2009 Lexus GS450h hybrid
Categories: Car Reviews
Written By: admin
When you’re driving the Lexus GS450h hybrid in traffic, you can’t help but think: what do the owners of all those Prii (still not sure what the plural of Prius really is…) think around you of this stylishly slinky sedan? Are they envious, hoping one day to graduate to its sybaritic cockpit? Or are they dismissive; after all, what is the purpose of a ‘performance hybrid’, which is what Lexus told us when they released it in 2006.
Frankly, I don’t care. It’s so sweet to drive: serene and super quiet at all times; powerful and authoritative when needed (0-60 in 5.5 seconds, 14.1 in the quarter according to Car and Driver). And no matter how hard I pushed it, I couldn’t get it to drop below 20mpg on the trip computer. Exercising restraint, it was easy to achieve mid-to-high 20s; and on a highway run or two I got the GSh up over 30mpg.
Quite astonishing for a 4100-pound sled with all the lashing of luxury any hard-charging exec could desire. The buff-book boys at C&D and the like were turned off by its feel-free steering and lack of interactive dynamics. While I wouldn’t refute them, I would humbly suggest that this Lexus isn’t a performance sedan in the BMW sense, more a sophisticated and stylish premium car in the American tradition. About the only real chinks in its armor is a flinty ride over road blemishes like potholes and transverse ridges (thank the skinny run-flat tires) and a small trunk (due to the battery pack and associated cooling hardware). The government ratings for the GS450h are 22mpg city and 25mpg highway, which—for once—I’d say might be conservative.
THE BROKER’S VIEW: Though there won’t be much in the way of government incentives for this hybrid, at least it routinely holds its trade-in value (as compared to the RX400h) very well. On average, a two-year old GS hybrid with 38k miles on it goes through the auction for $32,800, about 57% of a new one’s 2009 sticker price. That’s the same percentage as for a similarly equipped, V6-powered GS350 (which is $8k less new, and is doing $28,200 at auction).
Oddly enough, the V8-propelled GS430 trumps them both, retaining a very high 62% of what a new one’s MSRP would be. The hybrid gets better mileage than the eight, and is faster than the six, so it strikes me as a good value in a gas-electric vehicle.
Price as tested: $64,784
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