It launches hard, but the overall experience could use more refinement and range.
See All 26 Photos 26
It’s quick
Well-appointed inside
Day to day drivability
Slow charging
Range is low
Dynamically challenged
In case you hadn’t heard, manual modes for performance-oriented EVs are all the rage now, and hearing things is one of the things that comes with the experience. Take the setup that’s bundled as part of the F Sport package for the 2026 Lexus RX550e . Tap the M button, and you can start using the 550e’s paddles to “shift” gears, complete with a sound profile that can best be described as an angry, 10,000-rpm vacuum cleaner. It works OK, but a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N this isn’t.
0:00 / 0:00
While we admire the attempt to F Sport it up, the whole thing is mid in its execution, not quite an F, maybe a C. It’s part of a pattern we found with this Lexus in particular. What it does, it does well. After that, it’s a mixed bag at best, which is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the present generation of Lexus and Toyota EVs.
See All 26 Photos 26
This Thing Goes Pretty F-ffing Fast
Remember the Lexus IS F? We sure do. That V-8-powered rocket sled of a sedan rushed from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds in our testing. Then there’s the mighty Lexus LFA supercar, the carbon-fiber-clad V-10 beast from the far east that touched 60 mph in 3.8 seconds .
But as Bob Dylan famously sang, “the times they are a-changin’,” in this case thanks to all-electric powertrains, to the point where a 4,722-pound SUV with 402 hp can match one of Toyota’s all-time great sports cars from 0 to 60 mph, doing the sprint in the same 3.8 seconds as the LFA.
It’s all relative when you start to put things in context, however, as many of the contemporaries of the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive Lexus RZ550e F Sport have posted similar or better numbers in our testing, with the best of breed being the Ioniq 5 N . Launching the RZ is simple enough; we put it in Sport mode with traction control off and mashed the go pedal. You experience some squat as it launches, and its updated e-Axle system apportions torque, but once underway it smashes electrons all the way through the quarter mile in 12.3 seconds at 111.4 mph. In case you wondered, the LFA took 11.8 seconds at 123.7 mph.