 2010 Lexus HS 250h. Click image to enlarge |
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2010 Lexus HS 250h
North Vancouver, British Columbia – Starting at $39,900, Lexus’ first “entry-level” luxury hybrid car, the new HS250h, is targeted at “…Canadians who want the ultimate in luxury motoring with a smaller (carbon) footprint,” according to Larry Hutchinson, Director of Lexus Canada.
Notice that he didn’t say, “…Canadians who want to save money on gas.” No, this Lexus is all about being green while being coddled. HS250h buyers want to be able to help save the planet while enjoying the comforts of heated leather seats, 15-speaker stereo, and voice-activated navigation.
According to Hutchinson, sixty per cent of people looking for an entry-level luxury car have been looking for a hybrid-powered option. The question is, will the HS250h meet their luxury aspirations as well as their environmental ones?
  2010 Lexus HS 250h. Click image to enlarge |
Truthfully, I’m not sure. While the HS250h ticks off all the ecologically-friendly check-marks – it offers the fuel efficiency of a subcompact car with the power of a mid-size sedan; 70 per cent less smog-forming emissions than a comparable gasoline or diesel sedan; plant-based plastics for the seat cushions and trunk that reduce CO2 emissions by 20 per cent during production; a dust, pollen and deodorizing filter, and an ion generator to reduce interior airborne particles – the HS250h is a rather plain-looking car with a 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine, continuously variable transmission and electric motor that combine to offer less power, smoothness and refinement than a typical V6-powered entry-level luxury car in the same price range.
Yes, the HS250h has all the gadgets you could imagine in a luxury hybrid: similar to the new Prius, its hybrid powertrain has four driver-selectable driving modes: Normal Mode, Power Mode, ECO Mode, and EV Mode; inside there’s a pop-up screen that displays various functions like climate control and optional voice-activate navigation via a nifty mouse-like controller on the centre console; leather seats with optional heating and cooling, premium audio system, Bluetooth connectivity, satellite radio, rear window sunshade, and ten standard airbags.
But a luxury car needs to be more than the sum of its features – it should look and feel like a luxury car, and that’s where I’m going to be a bit critical of the HS250h. Its styling is, frankly, unimaginative – it’s tall and slab-sided with a squared-off front bumper, a windshield placed well forwards on the body, and a horizontal rather than wedge-shaped profile. Its tall body makes even the optional 18-inch wheels look small. You’d never guess that the HS250h has a very slippery coefficient of drag of 0.27.
   2010 Lexus HS 250h. Click image to enlarge |
The HS250h’s tall roof does pay off in practical terms, creating more headroom for passengers – at least in theory. I found rear headroom just adequate for my 175-cm frame. And the cab-forward design does maximize front and rear legroom.
Comfort has been given a high priority: both the driver and front passenger have power leather seats with power lumbar on the driver’s seat only. Heated/cooled front seats and a driver’s seat memory system are offered with the optional Ultra Premium Package. I found these seats comfortable over the week that I had the car and the driving position ideal for outward visibility and access to controls. An electric tilt-telescoping steering wheel is standard.
Ahead of the driver is a bright white and blue gauge cluster with a Power/Charge meter and fuel gauge on the left and a speedometer on the right. In between is an information display that can be toggled between a real-time graphic of the power distribution between the engine, battery and wheels; current fuel consumption, average fuel consumption, outside temperature, cruising range, average speed, and tire pressure display. Current and average fuel consumption are displayed on the same screen, and I enjoyed watching the wide variations in fuel use that occur in normal driving.
