From £50,135

Lexus addresses the key flaw – and more – of its luxurious electric SUV

With so many cars spuriously purporting to be sporty or have racing genes, it’s refreshing when the presentation for a new one hardly even mentions athleticism.

The Lexus RZ is the firm’s flagship electric car and instead its aim is to offer “confidence, control and comfort”.

This Lexus is different enough from its Toyota and Subaru siblings to warrant the additional money.

That ethos remains in 2025, but thanks to a mid-life update, the RZ now has up to 402bhp, the promise of improved handling and, most importantly, a much longer range than before.  

While many mid-life updates take the form of minor design changes or some additional equipment, the revised RZ actually brings a host of firsts for the luxury Japanese brand.

It’s the first electric Lexus with a performance F Sport trim level and the first car in the UK available with a steer-by-wire system, complete with a yoke for a steering wheel and simulated manual gearshifts.

The RZ is still the flagship Lexus EV. The firm has also had the UX 300e for a while, but that was never quite a heavy hitter, whereas this car is and goes toe to toe with the likes of the Tesla Model Y, Nissan Ariya and Hyundai Ioniq 5.

Before, it suffered from a major flaw - an electric driving range that was far below that of its competitors.

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But with a new battery, improved efficiency and a host of other technological changes, is the RZ now worth considering? Let's find out...

DESIGN & STYLING

Lexus RZ rear

The new RZ looks almost exactly the same as the previous car, with the majority of the changes coming beneath the metal. 

Battery upgrades, improvements to body rigidity and handling and enhanced comfort are among the wide-reaching revisions. 

Every time I looked at the RZ’s spec sheet for this review, I was surprised at the exterior dimensions.

They apply across a three-model range that comprises the single-motor, front-wheel-drive RZ 350e (our main focus here, as Lexus anticipates it will take a 65% share of RZ sales in the UK, mostly in middling Premium Plus trim), the dual-motor, four-wheel-drive 500e and the more overtly performance-oriented 550e.

The most significant change is the introduction of a slightly larger (77kWh) battery, with a new cooling system and pre-conditioning for rapid charging.

It addresses the original RZ’s biggest flaw, a comparatively short range, upping the total from 297 to 353 miles in the 350e (and to 311 miles in the 500e).

Lexus has also added a more powerful (22kW) on-board AC charger and worked to improve DC charging performance in lower temperatures, although the maximum rate remains 150kW.

Further changes beneath the metal concern the RZ’s suspension, with adjustments made to the front bushings and the front and rear dampers. Lexus also claims body rigidity has been improved with additional bracing, to the benefit of handling. 

At 4805mm in length, it’s a fair bit longer than the Toyota bZ4X, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Skoda Enyaq.

The flagship of the RZ line-up and the first Lexus EV to receive an F Sport makeover is the new RZ 550e. It is also the inaugural model in the Japanese firm’s line-up to receive a sophisticated steer-by-wire system and a simulated manual drive shift.

In addition, the 550e F Sport gets sportier bodywork, including 20in wheels, bumper air ducts, a rear diffuser and a rear spoiler.

INTERIOR

Lexus RZ front interior

The RZ’s trump card is its classy interior, which is cosseting and comfortable in typical Lexus fashion.

Material quality is high, from the plush seats to the soft-touch Ultrasuede upholstery and synthetic leather.

The infrared heater sounds complicated but it really works.

Lexus has made an effort to improve soundproofing and insulation through better floor adhesives, noise-reducing felt and a new motor mount design that better suppresses vibration. All this makes the RZ quieter and more refined than before over most road surfaces, more so than the Volvo EX40.

Higher trims bring soft leather and interesting technical materials to rival the Genesis GV60 but lower ones introduce some coarser leather and cheaper plastics.

The 14.0in infotainment touchscreen is as easy to use as a phone, but it can be distracting because it hosts the fan-speed controls. The screen behind the steering wheel also looks incredibly blurry and dated compared with rivals. 

