2010 Lexus HS 250h Hybrid Dash Interior Photos
2010 Lexus HS 250h Hybrid Engine Photos
2010 Lexus HS 250h Hybrid Photos
2010 Lexus HS 250h Hybrid Front Photos
2010 Lexus HS 250h Hybrid Back views
2010 Lexus HS 250h Hybrid Hybrid Logo
2010 Lexus HS 250h Hybrid Pictures
The HS 250h is not a gussied-up Prius, and your aboriginal clue is that it looks annihilation like the Toyota hybrid. The Prius was acid by computers to antithesis the best bulk of autogenous amplitude with the slipperiest appearance possible, and the aftereffect is one of the best aerodynamic assembly cars in the apple with a 0.25 accessory of drag. The HS 250h achieves an additionally absorbing but added bashful 0.27 Cd acknowledgment to its added accepted three-box shape. This alpine sedan's design, however, looks a little disproportionate, like a Hot Auto adaptation of the beyond LS.
Despite its size, the HS 250h still exudes an air of big-ticket accord from the outside. Admitting abounding bodies didn't admit what we were driving, no one anticipation it was a Corolla. Credit goes to the affluent acrylic blush options, including the Matador Red Mica adumbration of the car we acclimated to photograph, as able-bodied as the bright Aurora White Pearl of our absolute tester. Likewise, accurately packaged lighting accouterments that includes projector-beam headlamps (optional high-tech LED advanced lamps are available) and LED taillamps let passers by apperceive you aren't agitation a Yaris. Then there are the wheels. Accepted models accept 17-inch breach five-spoke auto while Exceptional models go alike beyond with complex-looking 18-inch breach seven-spoke wheels.
Just like the exterior, the autogenous anon lets you apperceive that you're not sitting in a Prius. The birr architecture is absolutely different, with chic electroluminescent gauges placed appropriate abaft the council caster breadth they should be. The centermost assemblage doesn't ambit out all the way to the centermost armrest as in the Prius, but stops halfway, abrogation a abyss for cupholders and controls for the acrimonious and cooled 10-way adjustable advanced seats. The seats themselves set a accepted for abundance and are draped in the best buttery semi-aniline covering this ancillary of a Bentley, and Lexus array a point of blooming cred for appliance bioplastics to awning 30% of the autogenous and trunk.
There's a lot of tech to booty in already situated, and the odd-looking ambassador at the basal of the centermost birr aloof begs to be played with. Lexus calls its all-in-one ambassador Remote Touch, which is to say it accidentally controls the flip-up nav awning army aerial on the dash. Your approach rests collapsed on the ambassador aloof like a computer mouse, and buttons for assorted controls are aural adequate adeptness of your fingers and thumb. The ambassador moves an arrow about the nav screen, but the absolute ambush is its admittance of haptic feedback, which agency you absolutely feel through the ambassador aback the arrow glides over a button on the screen.
Lexus says its Remote Blow ambassador is safer than a acceptable dash-mounted blow awning because the affectation is army higher, thereby acute beneath eye movement to view. Being akin to a computer awning and mouse, it's accessible to apprentice and bound be adequate with, but such a complicated agreement doesn't feel any safer and absolutely isn't added automatic to use than artlessly affecting a screen.
Along with the avant-garde joystick, buyers can additionally bulk up the HS 250h with the absolute latest infotainment technology. The laundry account of top-shelf tech includes an alternative 15-speaker Mark Levinson stereo; the latest XM accessory radio accouterments bright in programming as able-bodied as traffic, weather, sports and banal info; Bluetooth buzz and audio integration; accidental accent articulation recognition; and the brand's own OnStar-like account alleged Lexus Enform with Assurance Connect. A $3,900 Technology Package additionally adds a heads-up affectation that projects agent speed, audio advice and turn-by-turn admonition on the windshield; radar-based cruise control; park-assist sensors; a pre-collision admonishing system; and a new allotment of tech alleged Lane Accumulate Assist, which we'll get to in a moment.
The HS 250h may accept added technology arranged in its autogenous than a DARPA lab, but demerits are absolutely adapted for the poor user acquaintance aback active in an iPod or iPhone via the USB port. Accomplishing so allows you to allegation the Apple accessory as able-bodied as cantankerous its capacity appliance the Remote Blow ambassador and nav screen. Unfortunately, Lexus has beneath acquaintance designing interfaces than Apple and it shows. It's easier to aloof affix your Apple accouterments via Bluetooth and comedy DJ through the accessory itself. Of course, there are assurance questions airish by demography your easily off the car's controls and attractive at the Apple's baby screen, and you lose the adeptness to allegation your device. On one continued trip, we were affected to about-face and aback alternating amid abutting via USB and Bluetooth because our iPhone was accepting low on juice.
Not continued afterwards we apparent that the HS 250h is annoying to use with our iPhone did we blunder aloft a gem of tech that fabricated us smile again. It's alleged the Wide-View Advanced Monitor and is accessible as a $700 option. It works aloof like a advancement camera, but it's in the advanced and can affectation up to 190 degrees of the apple at advanced bonanza level. It's decidedly accessible aback affairs into parking spots or acclaim nosing out into an circle aback one's appearance of bridge cartage is contrarily blocked. Unlike the advancement camera, the Wide-View Advanced Monitor can be set to appear on any time the car is in Drive and affective advanced beneath 7.5 afar per hour, or manually by acute a button on the lower larboard allotment of the dash. We say leave it on manual, contrarily your nav awning will about-face aback and alternating in alternate cartage like a TV on the fritz.
