On twisty roads, the 2.3-tonne kerbweight limits the LM’s ability, as the soft suspension tries to contain the car’s mass. Hard acceleration and braking see the car pitch back and forth on its springs, and there’s lots of lean in corners, even at modest speeds. Driving like this will also unsettle back-seat passengers, which is unlikely to go down well.
Lexus has fitted paddles behind the steering wheel for manual control of the gearbox, but these seem largely pointless, because the car’s electronics already do a fine job of ensuring the engine is delivering optimum efficiency.
Travelling at motorway speeds is equally refined, with minimal road and wind noise, plus a settled ride that delivers great cruising ability. Unlike older hybrid systems, the most recent set-up used by Lexus still switches between petrol and all-electric modes even at motorway speeds, which helps to improve fuel efficiency.
| Model | Power | 0-62mph | Top speed |
| LM 300h | 247bhp | 9.1 seconds | 118mph |
| LM 300h AWD | 247bhp | 9.1 seconds | 118mph |
It’s expensive and thirsty, but if you’re buying an LM to be chauffeured, that probably doesn’t matter
There’s a big price to pay to access the luxury offered by the Lexus LM, and although its hybrid powertrain promises efficiency, the car’s sheer size means it has to work hard, which has an impact on fuel consumption.
Lexus quotes fuel economy of 42.1mpg for the front-wheel-drive model, while the 4WD version has a return of 39.2mpg. On test, we managed a figure of 36.4mpg in mixed driving, although a higher proportion of urban use should see that figure improve as the powertrain favours electric running. You can see how often the LM runs in EV mode via the trip computer; during our time with the car it showed that we ran in electric mode for more than half the time we were driving it.