Leg room in the back is huge, making the RZ one of the most practical electric SUVs on the market. The boot is right up there with rivals and features underfloor storage for the charging cables. There's no under-bonnet storage, mind. And no glovebox if you get the infrared heater.

Lexus has equipped upper versions of the RZ with small infrared heaters to try to save some all-important battery.

Traditional heating isn't energy-efficient and the bZ4X sibling is known to chew through battery trying to heat and cool the car. These heaters act a bit like a blanket for your legs and knees. They work well and interact seamlessly with the heated seat and steering wheel.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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Lexus RZ nose

The 350e’s single motor produces 221bhp and 198lb ft of torque, which propels the two-tonne SUV from 0-62mph in a reasonably brisk 7.5sec.

The dual-motor 500e gets a performance boost over the old 450e too: its combined total of 376bhp lets it hit 62mph in 4.4sec.

A 4.4sec 0-62mph time feels a bit pointless in a car like this.

Power delivery is smooth but unexciting, which is likely to suit Lexus’s typical customer base better than the more aggressive Tesla Model Y, which will sprint to 62mph almost two seconds quicker.

Like with any decent-powered EV, there’s real neck-snap acceleration under full throttle in its sportiest setting. But it’s very unlikely that you will be doing this very often. Why? Keep scrolling to get our verdict on the range…

The front-wheel-drive model cuts power to 201bhp, extending the 0-62mph time by about 2.5sec. But it’s not like it’s slow, and Lexus isn’t making huge dynamism claims for the RZ anyway.

In the dual-motor 550e, power is up to 402bhp, and it'll hit 0-62mph in 4.4sec. 

In top-of-the-range F Sport cars, drivers get manual paddle shifters to work in tandem with the steer-by-wire system.

As with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, it adds a simulated manual gearshift and a simulated engine noise is projected into the cabin.

The ‘gears’ add a sense of engagement and ‘shift’ quickly and will even knock down once it hits the top of the ‘rev limiter’.

However, the gruff engine noise isn’t convincing, and ultimately it doesn’t seem a feature that will attract hardened driving enthusiasts in the way that it might on the Ioniq 5 N or even the Kia EV6 GT.

RIDE & HANDLING

Lexue RZ rear in mountains

Further changes beneath the metal concern the RZ’s suspension, with adjustments made to the front bushings and the front and rear dampers.

Lexus also claims body rigidity has been improved with additional bracing, to the benefit of handling.

Steer-by-wire system means there's no physical connection between the wheels and steering wheel.

The RZ still isn’t keen to be thrown into corners with much vigour, but it’s effortless to drive and will navigate most turns with ease, as a premium SUV should, and it’s more direct and simpler to guide than the Volvo EX40.

In basic 300e form, the RZ rides softly and makes light work of potholes and other road corrugations. I found the 18in wheels soaked up the Algarve’s more fractured road surfaces far more agreeably than the 550e’s 20in rims.

Despite not being offered with adaptive dampers, the RZ is a very smooth and quiet-riding car that’s reassuring, satisfying and surprisingly plush-feeling, although not exciting, to drive.

On all-wheel-drive models, you can genuinely feel the effects of what Lexus calls Direct4, a system whereby power and braking force are rapidly shuffled between the front and rear axles to control and reduce the pitch and dive that normally accompany acceleration and braking. 

It stops short of being transformative but does introduce a pleasant calmness to the way the car drives.

Although the software can cleverly distribute torque, the front motor is more powerful than the rear one so the RZ feels at best neutral when cornering under power. 

That’s fine, though: it’s not trying to be sporty, remember. And even so, the RZ musters adequate grip, while its standard steering is well weighted.

Naturally, the front-wheel-drive model goes without the Direct4 system. But there’s a comfortable honesty about the 300e’s straightforward ride, handling and steering.

