Lexus LM review

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Can this new ultra-luxury MPV redefine limousine norms for passenger comfort?

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Having tried its hand at what we might call traditional premium-brand model segments for so long, Lexus is currently taking a swing at something different.

‘Model diversification’ is the process in which its marketers would tell you it is engaged. With a range now full of SUVs, the company clearly isn’t about to abandon the mainstream. And yet even here, with cars like the UX, NX and RZ, we can see that it is intent on offering something a little different compared with the European premium brands, rather than battling for the middle ground.

With its lower-volume, higher-margin models in particular, we might see even bolder moves in future, and the arrival of this road test subject into European markets is a clear sign of that.

The Lexus LM is the company's new ‘luxury mover’: a full-size monocab MPV with a ‘self-charging’ hybrid powertrain and the aim of making inroads into the continent’s various luxury VIP-shuttle micro-niches. It’s here to show this hyper-affluent clientele there’s an alternative to traditional limousine travel, one that is more like how they are used to getting from A to B in their private jets.

‘New’ is a word to treat with some salty pragmatism here, because this is actually the second-generation Lexus LM, following a first that was launched in China and South-East Asian markets in 2020. Both have shared a mechanical basis with the contemporary Toyota Alphard, which will be familiar to some in the UK as an imported large MPV.

However, as we are about to relay, this car represents much more than a badge-engineering exercise, and is not quite the chromed-up luxury van conversion you might take it for. It aims to deliver nothing less than “the pinnacle of luxury” for those on board – and, coming from Lexus, that’s a claim to get your attention. 

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The range at a glance

Models Power From
LM 350h FWD 7-seat 247bhp £89,995
LM 350h AWD 7-seat 247bhp £92,995
LM 350h Takumi AWD 4-seat 247bhp £112,995
e-CVT transmission    

In other global markets, Lexus offers both four- and six-cylinder hybrid powertrains in the LM, but in the UK it’s four-cylinder petrol-electric only, with a choice of seven- and four-seat cabins, and front- or all-wheel drive.

Related Lexus LM reviews

There are two trim levels, even the lower one coming with plenty of equipment (multimedia screens front and rear, heated and ventilated second-row massager seats).But opting for upper-level Takumi gets you two lounge-style reclining rear chairs, a 48in widescreen rear display, and a 23-speaker premium stereo.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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While luxury aftermarket upgrades of passenger-conversion vans like the Mercedes-Benz V-Class and Volkswagen Transporter aren’t new, it is rare to see a car maker like Lexus go at this vehicle concept from a clean sheet.

That is the departure point for the LM. It’s no commercial vehicle adaptation, but instead uses Toyota’s TNGA-K passenger car platform as its foundation (just as the Lexus NX and RX do), which it then specialises to suit a very particular brief.

When you can’t fall back on big wheels or fancy surfacing to lend your luxury car a point of difference, there is always chrome brightwork, which Lexus does rather well, and without looking dated
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

The result may look a little van-like, because at a little over five metres in length and barely under two metres in roof height, with a cabin-forward layout intended to maximise passenger space, what vehicle wouldn’t?

That does leave us with a large, bluff, slab-sided new Lexus to contemplate, though. One priced to overlap with the LS saloon, but without anything like the same kerbside appeal.

Clearly, LM owners aren’t expected to care much about how stylish or desirable this car looks. In fact, claims Lexus, they are likely to be the kind of customers to actively seek out a luxury car in which to keep a low profile (and on whom the irony of that statement may well be lost).

The LM’s chassis is mostly made of high-strength steel, its large passenger doors (conventional up front, sliding and motorised for the second row) made out of lightweight aluminium. It’s a laser-screw-welded monocoque, with structural adhesives chosen to boost rigidity and dampen vibration, and structural bracing in key areas.

Effort has been made to tighten panel gaps that might otherwise admit wind noise; extra noise and vibration insulation is deployed within the engine bay, behind the instrument panel and around the wheelhouses; the upper bonnet and A-pillars are designed to cut wind noise; and acoustic noise-reducing glass is used all around the vehicle.

The LM’s axles are fully independent: struts at the front, with double wishbones at the rear, under steel coils. There’s no ride-enhancing air suspension, then, but Lexus chose instead its Active Variable Suspension dampers, whose stiffness can be actively controlled via solenoids to check pitch, roll and heave. On the LM, and for the first time on any Lexus, these also have passive frequency-selective valving.

For the UK, there is only one powertrain: the 350h petrol-electric option. This combines a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with either one primary electric drive motor (FWD model), or one per axle (AWD, as tested). Although this can be an all-wheel-drive car, its rear wheels have no connection to the combustion engine up front, but are instead powered purely electrically.

