra as seamlessly as a conductor calls upon a new instrument to join in the piece.
In a perfect world, we would all be driving hydrogen cars—then again, in a perfect world, Mother Teresa would have more Instagram followers than the Kardashians, but we all know how that turned out. While we’re on our way, hybrid technology is the most reliable and affordable road towards that goal. I’m talking about the hydrogen, of course, not the Instagram followers. Even when we perfect hydrogen and get it to an affordable level, hybrid technology will still play a role, and nobody has been able to play that part better than Toyota and Lexus.
There’s still some room for improvement—I’d like to see lithium batteries instead of Nickel-Metal Hydride in the next model—but with global warming becoming more and more tangible than many thought it would in our lifetime, this is the way of the future. With the RX 450h, that future is now.
Source: https://ph.asiatatler.com/life/fifty-shades-of-green-the-lexus-rx-450h-is-for-the-opulent-and-the-eco-conscious