A Convenient Truth

Caring for the environment generally means standing outside in the pouring rain waiting for the bus that may never come, donning cycle clips, or perhaps taking to the wheel of a Toyota Prius and having to explain Mother Earth¡¯s plight every time you park at a client¡¯s office. But now Lexus, at the forefront of hybrid technology, brings the machine that requires no explanation: the GS 450h.

Lexus is the luxury arm of Toyota, which brought the car industry kicking and screaming into the 21st Century with the noble Prius. Cameron Diaz, George Lucas and Leonardi Dicaprio all jumped on board, but they are so famously wealthy they are immune from the judgements of peers.

The rest of us need to make more effort to look the part and still show we care, and it doesn¡¯t hurt to have a comfortable, luxurious car in the process. And Lexus is one of very few catering to this market with hybrid cars that don¡¯t look like golf buggies.

Following hot on the heels of the R400h, the environmentally friendly SUV, comes the GS 450h ¨C the world¡¯s first high performance hybrid saloon.

Under the bonnet of this sleek, big car that will grab the right kind of attention when it turns up to a meeting is a conventional 3.5-litre, V6 petrol engine delivering 292bhp is supplemented by an electric motor powered by a battery pack in the boot, which adds another 197bhp. That¡¯s a lot of power, so although it says environmentally friendly on the tin, there¡¯s a bit of a twist in the tail.

The GS 450h can run for just 2km in electric only mode, but then the petrol engine kicks in giving the car a chance to recharge its batteries through regenerative braking. There are other neat touches, too, like the engine shutting off and then restarting when it¡¯s time to pull away at traffic lights. This is a car full of ingenious tricks and many will crop up in rival machines in the coming months and years.

Working in combination the actual total output from the two powerplants is 335bhp, as you don¡¯t get all of the electric engine¡¯s power in combination wit the full Monty from the petrol, but it is enough to propel the GS 450h to 62mph in 5.9s and on to an electronically limited top end speed of 155mph.

It's deceptively quick, too: as the engine is so quiet and smooth, even under hard acceleration and with a seamless CVT automatic gearbox, acceleration is utterly effortless. There are no uncouth noises, no squirming torque-steer, no roars to the redline and very little to indicate quite how fast the car can be, bar the blurring of the scenery and the needle of the speedo.

Everything is finger light and while the Lexus is quick, it is all about the relaxed ride and has relatively few sporting pretensions.