By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(November 7, 2014) By now you have heard that Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda agrees with those who feel his company’s products are dull, boring and predictable. He wants his company’s products to reflect passion and soul, to be objects of automotive desire, not impeccably built appliances. This edict extends to Lexus, which until recently has told the world that its mission was “The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection” and built cars where every seam and stitch lined up perfectly, but nothing stirred your soul.

Nowhere is that ethos better personified than in the brand’s RX crossover. Like the ES 350 with which it shares its underpinnings, and the Toyota Camry which provides them to both, the RX is impeccably built, luxuriously outfitted, and incredibly dull.



It leaves little memory or evidence of its presence. Though blandly handsome, the RX doesn’t so much blend into the scenery as it lets everything around it take center stage. It does not shout, it doesn’t even whisper, but it carries out the tasks set before it with the quiet dignity and invisibility of trusted servant.

For the bulk of Lexus buyers, that must be enough, for the RX is the top selling model in the Lexus SUV lineup. And on some level you can understand the attraction; it gives you the same feeling of quiet superiority as owning a house in the Hamptons, but demands nothing in return. Its aura is effortless given and easily forgotten, leaving you with an understanding of why Europeans refer to Lexus as “Worthy, but dull.”

Adding an electric motor and battery to the 3.5-liter V6, and replacing the six-speed automatic with an electronically controlled CVT transmission should alter this trajectory somewhat, but doesn’t. The additive torque of the electric motor blends seamlessly with that of the gasoline engine, and adds the ability to drive short distances at low speeds in EV mode. In other words, the butler has learned a new trick, but he’s still the butler.

With EPA mileage ratings of 30 city/28 highway/29 combined, you’d expect the RX 450h to be satisfyingly frugal. However, I could coax no more than 27 mpg out of the vehicle, despite driving with a soft and steady throttle most of the time. This wasn’t an earth-shattering disappointment — it’s akin to Jeeves sneaking food from the pantry for a late-night snack — but it was unexpected.

Also disconcerting was the wind noise around the A-pillars. It wasn’t so much a disturbance as a distraction, yet it was hard to deny that its presence grew as speeds rose. Another disappointment was the lack of lines to delineate the RX’s place in space as you back up. Many vehicles costing a lot less than the $48,845 base price/$60,689 as-tested price of this car have these markers superimposed on their center stack touchscreens, and some even move with the steering wheel to show you the vehicle’s intended direction of travel in reverse, but for some reason Lexus has chosen to leave this assistance off the list.

Yes, the RX 450h has Intuitive Parking Assist, which uses visual and audio cues to tell you when you’re close to objects around you, but dynamic reversing lines would be of bigger benefit, especially at this price.

Dynamically the RX 450h feels disconnected from its surroundings. There is some feel, enough to let you know what effect your inputs are having, but not enough to keep you intimately informed of what’s happening. It’s the automotive equivalent of having the news on in the background while you do something else. You are more likely to be stunned by the contrast of the matte bamboo wood against the dark leather than you are by anything happening through the pedals or steering wheel.

This disconnection extends to the passengers, who are similarly unlikely to be disturbed by what’s going on around them. A quiet and comfortable place for four or five, the RX 450h’s interior is a rolling drawing room effortlessly whisking them from place to place. Fold down the second row seats, and it will swallow a surprising amount of stuff. I used it to transport a three-person wrought iron bench and other items from a neighborhood garage sale, and still had room to spare, but I only vaguely remember bringing these items home.

Maybe that is the reason for the RX’s success. It has the shape, capability and cargo capacity of a medium-size crossover, and doesn’t demand you exert an undue amount of effort to go about your daily rounds. In a fast-paced, busy world it provides quiet support and reliable service, decent (though not stellar) gas mileage, and a safe haven from the world outside. And for most, that’s more than enough.

Briefly: 2014 Toyota Prius Plug-in

In many ways this car is no different than a regular Prius. It is a bullet-shaped five-door powered by a 1.8-liter Atkinson-cycle inline four, and mated to a hybrid drive system. The instrument panel is covered in the same tatami-like hard plastic, fronts an instrument panel perched on the vehicle centerline, and includes a steering wheel that is leans to the left — much like its owner base.

Like the RX 450h above, you won’t find a lot of dynamic pleasure in a Prius. The tires are optimized for low rolling resistance, and the vehicle’s personality is biased much more toward frugality than fun. This supports the driver’s ascetic inclinations in order to keep fuel economy high, and it works. I was able to coax a solid 53 mpg out of the car at speed on the highway, a full three mpg above its 50 city/50highway EPA rating.

Stopping here, however, would tell only part of the story because the Prius Plug-in has a deep, dark secret: It can be fun to drive. I know, this seems totally at odds with everything written thus far, but hear me out. When you pull the charger out of the special cargo well, plug one end into a normal household socket and the other into the charging port on the right side of the car, and go away for a few hours while it tops off the 4.4 kW lithium-ion battery, you come back to a totally different vehicle.

Driving the Prius in its normal hybrid mode is about as exciting and fun as any form of self denial. You don’t want to do it, but the various pictograms and energy graphs prod your subconscious into doing your best to decrease reliance on the gasoline engine without getting run over. It’s very effective, and rewards smooth throttle and brake application, which leads to higher mileage scores. Also, it provides an excuse for the seeming listlessness of the powertrain.

But with a full charge and an approximate 15-mile EV range, the Prius Plug-in no longer feels like the skinny kid with glasses. The instant torque from the electric motor is available in full as soon as the wheels being to turn, making the car feel much more capable. Suddenly, the Prius Plug-in feels like it wants to run around town, and maybe make a quick (and short) run down the highway, rather than rush home and start studying. If you remember what you learned when driving it in its conventional hybrid mode, you can eke out a decent run before having to plug it in, and laugh as the mileage readout at the end of your journey reads “239 mpg” or some similarly ridiculous number.

Driven in this fashion and plugged in regularly, the Prius Plug-in proves to be an ideal point-to-point city vehicle. It has space, a singular image and now the capability to make almost painless short hops. Whether this happy frugality is enough to offset the $34,904 base price ($38,907 as-tested) remains to be seen, especially in an era where the fracking revolution has liberated unexpected volumes of oil and natural gas, thus putting downward pressure on gasoline prices.

The Virtual Driver