► Fifth-generation version of the longest-serving Lexus SUV
► Now with plug-in power
► Read Month 1
What a difference 3kWh makes. That’s the extra electricity our home charger reckons it’s able to get into the plug-in Lexus RX versus the recently departed plug-in VW Multivan, and it’s taken us from an electric-only range of just under 30 miles to one of just over 40 – enough that the petrol engine in the RX hasn’t started at all this month.
Both EV ranges are bang on the WLTP figure, but a bonus is that while the VW averaged around 2.5 miles per kWh, the Lexus has achieved almost 3.0.
Yet while the VW would take on board up to 10.9kWh against a battery size of 13kWh, the Lexus’s 13.9kWh max fill is some way short of its 18.1kWh capacity. That’s 77 per cent, versus 84 per cent for the VW.
Read month 1 here
Read month 3 here
Logbook: Lexus RX 450h+ Premium Plus Pack (Month 2)
Price £73,100 (£73,350 as tested)
Performance 18.1kWh battery plus 2487cc four-cylinder, PHEV, 304bhp, 6.5sec 0-62mph,124mph
Efficiency 256.8mpg (official), 112.9mpg (tested), 26g/km CO2
Energy cost 8.1p per mile
Miles this month 473
Total miles 5219