2024 Lexus LM350h review

Writing a review of a car while simultaneously testing it would normally be highly inadvisable, and not even a task we’d confidently undertake in a prototype autonomous-drive vehicle.

Yet it’s the essential, and perfectly safe, method for assessing the Lexus LM – the Japanese brand’s first ever people-mover. Or VIP-mover as it might be more accurately described.

Creating an alternative mode of posh transport to the LS limo that put the Japanese brand on the executive-car map in 1989, consider the Toyota Alphard-based LM a direct challenger to Mercedes-Benz’s V-Class, and a competitor to upmarket SUVs such as the Range Rover.

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Fittingly, it’s an LS that provides the old-school service for a relatively short drive to Sydney airport before we’re met at the Melbourne end by another chauffeur with the LM “Luxury Mover”.

I’m not sure we’ve ever described a Lexus vehicle design as quirky, though this seems the most suitable adjective for the LM. It’s an unusual-looking vehicle with its long-body-stubby-nose silhouette, creased sheetmetal, and large, bluff grille that alone is quite a vision. It’s got presence, we’ll give it that.

Our transport is a LM350h AWD Sports Luxury, which costs from $165,888 before on-road costs. A front-wheel-drive version is available for five-grand less, both featuring a seven-seater (2-2-3) layout.

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In early 2024, a $220,888 LM500h Ultra Luxury flagship will arrive, offering not only a more powerful hybrid drivetrain but a four-seat, first-class-style layout that the Roys would no doubt approve of.

It features two rear ‘VIP thrones’, a 48-inch widescreen display with 23-speaker Mark Levinson sound system, and a glass barrier that can block out the chauffeur for absolute privacy.

We’re not looking to succeed anyone any time soon, so I’m happy to climb in the middle row of the business-class six-seater without looking for someone to fire. Although a ‘downgrade’ from the LM500h, the 350h’s interior still provides a private-jet ambience in the central row.

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Lexus Australia set up a different type of vehicle launch designed to replicate a typical LM experience.

Not only is the LM joining the Lexus On Demand fleet – which Encore Platinum and electric Lexus owners can pick from for up to eight-day loans four times a year – but our destination is the Jackalope Lexus Encore partner hotel, set in the heart of the Mornington Peninsula’s vineyard region.

Encore members staying at the hotel, for example, would enjoy benefits including complimentary sparkling wine (served in their room on arrival), room upgrade when available, complimentary use of the hotel’s Lexus car service (within 15km radius), customised spa treatment, and earlier check-in and late check-out where possible.

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2024 Lexus LM500h interior

A double-step entry provides convenient access, via the electric sliding side doors, to the leather/urethane captain’s chairs occupying the centre section.

Each chair is equipped with switches for extensive adjustment of backrest-rest reclines (up to 63 degrees) and footrest extension, and a touch control pad for climate control, audio, lighting, seat heating/ventilation/massage, and window and roof shades.

Not all comfort measures are visible. Lexus engineers placed rubber bushes between the seat and floor to reduce vibrations.

Alternatively, most of these functions can be controlled via physical buttons/switches on a stretched overhead console, either side of which are a people-mover interpretation of skylights.

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2024 Lexus LM500h interior

In addition to the stretch-out legroom there’s acres of headroom enabled by the van-like body style.

A couple of features are secreted in each chair’s plumply padded arm: a pop-out cupholder on the right side and a pull-out airplane-style table on the left. There’s just no-one serving hot food and beverages. Both the arms and footrest include Lexus-first heating functions.

For Zoom meetings or visual entertainment, a monitor drops down out of the overhead console and comes with an HDMI connector.

In addition to the stretch-out legroom there’s acres of headroom enabled by the van-like body style.

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The wide cabin and flat floor allow business bags to be placed between the seats without interfering with footrests.

Panoramic side windows and plenty of space between the front headrests also provides excellent outward vision. Or block out the side view with shades.

Third-row occupants aren’t ignored, either. After accessing the last set of seats via buttons that control the electric slide (up to 480mm) and tilt of the captain’s chairs, they get their own window blinds, USB-C port, vents and cupholders.

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It’s quiet in the rear. Wind noise is never intrusive on the freeway, the drivetrain is rarely vocal, and tyre rumble, even on coarser surfaces, is impressively subdued.

The ride is mostly smooth, though not always exemplary. We later learn our journey down was driven with the LM in Rear Comfort, a mode that slackens the variable damping with the intention of extra suppleness but instead creates occasional bounciness.

After temporarily living the life of Riley – who may or may not have been a Lexus owner – at Jackalope for the night, it’s our turn behind the wheel the next morning.

The LM covers a sizeable 5.1m x 1.9m footprint, is nearly two metres tall, and weighs between 2.3 and 2.5 tonnes.

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2024 Lexus LM500h

That’s all thankfully disguised from behind the wheel, at least on the country roads our relatively short drive was limited to.

The LM remains sufficiently upright travelling around corners on 80km/h roads, and the brakes are easy to modulate and provide good slowing force.

There’s a touch of vagueness around the steering’s straight-ahead position but it’s otherwise light and smooth nature makes it simple for guiding the LM’s direction.

The driving position has more in common with a van than a limo, though that contributes to a commanding view out. Front-seat comfort is also exceptional. Longer-legged chauffeurs, however, might prefer steering wheel telescopic adjustment that extends further out.

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There's a head-up display to help keep eyes on the road. The digital infotainment and instrument displays look dated compared with the slick and sophisticated offered by almost every other luxury-car brand, and even plenty of mainstream car makers.

The LM350h’s series-parallel hybrid drivetrain – combining a 2.5-litre petrol engine with an electric motor up front (and a rear motor for our AWD model), Lexus says combined maximum power is 184kW.

Power jumps to 273kW in the LM500h that teams its electric motors with a 2.4L turbo petrol engine with almost double the torque (460Nm v 239Nm) of the normally aspirated 2.5L.

Fuel consumption is highly unlikely to be a decisive factor in an LM purchase decision, but for the record the official figures are economical – between 5.5 and 6.6 litres per 100km.

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At least all the motors help make the LM350h quite effortless to drive

Out of a city environment, it’s virtually impossible to drive the LM on its electric motors alone. At least all the motors help make the LM350h quite effortless to drive, though, when more acceleration is required, the drone from the CVT puts the only major blot on the Lexus’s refinement copybook.

A torque converter auto mated to an inherently smoother and stronger V6 would seem a better combination for linking with the electric motors, even if the typical LM buyer will only care about what's behind the front seats.

Behind the rearmost seats, there’s no space for airport luggage if all seats are in use – just a paltry 110 litres that will take a couple of bags.

If not needed, the LM350h’s third row has a power-folding set-up to create nearly 1200 litres of luggage space. There’s a 752-litre luggage capacity in the four-seater LM500h.

It’s back into the middle row for the return to the airport, where I started tapping out this review – with the highly rare, over-riding thought that, in the Lexus LM, the back seat is exactly where I want to be.