Lexus RZ 550e AWD – IT’S A GAS!

Lexus RZ 550e AWD

IT’S A GAS!

In retirement for over five years, my wife and I describe ourselves as on a ‘fixed income’. And while that household income is fixed our retirement is comfortable, largely because my wife enjoyed a successful career. With that, I still feel for those car owners reeling at the rising prices of virtually everything automotive, from the cost of the vehicle’s purchase to its parts and, most recently, its fuel. 

As a gallon of gas goes up some 50%(!) consumer attention has once again turned to the EV, and while no EV – by definition – requires you to buy gas, some OEMs are playing the game better than others. With its RZ 550e, Toyota’s Lexus division is upping the game, with design tweaks, improved performance and genuine engagement. Who-the-hell knew?

The Lexus RZ was first launched in 2023, and as the press blurb puts it, was the company’s first ‘globally available, purpose-built battery-electric vehicle’. And the timing is interesting, given Toyota’s early work – with its Prius hybrid – in electrification. In 2023 Toyota and its luxury sibling benefited from Federal purchase incentives and only the predictable, already-established tariffs…you’d know it as the Biden administration. Three years later all bets are off, with the incentives gone and tariffs applied based only on the analytics a presidential brain fart can deliver. It’s a vastly different world, and with those differences the Iran ‘peace’ has reset the table.

The Lexus RZ is not unlike the Tesla Model Y in its stylistic vibe, merging a semi-upright profile with – unlike the Model Y – stylistic add-ons from the Buck Rogers tool chest. There’s a lot going on here, and a dark color will minimize the visual distraction. Our test RZ wasn’t a dark color (it was a muted gray, which Lexus dubs Wind – yeah, Wind), but I gotta’ admit, it established a presence on the driveway, aided – not incidentally – by its 20-inch alloys.

The RZ’s interior is more muted. The front buckets are firm – almost Germanic – and in their F Sport spec are gently bolstered. Head, leg and shoulder room are comfortable both front and rear, although the rear seat is – as is typical – more accommodating for two than three. Within the cabin you’ll find just over 100 cubic feet of passenger space, along with a reported 35 cubic feet behind the rear seat, 48 with the second row folded. The RZ passed the stowing-a-bike-back-there test beautifully; in fact, it could have accommodated a bigger road bike if – in my eighth decade – I was to have a growth spirt. But don’t worry, as it’s not gonna’ happen.

Notably, if you ride with bike gloves you’ll have to stuff those gloves in your jersey or a door pocket, as there’s no glove box in the RZ. To be sure, my Miata doesn’t have a glove box either, but then, it’s a MIATA! A Lexus – any Lexus – should have a place for a lady’s white gloves…or a rider’s smelly gloves.

Dynamically, the RZ 550e AWD is at the top of the RZ food chain, with a motor mounted at each end, delivering a combined 402 horsepower and god-only-knows how many lb-ft of torque. Regardless of the numbers, the RZ 550e’s motive package will get you to 60 in under 4 seconds (according to the shoes at Car and Driver) and, in that same testing, do the ¼ in just 11 seconds. Of course, performance testing will tend to diminish the EV range in the 550e F Sport, listed at just 225 miles. 

Lexus will sell you up to 300 miles of range, but that model comes with a 0-60 closer to seven seconds – suggesting you leave three seconds earlier.

Beyond the specs is the absolutely delightful rush when maneuvering the RZ 550e through traffic, especially the mind-numbing traffic I encounter in Northern Virginia. No one is in a hurry to get anywhere, and the driving style is undoubtedly made more casual by the higher gas prices; drivers literally tip-toe into the accelerator, and go into coast mode a mile before the next intersection. Conversely, behind the wheel of this RZ you can see a signal turn yellow from several blocks out and still (STILL) make the light! It’s a wonder.

In the absence of the Fed incentives (our government has weaponry to buy, so can’t be subsidizing alternative transportation), most OEMs have tweaked the MSRP, and that’s to our advantage. In base form the RZ 350e FWD starts in the mid-$40s, the mid-level RZ 450e sits in the mid-$50s and our test RZ 550e came in – with its optional Luxury Package – at $62K. Online I found the RZ 450e AWD with a MSRP in the high $50s and offered at a selling price in the high $40s. As you’d know, in 2026 that seems like a deal.

While not fully buying into what I see as the RZ’s stylistic excesses, the RZ’s fit and finish, along with the Lexus ownership experience, make a strong argument for putting it on an automotive short list. If you plan on taking that long weekend drive I’m still not sure an EV is the way to do it, but in a garage with Level 2 charging, one of your cars or crossovers might be an EV. And with three distinct choices, the RZ could be it.