The interior of the Lexus LC500h has deeply bolstered seats upholstered in Rioja Red leather.
You know you are driving a special car when other drivers camp out in your blind-spot as if it’s an observation deck.
That happened to us a lot as we drove the Lexus LC500h, the hybrid version of the Japanese luxury brand’s new-for-2018 sports coupe.
Before we parked the LC500h due to inclement weather earlier this week, it had proved to be a magnet for gawkers. With its sexy lines and outrageously flared rear wheel-wells, our jet black LC500h felt like the Batmobile. (But it differs in an important way. Batman’s ride, a modified Lincoln Futura concept car with a Cold War-era V-8, didn’t get 35 mpg highway.)
If your idea of hybrid design begins and ends with the Pinewood Derby-like lines of Toyota Prius, then you are about 20 years behind the times. The LC500h has more curves than the W Road.
And underneath that gorgeous sheet metal, there’s a 4,521-pound grand touring sports car that weighs as much as some mid-size SUVs. Driving all that mass is a 3.5-liter V-6, gas-powered engine augmented by an electric motor that draws energy from a 44.6 kilowatt battery. Together, the two power sources make 354 horses.