Hybrids especially performance hybrids are the automotive equivalent of breakfast for dinner as the business makes the transition into electric cars. They are also charming in their own right, although they may be heavier and more complicated than sports cars.
So we collected up the four-sport hybrids having the most performance to see which is better. Each, as you will soon see, has an exceptional way of the electrification equation.
2020 Polestar 1, 2019 BMW i8 Coupe, 2020 Lexus LC 500h, and the 2020 Acura NSX now represent the pinnacle of performance hybrids and complexity. Are they pricey? Absolutely. But is any sports automobile or grand tourer.
Together these four cars reveal four turbochargers, a supercharger, 19 cylinders, eight transmissions, and nine motors. They average 479 horsepower, 496 lb-ft of torque, a 4.0-second 0-60 run, and a combined fuel economy of 46 mpg.
They tell only half of this story although I appreciate numbers. Only driving these cars back to back might tell us whether any may hold a candle to displacement-based horsepower machines’ fact and which one offers the experience.
To discover, we took those four-sport automobiles on our favorite–and wildfire-scarred–driving streets that swerve and dip into the hills above Malibu, then to the test monitor. Do hybrids represent a potential long-term powertrain solution, or are they a waypoint on the route to a future? We’re going to discover.
2020 Lexus LC 500h
By all accounts, Lexus–and parent company Toyota–should be building the best hybrids in the world. Toyota was first to come to market the 1997 Prius in Japan vehicle, with a hybrid. What followed were gas economy theories shattered and millions of Priuses sold. Lexus model or nearly every Toyota now offers the organization’s vaunted Hybrid Synergy Drive.
Even in the middle of the decade the Prius alone still accounted in the United States. We were primed by that history of sales achievement and hybrid know-how to the 2020 Lexus LC 500h with expectation –also it would help clarify our disappointment, too.
On its surface, the LC 500h, Lexus’ flagship hybrid vehicle, has a lot to offer. For starters, its traditional long-hood, short-deck coupe profile is absolutely stunning. In our tester’s dull Silver, the LC sheet metal is one of the prettiest designs.
The cottage is even better. “Holy cow does it punch above its weight,” partner online editor Stefan Ogbac explained. “I’d also argue that it deserves for a pricier car.” Featuring a gorgeous mixture of colors, textures, and fabrics –and dismissing its skip fire (but ultimately CarPlay-friendly) infotainment system–that the LC 500h is your clear bargain of this quartet at its as-tested price of 100,605.
Unfortunately, the LC 500h’s powertrain is not as thoughtfully incorporated as its design. One of two original hybrids here, the Lexus uses a Hybrid Synergy Drive-derived system that works like this: Electricity from your corporate 3.5-liter V-6 gets combined with that of two electric motors in an e-CVT. It then flows through a four-speed automatic, and together with the entire thing allegedly programmed to provide the sense of 10 equipment ratios. A modest 1-kW-hr ion battery pack mounted between the rear seats and trunk backs up the system. The output signal is combined EPA fuel economy and 350 lb-ft of torque, and horsepower is 30 mpg.
The Lexus is at its finest when you don’t ask much of it. When slicing through traffic or around the highway, the LC’s dance between engine and engine and through that complicated gearing is comparatively unobtrusive. The car feels nimble and quick, with light, natural steering and relaxed ride characteristic. Regrettably,”EV style” is really a joke, only working up to approximately 15 mph using a feathered throttle.
Open this up on a built-to-thrill road, and the LC drops quicker than my final woodworking project. Ignoring the shrill soundtrack piped to the cottage in Sport+ manner, it seems like none such as being paired with one another of transmissions or the LC’s powerplants. The main drive motor is underpowered and unable to make up for the V-6’s total absence of torque. The transmission of the LC is also overcomplicated; one perceptions conflict between the surging of this e-CVT and the demanding clunks of this four-speed planetary automatic as you attempt to build up a decent rate on a street.
The Lexus’ suspension and chassis tuning can’t keep up. “As soon as we began charging up the mountain, the chassis and driveline dropped to pieces,” road test editor (and a quite fast man) Chris Walton said. “Understeer inside this corner, oversteer in that one. There was definitely no prospect of keeping up with all the NSX or i8 in front of me.”
Ultimately the LC, as my father was fond of saying, is all show and no go. The capacity for a fantastic sports car is there (that the V-8 LC 500 proves it), however the LC 500h will never get there with this particular hybrid system. Although Lexus has wasted its lead in hybrid technology, it has lots it can find out from our top three finishers.
BMW I8 Coupe
BMW deserves the lion’s share of the credit for establishing this section, although it is tough to think. Its i8, as it started in 2014, was the very first automobile which answered the question of what exactly a performance hybrid could (or should) look like.