Owing to its larger wheels, plus retuned spring rates and shock absorbers, the F Sport rides more rigidly than standard RZs. Speed bumps, potholes and road cracks are more noticeable as a result, but snug sports seats help ensure it’s never uncomfortable.

Steer-by-wire review

Lexus’s One Motion Grip steer-by-wire system, which removes any mechanical link between the steering wheel and the wheels by controlling inputs through electric signals, has been a long time coming (we drove a prototype back in 2022) but is now included as standard on the F Sport and plusher F Sport Takumi variants.

Complete with a yoke in place of a wheel, the system feels surreal and unnatural at first, requiring just a 200deg turn from neutral to full lock in both directions.

There is a learning curve here, but after some familiarisation, you begin to trust the system’s varying steer ratios and where to put your hands. 

Aided by those fancy new wheels and performance bodywork, the F Sport is a touch more accurate and progressive in corners than a standard RZ. It certainly adds a sense of occasion, although we did find the smaller indicator and wiper stalks were harder to reach.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

Lexus RZ front

The battery capacity of the previous RZ was 71.4kWh, which was smaller than that of key rivals. In 2025, Lexus updated the RZ with a new, 77kWh battery to address the model's biggest flaw: range. 

Range increases from 297 to 353 miles in the 350e, while the 500e gets 311 miles. The 550e F Sport has 280 miles of range. 

Not only is the efficiency poor, but I found the range indicator to be unreliable too.

The range is heavily dependent on specification, though. Cars on 18in wheels are rated at 353 miles, while those with 20in wheels drop to 316 miles.

Is it more efficient, though? Over a 60-mile driving route, our test car returned 3.7mpkWh, equal to 284 miles on a full charge – quite some way offLexus’s claim of 353 miles, although we did make liberal use of the air conditioning in sweltering weather.

It’s not far off the Audi Q6 E-tron, which has a much bigger battery but achieved 2.9mpkWh in our hands, corresponding to around 290 miles. Effectively, it's pretty much par for the course for an SUV of this size and weight. 

The car's rapid-charging rates are also unimpressive, 150kW being the bare minimum we would expect from a new premium EV. That's unchanged from the previous RZ. 

Pricing isn’t yet confirmed, but a slight increase over the current £50,000 starting point is expected. That’s not cheap, but you get ambient lighting, a panoramic roof, wireless phone charging and dual-zone climate control as standard.

Our Premium Plus test car also had ventilated memory seats, a head-up display and control touchpads on the steering wheel.

VERDICT

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Lexus RZ parked

While the changes to the RZ aren’t revolutionary, they do combine to make this car a more compelling package than before.

Addressing the model’s main weakness – range – has brought it more in line with premium rivals such as the Audi Q4 E-tron and the Genesis GV60.

Its practicality and interior quality are still the prime reasons for being drawn to it. The front-wheel-drive 300e is our pick of the RZ range simply because it goes farther on a charge.

The RZ ushers in some interesting new technology and is all the better for it on the road. 

The F Sport, meanwhile, is unique in many respects, with intriguing technology and good performance.

However, the steer-by-wire system doesn’t exert obvious appeal, and nor probably will the price: Lexus hasn’t confirmed anything yet, but don’t be surprised if it surpasses £70,000.

Murray Scullion

Murray Scullion
Title: Digital editor

Murray has been a journalist for more than a decade. During that time he’s written for magazines, newspapers and websites, but he now finds himself as Autocar’s digital editor.

He leads the output of the website and contributes to all other digital aspects, including the social media channels, podcasts and videos. During his time he has reviewed cars ranging from £50 - £500,000, including Austin Allegros and Ferrari 812 Superfasts. He has also interviewed F1 megastars, knows his PCPs from his HPs and has written, researched and experimented with behavioural surplus and driverless technology.

Murray graduated from the University of Derby with a BA in Journalism in 2014 and has previously written for Classic Car Weekly, Modern Classics Magazine, buyacar.co.uk, parkers.co.uk and CAR Magazine, as well as carmagazine.co.uk.

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S.