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Written by Jack Rix
"Both are my babies, but maybe I would buy the hybrid." So says Koji Sato, the new Lexus LC"s chief engineer, when asked whether he"d rather have the V8-powered LC500, or the petrol-electric LC500h, both on sale in Spring 2017. It"s a bold call, given Lexus" current range of hybrids aren"t exactly what you"d call dynamic, but then this 500h is something entirely new.Let"s start slowly, with the basics, because by Lexus" own admission it"s the most fiendishly complicated powertrain it has ever produced. Much like the RX450h it combines a 295bhp 3.5-litre V6 with a CVT gearbox, a generator motor (that also controls the ratio of the CVT) and an electric motor for a total of 354bhp and a 0-62mph time of under five seconds. So far, so familiar. But there"s moreTo answer criticism (a fair proportion of it from us) that with a CVT gearbox the engine revs rarely match the throttle position (something often referred to as the rubber-band effect", or that infuriating whine when I use anything more than half throttle effect") Lexus has tacked on a four-speed auto gearbox at the end of the transmission, with four real fixed ratios.If four seems like a low number, fear not in manual mode the driver will have 10 steps to select from with paddles behind the wheel. The first three gears in the new auto box are combined with three artificially chosen ratios in the CVT (that"s nine gears right there), while the fourth gear is an overdrive taking the total to 10. It"s no coincidence that"s the same number as the V8 model"s real 10-spd auto, an engineer told us "studies have shown that a 10-speed gearbox gives the best dynamic reaction." Sounds like a few too many to us.
Date written: 19 Feb 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 2221
"Both are my babies, but maybe I would buy the hybrid." So says Koji Sato, the new Lexus LC"s chief engineer, when asked whether he"d rather have the V8-powered LC500, or the petrol-electric LC500h, both on sale in Spring 2017. It"s a bold call, given Lexus" current range of hybrids aren"t exactly what you"d call dynamic, but then this 500h is something entirely new.Let"s start slowly, with the basics, because by Lexus" own admission it"s the most fiendishly complicated powertrain it has ever produced. Much like the RX450h it combines a 295bhp 3.5-litre V6 with a CVT gearbox, a generator motor (that also controls the ratio of the CVT) and an electric motor for a total of 354bhp and a 0-62mph time of under five seconds. So far, so familiar. But there"s moreTo answer criticism (a fair proportion of it from us) that with a CVT gearbox the engine revs rarely match the throttle position (something often referred to as the rubber-band effect", or that infuriating whine when I use anything more than half throttle effect") Lexus has tacked on a four-speed auto gearbox at the end of the transmission, with four real fixed ratios.If four seems like a low number, fear not in manual mode the driver will have 10 steps to select from with paddles behind the wheel. The first three gears in the new auto box are combined with three artificially chosen ratios in the CVT (that"s nine gears right there), while the fourth gear is an overdrive taking the total to 10. It"s no coincidence that"s the same number as the V8 model"s real 10-spd auto, an engineer told us "studies have shown that a 10-speed gearbox gives the best dynamic reaction." Sounds like a few too many to us.
Date written: 19 Feb 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 2221