Space era, it ends up. Five years after its debut, the carbon-fiber-bodied i8 looks simultaneously modern and futuristic (though who understood that the future is filled with blind areas and high-silled carbon tub and sitting-in-the-bathtub seats?).
Underneath the carbon butterfly doors and Formula 1-inspired aerodynamics stays a mid-mounted 1.5-liter turbocharged I-3 (just half of BMW’s classic straight-six) bolted to an electric motor and a six-speed automatic transaxle responsible for driving the rear wheels. Sits one more electric motor, driving the front wheels via a gearbox. Tying the system together is a 11.6-kW-hr lithium-ion battery mounted between and beneath the front seats to keep the center of gravity.
Upgraded for 2019 with battery power, EV range, and electricity, the i8 plug hybrid (PHEV)–basically a hybrid using a larger battery that you can plugin, allowing for significantly longer spent cruising with the motor off–sports an entire system output of 369 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. Electric-only range is up to 17 miles prior to the I-3 flames upward. Its EPA score is a test-best 69 mpg-e (a fuel economy score averaging gas and electricity usage).
Even though the i8 impressed us when it hit the roads, our top two finishers prove that more is possible from a performance hybrid. A good mid-engine automobile is typically well balanced and capable of settling pushing hard into a corner and rocketing out quickly.
When driven hard, Nevertheless the i8 never really settles down. Steering feel is the chassis company, artificial, the suspension flinty. Combine that with its comparatively narrow-profile front tires, along with the i8 struggles you instead of clawing for grip in locations where the top two contenders weren’t, compelling and working with you on a winding road.
The i8’s two transmissions, two motors, and one engine wasn’t our powertrain, either. Even though they provided great off-the-line torque and zippy performance when dicing through traffic, the i8’s motors and engine don’t provide the power we expect from a carbon-bodied, mid-engine BMW. Instead of complementing each other, the i8’s I-3 and motors all seem to run out of steam at precisely the exact same time, just north.
A close-ratio eight-speed gearbox in the back could likely help make more or less, but adding power seems like the solution that is much simpler.
Ultimately, that the BMW i8 paved the way for all four of those performance hybrids, but as editor-in-chief, Mark Rechtin puts the i8’s performance,” while sporty, doesn’t fulfill the intergalactic styling of the outside .” Our top two finishers deliver on all promises.
2020 Polestar 1
In many ways, the Polestar 1 signifies the very best of what Lexus and BMW need to offer you.
Like the Lexus, it’s a superbly designed and lavish grand touring coupe that is three-box. Parent manufacturer Volvo derived from a 2013 concept its design, but it’s nevertheless modern-looking on the road, crisp, and clean seven years after. It’s a super-efficient plug-in hybrid vehicle. Unlike Lexus and the BMW, it’s a game tourer with the functionality and power credentials to back up its sheet metal.
Built almost entirely of carbon fiber to maintain its weight down, the Polestar 1 nonetheless packs on the pounds with two battery packs at a test-best 34 kW-hr of capacity, a front-mounted super/turbocharged I-4, an eight-speed automated transmission to transmit capability to front wheels and the batteries, and an electrical motor and planetary gearset at each rear wheel.
Complete system output is 619 hp and also 738 lb-ft of torque, using a Polestar-claimed electric-only range of 65 miles. If this amount passes muster with the EPA, that would make the 1 that the PHEV with the longest range available on the industry. It’ll set you back $156,500, however, take a look at what you get.
It would be fair to say that Volvo has never really been known as a purveyor of sporting automobiles, but Polestar, Volvo’s functionality subbrand (along with the face of Volvo and parent firm Geely’s new electrification effort), is. Its teeth cut building touring cars beginning in the’90s. And given the Polestar’s burden, we expected the 1 to become a far more capable tourer than a canyon carver. Nevertheless, the Polestar delivers on all fronts.
“I was actually hoping it would not force such as a Volvo, and it doesn’t,” Walton said. “The Öhlins suspension does not do this brittle/crashing matter other Volvo Polestars do, the entire body motions are very well controlled, and the steering has a little heft to it–the good kind.” The twin motors enable a ton, supplying torque vectoring that makes the Polestar feel smaller than it is although the shocks deserve the majority of the credit for the handling art.
Polestar’s powertrain is even more impressive. The 1 feels like also a second that is hybrid and also an electric car initially. The motors make a 232 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque, giving the Polestar lots of battery and electricity capacity to get around on electrons independently. With the Polestar in Power mode and the motor on, the gasoline and electrical integration is seamless–the engines conceal the low-end weakness of the engine, from where the engines leave off and the motor takes over.
