The luxury new fully electric 2023 Lexus RZ 450e makes a beautiful and understated five-seater family SUV. With a range of up to 470km, it's a practical battery size for most family life. Let's see how it fares as a BabyDrive and put it through our family car testing…
Let's start with the child seats… in the back of the Lexus RZ 450e, there are ISOFIX points in the two outer rear seats. They're not within plastic guides but are lovely and easy to connect to.
There are top tether anchorages on the back of all three seatbacks that are easy to connect to through the boot.
I was able to fit three InfaSecure child seats easily across these rear seats. I installed the rear-facing Infasecure Adapt More infant capsule, the Momentum More and the Achieve More child seats both forward-facing.
Legroom is really good in the Lexus RZ 450e and we could easily fit a 186cm driver in front of the rear-facing Infasecure Adapt More infant capsule and taller passengers in front of the forward-facing Montemum and Attain More child seats.
Storage in the back of the Lexus RZ is really good. There's a fold-down in the central seat back with two cupholders that will hold a reusable or disposable coffee cup…
… and map pockets on the back of both front seats that will hold and conceal an iPad. There are USB-C sockets and a 12V socket in the back of the central console box too so you can charge rear passengers' devices while travelling, which is great if your kids watch on tablets in the car.
The rear door bins are a good size, and they'll hold a refillable water bottle, and there are storage handle wells, too.
There are air-con vents in the back of the central console box in the RZ, which are fantastic for keeping parents' little passengers at the right temperature while driving along.
Storage in the front of the Lexus RZ 450e is good too. There are two cupholders in the central console, they'll hold a reusable or disposable coffee cup…
… and in front of them is a wireless phone charging pad with three USB-C ports as well.
Behind the cup holders is a good-sized central console box, that allows the front passengers can open the lid from either side.
There's a good-sized storage shelf underneath the central console. This is a good spot for putting your phone or an iPad will fit there and there's a 12-volt charging socket there too.
Now there is no glove box in the Lexus RZ 450e. The area where this usually is is instead a panel for infrared individual passenger heating designed to give the feeling of a cosy blanket over your lap on cold days.
There is a glasses case in the ceiling…
… and the front door bins are bigger in size; they'll hold a refillable water bottle, and there's room for an iPad too. The doors have little storage handle wells, too. So passengers have plenty of storage.
The media system in the 2023 Lexus RZ 450e has a large touch screen and most things are controlled through there. Â There is wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which makes accessing your Apps on your phone while driving so easy.
The RZ 450e media system also has Sat Nav built-in which I found easy to use…
Within the settings screen, you can customise a lot of things, I particularly like changing the sound settings to volumes our family likes. The climate controls are along the bottom of the screen and are easy to use, you also have heated and cooled front seats and steering wheel controls along there too.
The reversing camera images are lovely and clear. They are nice and simple and easy to use with overhead images too and you can turn the parking sensors off with a button down in the bottom left on the screen.
When it comes to storage in the boot of the 2023 Lexus RZ 450e the boot door opens electronically and with a beep. The parcel shelf is attached to the boot door so it goes up automatically when the boot opens so that it doesn't get in your way. There's also great storage underneath the boot floor. You can put the charging cables underneath there or it's also handy for your kid's beach wear and things like that.
When empty the boot of the Lexus RZ 450e will hold 13 shopping bags, which is comparable to the BMW iX3 and Jaguar i-Pace that also hold 13 shopping bags. The Genesis GV60 holds 12 and the Audi e-Tron holds 15 bags of shopping.
For families with two infants a twin pram fits in the boot of the Lexus RZ 450e with five shopping bags.
The new 6-in-1 Jiffle Wagon fits in the boot of the Lexus RZ 450e in various configurations. The Jiffle Wagon cart fits with six shopping bags.
The Jiffle Wagon with the bassinet attachment fits with no shopping bags, but you can load up to 60 kilos of groceries or baby stuff inside the Jiffle Wagon.
The Jiffle Wagon with its seat fits with four shopping bags.
If your family has a fur baby you'll be pleased to know a medium size dog will fit in the boot of the Lexus RZ 450e.
When it comes to the drive the 2023 Lexus RZ 450e is lovely and smooth and quiet. Being an EV it starts off silently and continues that way for the whole journey. There are some beeps for driver attention and things like that which you can expect but other than those it's a peaceful drive as you don't hear any wind or road noise either.
Visibility is good even with three child seats installed in the back I could see out of that back windscreen which is fantastic.
For those who want more, there is a camera that you can put on for review or front view while you're driving along, which is fantastic.
The turning circle in the 2023 Lexus RZ 450e is lovely and tight, and the steering is really light too which makes parking and maneuvering in tight school and supermarket car parks a breeze. Around town, the RZ 450e is a real pleasure to drive.
The glass sunroof in the 2023 Lexus RZ 450e is magical! You can press a button in the front to turn it to opaque and again to make it transparent. The kids loved this experience and we adults enjoyed it too!
Overall, the new 2023 Lexus RZ 450e is a great luxury electric SUV for families. It is very enjoyable to drive, practical for fitting three Infasecure child seats in the back and the Jiffle Wagon 6-in-1 pram fits comfortably in the boot.
The 2023 Lexus RZ 450e is the first car to get a 2023 five-star ANCAP safety rating and has nine airbags as standard; Dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting airbags, as well as driver and front passenger knee airbags, are standard. A centre airbag, which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes, is also standard.
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