Lexus RX test drive since 2008 SUV
Hybrid Lexus RX450H
Lexus RX450H is far from RX350 with batteries. He does not have a cardan, a variator instead of automatic transmission and three engines instead of one ... a hybrid is made in Japan on the island of Kosya at a separate factory for the 450th factory. The Japanese say that in the world there is no longer a single same autonomous production of hybrids ... Workers here are forbidden to have pockets and dirt on boots. You can not wear metal objects and generate static electricity. And the details for the assembly come through an air gateway, as at a space station. There is no dust inside the plant. More precisely, it is absolutely absent there, because the word is not enough to describe this picture. All balanced particles fly away under the influence of traction specially created by areas of increased and reduced pressure. There is no dust and there is no marriage of body parts. (They really believe in it! As a person who visited all the Soviet car factories, I am struck.) The stamping workshop is finally delivered from particles of 20 microns with a three -meter water curtain.
There is no noise here. The concept of the plant sounds: silence and purity. For the sake of eliminating unnecessary sounds, the pneumatic instrument was replaced by an electric and chain drive of the conveyor with a system with polyurethane bushings. In silence, the workers concentrate more on their duties, overload the hearing less and fasterly capture extraneous sounds that can signal the problem. The sounds made when connecting the connectors sound more clearly, the Japanese say. This information is already enough for any owner Lexus RX450H to justify the money given to the hybrid.
The interior is functional: multimedia screen at eye level, and the box lever is conveniently raised
There is no tachometer here. Instead of it, the economy meter shows how correct you are
Pickled alive
Lexus RX450H car or toy? They love to call him in automobile magazines, but toys in such factories do not. Even if you bought it as entertainment nothing will work out. You will play enough in a couple of days. I quickly stopped monitoring the picture where the energy in graphic form rushes between batteries, electric motors and a gasoline unit. All the same, she lives her own life. No matter how you try, but you can’t change anything. To reduce gasoline's consumption less than 10 liters per hundred will not work. I tried. This is a serious test. I tried not to press the gas pedal more than half of its move, otherwise the indicator of instant fuel consumption took off to 20 liters. But how to overtake Daewoo Nexia with this approach with this approach, which rides 100 km/h if your speed is 2 km more? When I completed this maneuver, the column of the unfortunate, gathered from behind, was no longer angry, they looked pickled alive. When I finally went to the full power of all three engines, and this is 300 liters. with., Happiness spilled over the body of a wide river. In the hybrid in the front are two units (gasoline and electric) and one behind (electric). The gasoline V6 did not just migrate here with the RX350, it was modernized, slightly increasing power and volume, and transferred to the Atkinson cycle from the Otto cycle for economy. The electric motor, installed behind, serves as the basis for the full drive, therefore there is no cardan.
The indicatments of the speedometer displayed on the windshield former military technology
Pleasant thickness
Due to massive batteries, it was not possible to maintain a normal road clearance. Only 170 mm remains. Therefore, I moved off the asphalt for a while, remembering that the nozzle of the hybrid, RX350, was completely disappointed on the off -road. When the first hill was behind, I stopped being careful. The hybrid rides remarkably along the crossed terrain, alternately hanging the wheels. Does not cry and does not twitch. The 4x4 system works excellently. An electric motor on the rear axle is a thing!
Hybrid Lexus can imitate inter -axle locks much better than a regular
RX450H is instilled slowly to track and take measures
There are a lot of differences between RX350 and RX450H. What is there: these are two completely different cars. And not only on off -road. On the asphalt, it is better than the RX350 he reacts more adequately to the driver’s commands. RX450H weighs more, but at the same time faster for one second. This is destroyed by him. You can not make a rocket out of a comfortable parking lot, this is too much for a similar chassis. With a sharp acceleration, the hybrid scours, leaves the trajectory, requires steering. Featers are noticeable during maneuvers and vagnity in corners.
As a RX450H toy quickly bothers how the road cruiser is inferior to 350th, and with all the splendor of the electricity, it does not always have enough road clearance in off-road. At the same time, it was created for pleasure in the silence and purity of the island of Kosya, and this is worth a lot. And the thoroughly selected thickness of the RX450H handles causes pleasant tactile sensations. This is official information, and it bribes.
Author: Dmitry Leontyev, photo of Alexander Ortnova-Baranov
Source: Magazine 4x4 [January /2010]
