Drive Test: Lexus IS 300h (2019) is no luxury Prius

Look at the current Lexus IS range; is there a more modern, eco-sensitive and inoffensive engine offering out there in a premium sedan? No diesel in sight (Lexus predicted that calamitous ending before we did), so instead they’re offering downsized 2.0-litre turbo petrol, this hybrid and a straightforward V6 petrol.

At this moment if you’re absolutely intent on owning a hybrid sedan in early 2019, the IS 300h is the only option. BMW will get back in the game to pick up where the 330e left off once the refreshed 3 Series’s bread and butter engines get a few sales under the belt and Mercedes’s uprated C-Class is due a replacement for the C350e.

The word hybrid hasn’t just evolved in technology. As a species, hybrid has evolved in its very essence. To TopGear dual-powertrains are the quintessence of speed, faster than their non-hybrid assisted cousins. But Lexus sees the world differently so the IS 300h is a lot slower than the cheaper, lighter IS 300 EX model powered by the 2.0-litre turbo engine. 

You start up the 2.5-litre engine, except you don’t really. The IS 300h will conserve whatever battery power it has left to make sure your first few metres are completed in absolute silence. Now this is a tenet of luxury, an oasis of unnatural sensory calm as you sink into the pillowy seats and watch the scenery slip by while surrounded by well-stitched leather with high quality materials. A relationship between digital and analogue that’s more cohesive than it has been in the past.

The electric process compliments the Lexus brand very well. The car levitates about the surface with incredible fluency, bump absorption feels even better now that there’s extra weight guarding the dampers and full EV mode is the way you’d want to do every trip to work and back. Except that’s a faux pas on Lexus’s behalf; the quiet waftiness rudely interrupted by the switchover to petrol. The engine with the CVT gearbox is perhaps the harshest reminder that your time sailing along in full EV mode has ceased and with eyes fixated on the centre screen’s power-cycle animation you’ll be praying for the short reprieve offered by battery power.  

The problem with the 2019 Lexus 300h stems from not being able to charge the battery off your own grid in preparation for tomorrow’s journey, forcing you to rely on regenerative braking and some form of power-up from the combustion process. You can do this plug-in charge in a BMW 330e and Mercedes 350e which completely transforms their list of competencies. In the Lexus, as seamless as these onboard systems are, there simply isn’t enough good conscience to go around, leaving you to wonder if all the complexity for lower emissions and our tested 8.3l/100km is worth the fuss. I couldn’t justify it in this country where hybrids receive no ownership perks.

A case of the ES’s dullness but without the grand space. A chassis of many hidden talents but not a powertrain to rouse more than one of them. There are two opposing paradigms tucked into this Lexus’s taut bodywork and the only one you want to spend any time with won’t last more than 500 metres before leaving you to endure the slow recharging process. ANDREW LEOPOLD

Specifications

• R753 800
• 2494cc, 4cyl petrol + EV, RWD, 164kW, 221Nm
• 5.0l/100km, 117g/km CO2
• 0-100kph in 8.5secs, 200kph
• 1720kg
• Tester’s notes: In Lexus’s lexicon, hybrid means boring