Despite not being offered with adaptive dampers, this is a very smooth and quiet-riding car that’s reassuring, satisfying and surprisingly plush-feeling, though not exciting, to drive.
You can genuinely feel the effects of what Lexus calls Direct4, a system whereby power and braking force are rapidly shuffled between the front and rear axles to control and reduce the pitch and dive that normally accompanies acceleration and braking.
It stops short of being transformative, but does introduce a pleasant calmness to the way the car drives.
Although the software can cleverly distribute torque, the front motor is more powerful than the rear one, so the RZ feels at best neutral when cornering under power.
That’s fine, though: it’s not trying to be sporty, remember. And even so, the RZ musters adequate grip, while its standard steering is well weighted.
Naturally the FWD model goes without the Direct4 system. But there’s a comfortable honesty about the 300e’s straightforward ride, handling and steering.
We have also tried Lexus’s One Motion Grip steer-by-wire system on the European press launch. The system we tried was technically a prototype still. But it still worked impressively and added some sense of occasion.
Having just 150deg of movement between locks ensures you never have to take your hands off the steering ‘wheel’, which is why the yoke shape works.
Weirdly, it seems to impart ever so slightly more information about grip levels than the conventional steering. The widely variable ratio robs you of the last 5% of precision, which would be a problem on a sports car but isn’t on a comfy SUV.
