Automobile shoppers can get a taste of the F1 gas-hybrid future today—by driving the new Lexus GS 450h sedan.
While it'll never compare with Formula 1 cars for speed, this gas-electric hybrid provides race-car-like acceleration and luxurious appointments in the same package.
The Hermes of Hybrids
Slip behind the wheel of this $55,000 machine, and "hybrid" will be the first—and last—thoughts that come to mind. First you'll note, with geeky chic, that the car has not a tachometer but a "kW" gauge for—that's right—kilowatts. A display near the 160 mph speedometer shows a battery in various stages of charge. The center console's screen will toggle to hybrid mode and display your energy consumption.
And consume you will. Ever so gently depress the accelerator and the GS will stalk silently to 15 mph on full electric mode. But mash the go pedal, and five Mississippi's later you're passing 60 mph—a fraction of this car's top speed—and looking for gobs of open pavement ahead for decidedly un-environmental antics.
See, the GS 450h is perhaps the purest expression of power harnessed for the "no compromises" side of the hybrid ledger. Toyota mated a high-output, electric motor-generator rated at 197 horsepower with a 297-horsepower, 24-valve, 3.5-liter gasoline engine to yield the Hermes of hybrids, a 339-horsepower brute (don't ask; Toyota wizardry at work here) that motivates this 4,100-pound luxury sedan.
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