I Drove The New Lexus RZ, And I Have Mixed Feelings

I like the Lexus RZ. It’s everything a nice electric car should be: it’s quick, it’s quiet, it’s got solid materials, and now, it has even better range and power. What’s not to love, right? The stuff the RZ gets right, it really nails. The latest Lexus EV feels very premium; it looks it, and it doesn’t shove its EV-ness in your face. That last point is important; otherwise I feel like the car is talking down to me about how cool and new and electric and better-than-thine-gas-engine it is. Turns out, a few things are still wrong with it. These hang-ups left me feeling like the substantial run of changes for 2026 were a little half-done. The ball got dropped at the goalline, so to speak.

Lexus Makes The RZ Even Better For 2026

2026’s changes are underneath the RZ’s body. The EV’s base model is now the RZ350e, not that anyone will notice it used to be called the RZ300e. What matters is an extra 20 horsepower for a total of 221 horsepower and another 34 miles of EPA-estimated range (301 total).

Then there’s the RZ450e. It gets the same 308 horsepower as last year, but adds a whopping 40 miles of range for a total of 264 miles. The top-tier RZ550e F Sport is all new for 2026, and adds some serious sportiness and power I’m not so sure this car needed. With bolstered seats you’d expect to find in an LFA, the new all-wheel drive trim delivers 402 horsepower and 229 miles of range. Finally, all-new RZs get an updated 11-kilowatt on-board AC charger and a NACS (North American Charging System) charging port that’ll deliver quicker charging and DC fast-charging at Tesla‘s Superchargers.

Lexus Tries To Ape Hyundai And Fails

Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N is the bar for fast EVs right now, and it’s one everyone is at least keen to emulate, if not clear. Though not a full-fledged F model (Lexus’ moniker for its most sporting cars), the RZ550e F Sport still tries its best to deliver a similar sporty crossover EV vibe. It misses the mark in a few key ways. For one, its “M Mode,” which provides synthetic shifts as you’d get in a gas car, isn’t as fun nor as convincing as the Hyundai‘s. While the sporty bolstered seats hold you in and the blue accents convince you there’s more to come, the rest of the experience falls flat. The steering is numb and the brakes too mushy, but 400+ horsepower is tough to get wrong, and the Lexus at least has speed going for it.

Its sporty intentions aside, the RZ also does not feature true one-pedal drive, which in an EV with a majority of its lineup below the 300-mile mark, is perhaps not a great idea. It’s free range being left on the table, and while the RZ lets you add a bit of regen in by tugging the left paddle, stopping halfway is an analogy for the whole F Sport thing.

The Rest Of The RZ Lineup Is More Appetizing

More puzzling decisions follow you inside. The worst of these are the touch controls on the steering wheel. These don’t actually have any indication of what function they operate, because clever engineers have decided you can change all that with another button on the wheel to allow many of the car’s functions to be manipulated with the same controls. Cool idea, but the display disappears partly when you’re wearing polarized glasses and the wheel’s touch panels lag, often requiring multiple taps to do something like skipping a track.

Thankfully, the rest of this interior picks up the slack. I found the puddle lighting projected onto the door card to be a very unique, cool way of introducing more light into the interior rather than the cheap RGB PC-Gamer lighting strips so many other automakers use. Everything feels great to touch, and the double-hinged center console is another nice touch, even if there is no glovebox. In short, this feels like a $60,000 Lexus.

Speaking of storage, the RZ lacks compared to similarly-priced rivals. The Mach-E features more total cargo volume, while the Rivian R2 is simply cavernous in comparison. Incidentally, both feature media interfaces that work a bit better.

The RZ Is Good, But Some EVs Are Great

The RZ does some things very well. Its sound system, materials, ride quality, and looks are all deserving of the Lexus badge. The added power is a total game-changer for the model, which floundered a bit when so many other EVs offer gobs of power. In some ways, though, it still does. The Rivian R2, which will be similarly priced, trounces this in terms of power (top trims will have more than 600 hp), range, and its tech. Others offer a bit more space, too.

At the end of the day, the most this Lexus EV has going for it is luxury. It nails that, as Lexus has done for more than 25 years. But the rest? Room for improvement. Despite the floor falling out of EV demand in the US, there are still so many good options out there, it’s hard to justify the Lexus just because it’s nice inside, even if I like the thing.

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