INTERIOR

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LM customers can choose between a cabin layout of seven seats, without a central, chauffeuring-style cabin divider, or four seats, with a divider (as tested).

Side window blinds at the rear would be handy for keeping out prying eyes and, since they motor down from the top edge, could also double as sun visors
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

In the case of the cheaper seven-seater, second-row occupant space has been prioritised over that behind (the flip-up third-row chairs are meant for occasional use), and there is more cargo space than the four-seater model offers.

For back-seat passengers in the four-seater, however, every stop has been pulled out to make the travelling experience special. Large sliding side doors and a high roof allow you to step aboard as if into a black cab, and there you find two airline-style reclining lounge chairs.

Having pride of place, they are both heated and ventilated, with no fewer than seven massage programs, and can be adjusted from upright to fully flat if the occupant so chooses.

Lexus doesn’t recommend laying them fully flat while the car is in motion, for safety reasons. To our testers, they felt more comfortable a little way short of horizontal in any case. But they are widely adjustable, thanks to extending footrests, large, supportive headrests, and cushions and squabs that adjust for angle.

Visibility is very good for those in the back thanks to large side windows and glazed skylights (both of which have electric blinds), although our testers did report some sensations of motion sickness with the central glass partition screen in place and made opaque (it is electrochromatic).

The cinematic 48in multimedia display mounted in the central bulkhead will no doubt be the LM’s digital calling card (see Multimedia system, right), but for our money it is the cabin’s lesser features that really delight you. Each rear seat has its own phone-sized touchscreen remote for media control and seat adjustment, plus a wireless charging pad for your own phone, hidden in an armrest cubby.

An airline-style writing table folds out from each seat’s outer armrest, a good-sized drinks chiller is mounted adjacent to the infotainment screen and there are cubbies elsewhere suitable for storing your shoes (or in which you could alternatively keep blankets, or simply the contents of your pockets). The net result really does feel, in principle, like an enveloping, luxurious, first-class travel experience.

Up front – for a driver, who shouldn’t be considered the primary consumer of this car – space is tighter (the driving position is a little perched and van-like, though still comfy), while the luxury trappings and techy titbits are much thinner on the ground. But the LM’s convincing cabin quality and its lavish material richness are both consistent with what is in the back.

 

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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Attaching satellite timing gear to a car like this, when its owner might not have the slightest care how quickly they get to their destination, may seem ridiculous.

And yet the luxury car segment remains one of the most traditional in some ways. There aren’t many players in it who would, even now, seek to meet the expectations of someone spending more than £100k with a powertrain that feels as workaday as this one.

19in wheels on a bodyside like this inevitably look small, but we are rather glad Lexus resisted the urge to fit bigger ones for the sake of appearances. These rims have noise-reducing resonators supplied by Yamaha
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

Most full-size hybrid limousines and big luxury SUVs combine six-cylinder engines with more powerful electric motors to the tune of around 400bhp. And so the LM 350h’s four-cylinder, 247bhp hybrid system looks a bit meagre on paper and – at least as much in the subjective details of its driving experience as in its measurable performance – it all too often feels that way on the road.

The Volkswagen Multivan eHybrid we tested in 2023 was more than a second quicker from 30-70mph but cost little more than half as much.

A rather old-school Toyota/Lexus hybrid in its style of delivery, the powertrain makes the car easy to drive and quiet at urban speeds, and faultlessly smooth. But, in spite of efforts to isolate the engine bay, the car is unmistakably noisy when accelerating at much more than a gentle impetus, the hybrid system plainly lacking the accessible torque to move a 2.3-tonne car beyond about half-throttle without sending the engine’s revs soaring. 

And so it is a key disappointment to find that the LM so frequently feels slow, unresponsive and under-endowed, something appreciable from the back seats almost as clearly as anywhere else. You can see the stark contrast in the 65dBA on-board noise level at a relaxed 50mph cruise (not limo-like but respectable) compared with 78dBA under max power at 90mph (Mercedes S580e 74dBA, BMW i7 eDrive60 69dBA). The truth is that when the car is out of town or even remotely in a hurry, it isn’t nearly refined enough.

In extremis, it stops well enough, but, thanks to the particularly noisy pumps and servos of the brake-by-wire system, not without a lot of commotion and complaint from the engine bay. In normal driving, however, the car’s brake pedal is usefully progressive, easy to modulate and perfectly quiet.

