2008 Lexus LS 600h L Test Drive

High-End Hybrid

Lexus' LS 600h L hybrid is a paradoxical marvel: a green machine with extreme power and a lofty price.

The thought of a six-figure hybrid, a word that typically elicits thoughts of economical Priuses, might seem oxymoronic. But among those who buy a Prius are people who could afford any car but have chosen technology and eco-friendliness over brute force and ostentation. The Lexus LS 600h L plays to this set.

Whether a 438-horsepower sedan that has a 21 mile-per-gallon combined city/highway fuel-consumption rating is a true green machine is debatable. Lexus has decided that the supersedan market doesn’t need yet another V12, but that it might respond to a machine of such super-tech and seeming concern for the environment that it would be unique in the segment.

See Lexus LS 600h L specs

The German and English luxury carmakers can boast of 12-cylinder engines with enormous horsepower, but only the Japanese can point to the hugely complex technology that seamlessly combines a gasoline engine and electric motors to produce substantial thrust — torque —while using less energy and exhaling far fewer fumes.

The LS 600h L is the only Super Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEV) among all luxury sedans, and its exhaust is 70 percent cleaner than the closest direct competitor, the Audi A8 L.

The LS 600h L is a long-wheelbase, all-wheel-drive limo with a relatively thrifty V8 gasoline engine plus two electric motors linked to a sophisticated, continuously variable transmission — which doesn’t have gears, but rather a variable chain or belt that approximates gear ratios. The V8 on its own has ample power to propel this two-and-a-half-ton Lexus along interstates at take-me-to-jail speeds.

Floor the gas pedal and one of the electric motors kicks in to add its considerable torque for acceleration. The second electric motor and generator are dedicated to battery charging and starting the gas engine.

Compare the Lexus LS 600h L to its competitors

Merge into a bumper-to-bumper freeway commute and you’ll go all the way from Malibu to Hollywood almost entirely on volts: The gas engine goes to sleep if the LS 600h L is stopped or doing less than about 35 miles per hour under very light throttle. The engine will imperceptibly reawaken periodically to recharge the batteries.

Whether the additional 58 hp and hybrid bragging rights are worth an astounding $47,000 premium over the otherwise-identical Lexus LS 460 L (whose conventional V8 gasoline engine puts out 380 hp and gets an estimated 21 mpg on average) will determine whether or not Lexus sells the 2,000 LS 600h Ls that it intends to bring to the U.S. annually.