The Polestar’s powerplants pull hard in a direct line, but they actually come alive on a switchback-ridden road, in which the torque vectoring, instantaneous power delivery, large Akebono brakes, and enormous grip in the all-wheel-drive system help the 1 dip hard into a corner along with claw itself out just as quickly. A car that weighs as much as a Jeep Gladiator shouldn’t rotate this quickly, yet the Polestar continually lives up to the origins of the brand. Best seats of the bunch, too.
What relegated the Polestar 1 to see No. 2? Simply put, our No. 1 finisher is a more engaging, dynamic, and thrilling hybrid performance car.
2020 Acura NSX
To mention the second-gen Acura NSX had a tough beginning would be an understatement. Since Acura attempted to figure out what a contemporary NSX ought to be, from 2007 to the time it hit the roads the NSX evolved three times.
The hybrid supercar Honda Motor could wind up launching had a huge challenge living up to the original’s reputation.
It didn’t help that NSX 2.0 was under-tired, likely to plow, and lacked the original’s organic nature. Within our 2016 Best Driver’s Car competition, the NSX suffered a disappointing eighth-place complete, as our staff waited to get the”Eureka!” Of the sports car experience that was new-age that never arrived.
So, how did the 2020 NSX topple Lexus LC 500h, BMW i8, and the Polestar 1?
You may thank Acura’s 2019 upgrade for that. Thicker bars help heal the tendency of the car to understeer, more sticky tires improve traction and steering feel, and a rethink of lots of the car’s electronic control systems catch a touch.
The changes work hand in hand with all the NSX’s unchanged powertrain. A mid-mounted 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 paired with an engine and nine-speed dual-clutch automatic drive the rear wheels up front an electric motor drives each front wheel. A small 1.3-kW-hr battery between the engine bay and cottage scavenges electricity for the powertrain. The total system output signal is 573 hp and 476 lb-ft of torque.
Although we had to wait a while for Acura to find the NSX’s ride and handling balance sorted. The NSX’s magnetic shocks assist the supercar to feel as docile as a Honda Accord about town and as buttoned-down as a Civic Type R on a road. “The suspension is terrific and breathes so nicely,” Walton explained. “Docile, compliant, and, in Race manner, it’s no harsher than a Porsche 911 in Comfort mode.”
The Acura also handles better than before, too, with light and precise steering (“McLaren-like,” Walton adds) with none of the pesky plow and lack of feel the pre-refresh automobile suffered from.
The powertrain of that the NSX is that the star of the series as good as the chassis changes are. Despite the complexity of ensuring two turbos three engines, six cylinders, and nine gears play nice with one another, the powertrain of the Acura is organic in its responsiveness.
The way that the NSX delivers electricity is impressive. The Acura’s three motors offer a forceful push off the line since the turbos whoosh creating boost up. The V-6 begins to howl, as the motors start to wane. Shifts from the close-ratio nine-speed gearbox snap instantly as the V-6 growls to its 7,500-rpm redline, and the entire process begins again. The final result is a drivetrain that feels naturally.
Besides the obvious acceleration benefits, the motors of the NSX also make it a better handler. Just as the Polestar’s twin rear motors give instant torque vectoring, the Acura’s twin front motors do the same, independently distributing electricity through springs and assisting give the NSX a disgusting quantity of mid-corner grip–providing the driver with a magnificent amount of assurance whilst pushing the car harder down a back street.
Inside, the interior interfaces are beginning to seem somewhat dated in comparison with the Polestar’s Volvophile user experience, but finally, it’s the NSX’s confidence-inspiring performance, together with the engineering voodoo that flipped into the Acura’s four individual powerplants into a cohesive group, which helped Team Acura earn its redemption and victory.
On virtually every metric, both objective and subjective, the NSX outclasses BMW, the Polestar, and Lexus. It is sharper, quicker, and more sporty than its competitions that are electrified. Most important, it’s more fun. Even though the Acura is the least fuel-efficient car, the NSX powertrain integration ought to supply a good model for others to follow as we enter a new decade and inch closer to an internal combustion less future.
Readers will notice that our arrangement of completing matches the escalation in the as-tested price of the field. That is coincidental. Our grading at performance, drivability, and livability one of our finishers were more about how well the hybrid technology was applied compared to about optional features and benefits (although the Lexus’ 50 grand discount from the rest of the field is indeed noteworthy ). From the rest of the area, however, the quality of its distances it in the NSX’s instance.
As engaging as a gas-powered car if a sports car could be if you had asked any one of us, you’d have turned into. (Call it the Prius factor.) But as Polestar 1, i8, the NSX, and LC 500h establish, the future does not have to be scary. Or dull.
