The most attractive thing about the Lexus HS 250h is the sheer perversity of it. It's a luxury car with all the indulgence that implies — power everything, dead cow covering the heated and ventilated seats, and a sound system so good it has the car's occupants believing Lalo Schifrin is up on the dash directing the Warner Bros. Orchestra.
On the other hand, it's a hybrid and that implies the asceticism of self-denial and recyclable body panels made from flax seed. So at its core, the HS 250h, introduced during 2009 as a 2010 model, is a push-me-pull-you internal contradiction. But in this crazy, cuckoo, mixed-up world, the Lexus HS 250h may just be the sort of internal contradiction with which a lot of us can live.
While Lexus has offered hybrid versions of its GS and LS sedans and RX crossover, the Lexus HS 250h is the brand's first full hybrid. Unrelated to any other Lexus, the HS 250h isn't just a Prius with fancier decorations either. It rides on a front-drive platform that, at least in part, is shared with the European-market Toyota Avensis.
The parallel hybrid drivetrain system consists of a four-cylinder Atkinson-cycle internal combustion engine that runs alongside a battery-fed electric motor and both feed a continuously variable transmission. It's the front wheels that are driven. And though it may be a hybrid, the Lexus HS 250h is no lightweight as it punishes roads with just about 3,700 pounds of crushing weight.
Of course the Lexus HS 250h features all the usual hybrid fuel-saving technologies. The batteries charge themselves through regenerative braking and the internal combustion engine will turn itself off at stop signs. But it's also a Lexus, and except for the occasionally disconcerting engine whirr that comes from being hooked to a CVT transmission, this car has all the spooky silence expected of a Lexus. The Lexus HS 250h isn't the hybrid to buy if what you're after is an unconventional driving experience.
And that's the bottom line with the Lexus HS 250h. Internally conflicted hybrid that it is, it's first and foremost a Lexus.