RIDE & HANDLING

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The LM’s height, the length of its wheelbase and the driver’s clear sense of sitting so close to the front of that wheelbase rather than nearer its middle all affect how it handles.

Simply put, and while it must hardly need pointing out, this isn’t an owner-driver type of luxury car. Not only do you feel much more perched up and hemmed in at the controls than you might in a saloon or SUV, you also feel like you’re managing the car’s height and mass through fairly modest tyres, and across fairly narrow axle tracks, just as you might in a van of similar dimensions, funnily enough.

If Tesla, Mercedes or even BMW had made this car, you can bet that second-row video screen would have been crammed with games and media streaming apps. As it is, the 220V mains power outlet in the boot looks made to have a games console connected to it
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

There is greater sophistication about the LM’s ride, just as there should be – and to which we will come. But there is little engaging or enjoyable about the handling of a car with plenty of inertia, slowish steering, slow chassis response and little appreciable agility – much as it isn’t a trying or difficult car to drive.

Soft suspension springing makes the LM list a bit around roundabouts and faster corners, but while you are aware of every degree of roll from the high-set driver’s seat, you’re less bothered by it in the back. Mid-corner grip and stability aren’t undermined by that body roll, though, so while there’s more of it than is typical of a limousine, it doesn’t really become a serious problem. Either way, it is noticeable whether you are driving or not.

Comfort & Isolation

Everything the LM does seems geared to making life better for its VIP passengers, but even here, there are clear limits to its capabilities.

Sit in the back and roll up the acoustic-glass cabin divider screen, and you can certainly hear less of that slightly vociferous hybrid powertrain (testers confirmed that you can hold a normal conversation in the back without the driver hearing it beyond a muffled hum).

On the move, the ride feels supple at low speeds, flows fluently up to about 50mph and remains reasonably well isolated at all times. It’s not waftily serene, though, and nor is it so well filtered of noise and vibration as to make you feel detached from what is passing beneath you. But there is certainly a carefully constructed level of comfort that holds up with modern luxury car standards fairly well.

The LM’s back seats contribute a lot to all of this. They are not pillowy-soft, but they’re supportive and keep your body from sliding around without eschewing cushioned absorption entirely.

Up front, you can feel the impact of Lexus’s intriguing Rear Comfort driving mode when it’s selected. It seems to soften the front-axle damping slightly, as if to use it 
as some kind of motion damper, while the rear is held more level.

More widely, the LM’s close pitch control under power and braking is very good, but, being a high-set heavy vehicle, it does suffer with more head toss and lateral cabin movement over uneven country roads than a lower saloon might.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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UK prices for the LM open at just under £90,000, rising to nearly £113,000 for a four-seat, fully loaded Takumi model. You get a very well-equipped car whichever grade you opt for, the only options being paint colour and interior upholstery (neither of which comes at a cost).

While a lot of money, that’s not unprecedented pricing for a big luxury MPV, the LM being similarly positioned to Mercedes’ all-electric EQV. Long-wheelbase, upper-tier, four-wheel-drive versions of the Volkswagen ID Buzz may not be a great deal cheaper when they arrive in the UK later this year.

With both of those rivals, of course, the tax advantages of a fully electric powertrain might be used to offset the high purchase price – and clearly can’t with the LM. Then again, neither rival offers anything like the passenger experience of the Lexus. If your clients expect the comfiest seats and the most luxurious treatment – and will pay for both – the LM’s price may be fairly easily justified.

VERDICT

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This might be exactly the luxury car you have been waiting for – and, if so, it must have felt a long time coming.

As SUVs have eaten into the limousine market, they have failed to revolutionise the travelling experience for those being driven in them. But if something that feels properly built around the back seats would get your vote instead - and, more importantly, your £113k - this car should be very welcome indeed.

Lexus claims the LM is the first passenger car in the world to offer individual voice command functionality to each second-row seat (for climate and infotainment control). Asking it “can I have a fully electric LM” won’t get you very far, though.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

The LM’s lures and selling points are as clear as they are unrivalled. For our money, however, it falls some way short of the rounded, multifaceted appeal of a truly world-class limo saloon or grand tourer. Plush and expansive in the back, and fitted out like nothing else, it would do short-hop luxury transportation exceptionally well.

But it doesn’t have a powertrain or chassis suited to longer-range use, or even to mixed commuting, much as this may not be an issue for those swanning to and from their exclusive hotel or Gulfstream jet.

Even within its own micro-niche, there would have been room for Lexus to have made a more desirable, more imaginative, better-driving car than this. Arguing that “only the driver will care” seems a poor excuse not to.

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Tesla Roadster, Ariel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren Senna, Renault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.