Lexus RZ550e F Sport Review: Simulated Manual Transmission vs. EV Soul

Lexus RZ550e F Sport Review: Simulated Manual Transmission vs. EV Soul

The most frequent criticism of electric cars I hear from traditional car enthusiasts is not about charging time, or cold weather performance, or even fear about battery life. The EV has no "soul". Battery-powered cars are not made with passion and do not provide the sound or physical sensations that define a truly amazing gas-powered machine. I have a problem with that mindset. For me, EVs are just different. A person is interested in powering the house with his own car or using instant torque, just as with the engine sound and excellent manual gearbox.

Some automakers are trying to fill that gap by making EVs work a bit like gas-powered enthusiast cars. The best example of this is still the Hyundai Ioniq5N, which is not supposed to work, but it works. With 601 hp, simulated engine sound and electronic magic that mimics the eight-speed paddle shift gearbox, the Ioniq5N is more Nissan GT-R than Tesla Model Y and I've never met anyone who doesn't love that Hyundai after trying it out.

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Now Lexus wants to put the same kind of old-school passion into at least one of its EVs, the new Lexus Rz550e F Sport. It throws something new into the mix: "Interactive manual drive" or "M mode" is a fancy name for a simulated eight-speed transmission sensation operated with a paddle shifter on the steering wheel. To really drive home experience, this Lexus offers a simulated engine sound, too.  It all sounds great on paper. The powerful new RZ proved that there is a subtle line between capturing the classic character well and missing the mark.

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2026 Lexus RZ550e F Sport: Specifications and Features

The luxury cousin of the Toyota BZ has received a raft of updates for 2026. In the past, RZ was plagued by the subpar range, a software that was not suitable for electric drive and mediocre charging speeds. Now, the Lexus Electric crossover boasts a Tesla-style North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug with a better overall charging curve in addition to the range of up to 301 miles of older cars. Lexus also added a 550e F sport trim to the top of the range. That taste of RZ gets 402 hp and a power boost to 396 lb-ft torque, a time from zero to 60 mph in just 4 seconds, with dual-motor all-wheel drive, a sport-tuned suspension with unique body bits. It also comes with a battery of 76.96 kWh, the largest in the Toyota EV family (until the new Highlander arrives anyway). Meanwhile, RZ's Yoke steering wheel remains MIA in the US market. But many benefits end there. Like other updated Toyota EVs, RZ's software is not exactly world-class, finding chargers natively from the navigation system, and there are trade-offs common to many performance-focused EVs.

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The RZ550E F Sport only offers a range of 229 miles, and when we tested it in winter, we got a range of about 160 miles if we were lucky. This meant I had to charge fast 2 times at 2 Tesla stations to get to my home in upstate New York, just 120-mile highway drive from New York City. It was a disappointing experience.

2026 Lexus RZ550e F Sport: On the road

In theory, this trim of RZ should compensate for its driving thrills and flaws in its range. It's certainly fast; I'll give it. Toyota's e-TNGA platform cars, especially in the form of AWD, are actually pretty fun to drive. They put enough power down and tend to feel more agile and heavier than their competitors from General Motors and Hyundai. (The RZ is still 5,000 pounds, mind you, but it carries its weight well). On a good back road, the RZ in F-sports attire was certainly a playful and confident companion. It has a chassis that jumps well into the corner and communicates through the steering wheel more than many EVs and is apparently tuned by people who care about driving. In the straight line it is quite packed with punches, and its output is 60 horsepower, better than the AWD Toyota bZ, for example, and feels like jamming the accelerator. Passing through the highway is an absolute breeze, perhaps to the extent that it amazes people.

The Rz has historically not been a great EV, but it has always been a great Lexus and that tradition continues here. When not crammed with moving fast pedals, it is comfortable, smooth and incredibly insulated from outside noise. The sports suspension is also just right and handles winding roads well but still proves fully compliant on long highway drives.

About Its Simulated Transmission

Typically, the paddle shifter on the steering wheel controls the level of the regenerative brake on the RZ. But when you press the "M" button on the center console, the character of the car changes a little. The digital display on the driver's side will be a quasi-tachometer with shift indicators "up" and "down", and the silence in the cabin will be replaced by a jarring engine note and an exhaust drone. Now you can play with 8 simulated gears. Then it's like any gas car with the same setup, or Ioniq5N: the left paddle goes down the gear and the right paddle goes up. The sound of the car changes according to your rotation level (and you can adjust its volume from the central display).

The RZ lurches only a little back and forth to shift at speed, like a gas car; it even feels somewhat dialed up for effect, providing a "gear change" that is not as smooth as what you would get with a BMW equipped with a ZF eight-speed automatic. And perhaps most impressive is the ability to bounce off the artificial red line without being forced to shift-up, and if you're in the wrong "gear", the acceleration will linger."

Of course, there are no gears working here at all. It is software that modulates the output from the electric motor, and the rest of the car transmits haptic feedback and simulated engine sound through the speakers.  With Ioniq5N — a very different car, but the only real point of comparison - the simulated shift and engine sound is the core of the experience. They are fully integrated into the personality of the car. In Lexus, by contrast, artificial shifts feel like they're tacked on. It doesn't match the RZ character and instead gets muted and comes off as unnecessary.

The big problem here is the sound itself. The noise of the "engine" feels more recorded and synthesized than the Hyundai. It reminds me of complaints that people have had for years about the sound of cars in the game of Gran Turismo — hey there, but just never exactly right. The tenor of this sound is not all that convincing. To me, it sounds like it's close to the 3.5-litre V6 Lexus uses on some models, but this is an almost unforgettable engine. I would be very generous if I compared the 5.0-liter V8 with the old Lexus 500 is a great-sounding motor. That's not what you come here for.  When you're hustling the Ioniq5N through corners and tracks in rage, you might forget you're in an EV. It feels and sounds like some high-pitched rally car for the street. RZ is different. It feels like a typical Lexus sedan fitted with a paddle shifter, and you have to wonder how many owners use them. I know that after I tried M mode a bit in Rz once, I didn't use it much.

Verdict

Let's make it a reality: RZ is probably not going to be a volume sales EV that would challenge the enduring dominance of the Model Y. But it feels like a test bed for the new technology, with some of the edicts from Toyota's "Master Driver" chairman and chief EV skeptics calling for more time to drive. I drove a version of this system with a Japanese prototype, but it had a clutch pedal and a real stick, so much so that the Hing engineers switched between the pre-set engine sound and simulated gear ratio to get the best out of it, from the Toyota Tundra to the Lexus LFA with the V10. I was trying to make it feel like all things, like fun. Their point was that you could do a lot with this idea, and I think the more evolved version would be better suited for future performance-oriented applications.

I welcome this strange era of experimentation. If the carmaker can pull them off in a compelling and fun way, and what the customer wants, it's great. But simulating the sensations of a gas car shouldn't be the standard of how a car with great electrical performance feels, and if anyone feels different, I welcome them to challenge the performance of an Audi RS E-Tron GT or Tesla Model 3 with a stoplight.