And aback it comes to examination the aback bumpers of added vehicles, the HS 250h will be accomplishing a lot of that. Its 2.4-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder agent produces 147 appliance at 6,000 rpm and 138 bottom pounds of torque at 4,400 rpm. Being a alongside hybrid, it can additionally alarm in the electric army from a 141-hp electric motor, admitting absolute accumulated ability is bound to 187 hp, all of which makes its way to the advanced auto through a continuously capricious transmission. The Prius can alone aggregation a accumulated absolute ability achievement of 134 hp, so the Lexus should feel like an electric hot rod, right? Nope. An added 640-728 pounds (depending on trim level) of earth-crushing weight is agitated about by the HS 250h. There's a acumen some bodies alarm affluent bodies fat cats, and the above goes for their vehicles, apparently.
That said, the HS 250h will outrace a Prius to 60 afar per hour, 8.4 abnormal to 9.8 seconds. It additionally offers four modes of powertrain pleasure: Normal, Power, Eco and EV. We're bold Lexus recorded its Prius-beating 0-60 mph time appliance Ability mode, which makes the HS 250h feel alone as active and acknowledging as a absolute abundant Corolla. Ability approach should instead be alleged Normal because that's what it best approximates, and Normal and Eco approach should be alleged Eco and Numb. In absolute Eco mode, the burke behaves like a anatomy allotment pumped abounding of Novocain. It's all in the name of accretion MPGs, but durably acute the gas pedal and accepting aback disproportionately beneath ability is a annoying awareness that, for the best part, larboard Eco approach off the table for us.
Finally there's EV mode, which as its name suggests allows the agent to be apprenticed alone on electricity for abbreviate distances. In our experience, "short distances" meant from one driveway to the next... while coasting. About any appliance of the burke will pop the car out of EV mode. The Ford Fusion Amalgam (and now the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, which will anon attempt with the HS 250h) allows authentic EV biking up to 47 mph, which is absolutely advantageous and added importantly, repeatable, at atomic until the array backpack screams "Uncle!" By comparison, EV approach in the HS 250h is a change you'll apparently never use in the absolute world.
You'll eventually appetite to stop and the HS 250h has brakes that are poles afar from the blow of the car's laissez-faire attitude. Whereas the anesthetized accelerator requires your bottom to comedy the allotment of defibrillator paddle, the brakes are absolutely alive and acute to the aboriginal touch. They're regenerative, which agency in accession to arresting motion, they're additionally answerable (ha!) with converting the car's motion into added activity for the array pack. The allocation of these two duties is handled by the cyberbanking controlled anchor (ECB) computer, the arrangement of which is acceptable why the HS 250h's brakes feel afraid underfoot. The regen comes on too anon and too strong, carriage the car bottomward faster than you intend. Aback amalgamate that with the adverse attributes of the throttle, your appropriate bottom feels schizophrenic as you try to accumulate beeline which pedal gets the abutting advance and which the ablaze touch.
We did ascertain an breadth in which the HS 250h excelled on the road, and that's artery cruising. The HS 250h is one of the best effortless cars we've encountered in a beeline line. That may complete like a simple task, but a good, continued alley cruise can be backbreaking in cartage with antsy steering, a aflutter ride and afflictive seats. The HS 250h has seats fabricated for comfort, not corners, and the MacPherson strut advanced abeyance and bifold wishbone rear are alluringly ill-fitted to absorb up amplification joints. The steering, however, is decidedly ideal for continued ambit drives. Toyota has consistently acquired its electric ability steering, and the arrangement in the HS 250h, while never managing to accurately actor absolute acknowledgment from the road, consistently seems to action the appropriate bulk of attrition no bulk the speed.
Particularly absorbing is Lexus' new Lane Accumulate Assist technology. It works with the Lane Departure Admonishing arrangement and Dynamic Radar Cruise Control to absolutely see the lane markers aerial by on either ancillary of the car and increases the bulk of accomplishment appropriate to about-face the caster so it's easier to accumulate the HS 250h on a beeline and attenuated path. This additionally helps adverse cantankerous apprehension that try to agitated the rather alpine sedan's accord on the highway.
So in agreement of ride and comfort, the HS 250h meets the bar set by beyond affluence vehicles. But this is breadth this hybrid's mission gets muddled. The abject bulk of the HS 250h is $34,650. Our accurate tester was the Exceptional trim, which starts at $36,970 and additionally included the above Mark Levinson stereo ($1,580), aeronautics arrangement ($2,125) and Technology Package ($3,900). The sticker bulk was additionally bedlam with $397 account of attic mats. For those after a TI-82 handy, that's a admirable absolute of $45,672, not including a destination and commitment allegation of $875.
Lexus doesn't appetite us comparing the HS 250h to the Prius, but we can't advice it. The Prius starts at $22,800 and if you're hell angled on giving Toyota your money, can be optioned up to about $35,000. Absolutely loaded, the two are about $10,000 afar in price, so the boilerplate customer ability apprehend a adequate bulk of added mpg for the exceptional allowable by the HS 250h. Not quite. How about ammunition ability according to that of the Prius? Not alike close. The Prius leads the alliance with an official EPA appraisement of 51 mpg city, 48 artery and 50 combined. The HS 250h manages a account of 35 mpg city, 34 artery and 35 combined. That's about a 15 mpg arrears on top of allurement $10,000 added for a car that some had hoped would be the absolute Prius.
But again, that's not the mission of the Lexus HS 250h. Best we can tell, this car is for the loyal Lexus client who wouldn't be bent asleep in a Toyota but still wants that oh-so-fresh activity of active a hybrid, behindhand of how able-bodied it absolutely performs in that regard. Unfortunately, Lexus has gone too far aggravating to differentiate the HS 250h, and in the process, it has baby the one affection that makes the Prius such a hot seller: MPGs. Perhaps the cast that claims to accompany accomplishment should accept developed its own adaptation of the absolute Prius.