Being a dad driver is one thing. Driving in luxury is another and unless you make some serious bank, the price of fatherhood often wins over the price of luxury. That’s not to say that you can’t have your cake and eat it too. If your wallet is big enough and driving in style is your thing, you can’t go wrong with the Lexus LS 500.
Slam packed with some of the finest design this side of automotive luxury, the LS 500 is truly a ride in comfort and performance. But if you’re a dad driver and spending hours a day in a vehicle hauling your kids around sound familiar, squeaking every mile you can out of your vehicle is key. Enter the LS 500h, Lexus’s answer to classy eco driving.
On the outside, the LS 500h looks as stunning as the LS 500, but under the hood is a whole different ball game. The question is, will it be a game that delivers? Luxury and electric motors can sometimes be a mixed bag and that’s what the LS 500h ultimately is: a mixed bag. Where it does delivers though, it does so with slam dunks that would make Dirk Nowitzki proud.
What Zoë Liked about the Lexus LS 500h
At least once, with every automobile that I review, I let Zoë sit in my lap in the driver’s seat when the vehicle’s parked and let her admire the interior. She is usually preoccupied with pushing buttons and pretending to spin the steering wheel. But in the LS 500h, the door actually captured her attention – the design of the door interior to be exact. The LS 500h I reviewed came with the Executive Package which includes the Kiriko Glass interior design. It simply has to be seen to be believed. An entire panel of the door’s interior is made of delicately etched glass that reflects light in such a brilliance of twinkles that it’s no wonder Zoë couldn’t take her eyes off it. Installed next to hand-ruffled cloth that blends nicely with the glass plate’s movement, this door design screams elegance. Makes sense too: the door is the first and last point of contact a driver has with their car.
What this Dad Digs about the Lexus LS 500h
A Sexy Profile – One my favorite Lexus vehicles of the past decade is the LC because of its performance capabilities and it’s incredibly sexy exterior design. The LS 500h shares the same platform as the LC and it show shows. The LS is long and low, with a profile that is sexy in a four door sedan kind of way. The broad, hourglass-shaped grill at the nose looks sleek and those backward z-shaped headlights are visually innovative. The rear end of the LS is wide but contoured in just the right way that supports the sporty nature of the car. I’m also a huge fan of the “less-is-more” approach to the body sculpting on the flow of side panel design. There are very few lines that break that aerodynamic flow from nose to rear which makes sense – this vehicle doesn’t need to scream about its luxurious status. I could do without the chrome strip near the bottom of the side panels, though.
Easy Access to Child Seat Anchors – It’s a part of parenthood that just comes along with driving with a child: locking a child seat into a vehicle. Modern child car seats come equipped with clips that securely latch into anchors placed in the fold of a vehicle’s rear seats. Drive enough different vehicles and you’ll discover that not all seat anchors are installed the same. Some manufacturers place their anchors so deep within the fold that it’s a hassle to lock in a child’s seat; not so with the LS 500h. Not only are they easily accessible, but the leather flap that covers the seat fold is a nice, classy touch. I don’t necessarily think the flaps needed the child safety seat emblems but perhaps it’s a regulatory requirement and it does indicate exactly where the anchors are place. Definitely a plus for parents.
A Safety System to Write Home About – Both Lexus and Toyota earn top marks for their safety systems but it certainly feels like that system is best implemented in vehicles like the LS 500hs. The Lexus Safety System+ 2.0 is a mouthful but it comes standard and packs all the tried-and-true components: Pre-Collision System with pedestrian Detection, Lane Tracing Assist, Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist, Road Sign Assist, Dynamic Cruise Control and blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert. There is even a parking assist option feature complete with auto braking. Of the safety components I tested, all of them worked with a level of sophistication that you would expect from a luxury car. I particularly like how clear and efficient the rear cross traffic alert system is.
Solid Range on a Single Tank – The LS 500h is a hybrid so it’s a no brainer that the vehicle should get a solid range on a single tank of gas. How does 510 miles in the city and 688 miles on the highway strike you? Not bad, huh? I never had to fill up once during my week of test driving the 500h and I drive a total of 60 miles to and from work every day, including trips to the sitter for Zoë. I often travel to Austin to visit the in-laws and in a huge state like Texas, that 688 mile range for highway driving means I could get to from Dallas to Austin and back on one tank of gas. Not too shabby.
Where this Dad gives the Lexus LS 500hs a down-vote
A Confusing State of Hybrid – The non-hybrid version of the LS 500 comes with a 416-hp twin-turbo V6 engine, which would have seemed adequate to pair with an electric motor. But Lexus opted for a 295-hp Atkinson-cycle 3.5-liter V-6 that, together with two electric motors, produces 354 horsepower. It’s efficient enough for most road ventures but difficult to ignore that that power output lags behind other luxury hybrids. Where things get confusing is in Lexus’ choice of a Multistage CVT transmission; it’s a multistage transmissions system because it’s a combination of a CVT transmission and four-speed traditional transmission that work together to create a 10-speed automatic drive experience. I enjoyed the ride for the most part and never felt like I lacking any power. However, what puzzles me is the added weight that all this fancy-pants technology adds to the car. The LS 500h is 300 pounds heavier than the 500 and only gets a few more miles to the gallon then the base 500 model. 31 mpg seems awfully “middle-of-the road” for a vehicle as expensive as this hybrid.
Luxury Pricing – Speaking of expensive, you’ll need to undoubtedly dip into your child’s college fund to afford the fully stacked LS 500h. Starting at around $83,000 the all-wheel drive hybrid version of the LS 500h isn’t too far off from the standard non-hybrid model. But start adding on additional safety features, the Mark Levinson 23-speaker sound system and that swanky Executive Package and watch the price tag tick up. Our review model came fully loaded with basically everything Lexus offers on the LS 500h bringing the price tag to a whopping $117,840. The majority of that hefty cost is the Executive package at $23,060. Because hey, who doesn’t want a four-zone climate concierge system.
Backseat Touchscreen – A component of that Executive Packages mentioned above is the inclusion of a 7.0” Touchscreen controller placed in the adjustable rear-center armrest. Honestly, I was on the fence about this piece of integrated technology. On one hand it super cool that rear passengers can use the screen to control their individual climates and operate massage features. It’s got a futuristic feel to it and if I was a lucrative CEO, this is the type of vehicle I would want to be driven around in. Back in reality, however, the rear console touchscreen doesn’t really fall in the category of “must-have’ for the average driver, let alone the average dad driver.
Riding Classy
I always assumed there was an opposite term on the spectrum for the phrase “ridin’ dirty” and that phrase is undoubtedly “riding classy,” which appropriately sums up the 2020 Lexus LS 500h. It’s some of the best luxury you can find driving a sedan and while this hybrid version doesn’t exactly overwhelm with cost-saving excitement, it can certainly take you farther on less gas. There should be no shade thrown towards the dad driver that can afford the hefty price tag this beauty comes with but I can say one thing for certain: whoever gets driven around in the back seat of that dad driver’s 500h should count themselves lucky.
Phillip is a filmmaker, an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and craft beer aficionado. He writes about cars, car tech, and various other cool Dad things. He lives, works and plays in Dallas, Texas.
