2026 Lexus RZ First Drive: A Better Electric SUV With Room to Grow

Motor Trend

09-07-2025

Pros More range
Faster AC home charging
More power Cons Needs a new driver display
No one-pedal driving mode
RZ550e's slightly subdued styling
On a winding road in sunny Portugal, it took 408 hp and a funky steering wheel to remind us the pleasures of just driving. Remember driving? Not checking your phone every red light, just real, focused driving. The revised-for-2026 Lexus RZ is making a bid to be the electric luxury SUV that brings all that back.
The 2026 Lexus RZ offers improved range, a quieter ride, and better charging speeds but lacks some features in the U.S., such as steer-by-wire. The RZ550e F Sport excels in driving excitement, but the U.S. market misses key features, limiting its appeal compared to rivals.
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Let the 2026 RZ550e F Sport serve as our latest reminder that Lexus has engineered some really entertaining cars over the years. In this same spirit, the luxury brand's latest offering is electric, it's cool, and, well, sadly if you're in the U.S. or China, you can't have the most interesting version—just pieces of it. Updates Everywhere
Before now, the RZ's range was so subpar we had trouble seeing its value in a growing market full of all-electric options offering more range for less money. Charge speeds were similarly uncompetitive. In some of the most crucial ways we evaluate electric cars today, the first Lexus EV was outclassed.
Now, range on the 2026 Lexus RZ tops out at an estimated 302 miles in the single-motor RZ350e base model. That badge sees a numerical bump from last year's RZ300e model, which had a shorter driving range and a mere 201 hp instead of the 2026's 224 hp. In our experience with a 2024 RZ300e and the new 2026 RZ350e, this variant offers sufficient oomph for most everyday driving. That's especially true when passing at speed versus acceleration from a stop.
Dual-motor all-wheel drive is standard on the RZ450e, which now has 313 hp (up 5 hp from before) and a range of 261 miles with 18-inch wheels or 255 when upgrading to 20-inch wheels. Those 20s look great, and hey, 6 miles is well worth the cost in range for the added visual flair they provide.
Then there's the new RZ550e, a 408-hp dual-motor AWD model that's only sold in Lexus's F Sport trim. Range is 228 miles, which is OK for an electric luxury SUV with that much power, but ... here's the problem: While Lexus has helpfully increased range, the Genesis GV60—our No. 1 ranked compact electric luxury SUV as this is written—is expected to do the same for 2026.
The 2026 RZ is also quieter, a hugely important metric for a luxury SUV that shares a platform with a down-market Toyota (the bZ4X, which becomes the bZ for 2026 and sees similar revisions). We're told the team paid special attention to reducing tire noise for rear occupants customers and even made things a smidge quieter by installing a thicker cargo cover. Huh.
Home AC charging speed jumps from 6.6 kW to 11 kW, which meets this segment's standard and is just about where today's home chargers top out anyway. Cadillac offers quicker home charging still for when those chargers speed up in the future.
When you're out road-tripping, max charge speed is a just-OK 150 kW, but there's news here, too: The 2026 RZ integrates a Tesla-style NACS port. Now located on the passenger side (unlike the Euro-spec models we drove), the U.S. market's charge port with NACS integration should make longer highway journeys more pleasant and charging easier to find.
The 2026 RZ550e F Sportisn't the only modern car to offer a steer-by-wire system, where there's no mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the wheels, but it may be the best application yet.
Yes, the steering 'yoke' looks like a gimmick, and no one needs steer-by-wire or an airplane-cockpit-inspired steering wheel. But that's a slippery slope. No one needs 408 hp either, yet we like living in a world where an electric Lexus delivers 0–60 thrills quicker than almost every new Lexus offered today.
Think of the steer-by-wire tech as the latest in automakers' efforts to make electric cars engaging, though gas cars can have this tech, too. Many electric cars don't inspire a smile when the road ahead curves, but we don't feel that way about the Euro-spec RZ in 550e F Sport form.
To be clear, this is no game-changing sports SUV, merely one that will surprise those who associate RZs more with incredible lease deals than with sportiness.
The steering is extremely quick, though Lexus has dialed this back a bit from when we first drove an RZ prototype with the system. There is some feel through the steering yoke plus feedback you'll feel through the 550e model's retuned suspension.
If you're wondering if this steering tech and new steering wheel are different for the sake of being different or an improvement, the answer is yes. Based on our latest experience with the tech Lexus has been working on for 10 years, some won't see the value in it while a select few enthusiasts may see it as a key differentiator.
There's even a manual mode that generates futuristic acceleration noises, a little faux shift shock, and, get this, it bounces those noises off a fake rev limiter if you don't 'upshift' in time. That's a great detail we will get in the U.S. But we won't get the steer-by-wire, the steering yoke, or VCIM, a tech that is said to help keep the ride flatter and more comfortable.
Our big question: Will the RZ550e still feel as F Sporty without those details, steered by way of a conventional round wheel? 2026 RZ: The Rest of the Package
While the U.S.-spec RZ550e's thrill factor isn't clear, we do want to call attention to a luxury feature that's equal parts function and magic trick. The RZ again offers the brand's Dynamic Sky glass roof, a feature we've seen on other cars and first experienced years ago on the Toyota Venza.
Instead of doing something silly like automakers that offer glass-roof cars without a way to shield passengers from the sun, this tech delivers most of the benefits of an old-fashioned retractable roof cover. In the 2026 RZ, the tech has been updated to block more of the sun when it's opaque and show a bit more when you hit the button to see what's above you. We've tested it and can confirm it's super cool.
We like that tech, but Lexus needs to install a bigger and redesigned driver display. Even with the unobstructed view of the display we had thanks to the Euro-spec SUV's steering yoke, the screen's contents are jumbled. We also would like the option of one-pedal driving, where you can slow the vehicle to a stop simply by lifting one's foot off the accelerator. The 2026 RZ offers multiple levels of regen via steering wheel paddles that can slow the RZ this way, but a full one-pedal option that brings it to a complete stop isn't available.
We don't mind that one-pedal driving isn't as efficient as coasting; it's an interesting alternative driving style some now prefer, especially around town. If part of luxury is customizing an experience the way you want, a well-tuned one-pedal driving model should be part of the package, as it is elsewhere. Is the RZ Finally Good?
Yes, the newly updated 2026 Lexus RZ is good. Well, it's better, anyway. Loyal Lexus customers who appreciate the brand's core values—luxury, quality, and a consistently excellent dealer experience—should love the improved range, quietness, and home-charging speed.
Anyone who cross-shops, however, will find even better range and public fast-charging speed elsewhere. That doesn't even begin to account for the Tesla Model Y's surprisingly capacious interior. Tesla isn't as respected as it once was, and its interior quality can't touch the RZ's, but the Model Y's ubiquity and similar model structure make it a good bogey in addition to the Genesis GV60.
Perhaps the pre-2026 RZ simply had too much ground to make up in one update. Taken as a whole, the U.S.-spec 2026 RZ lineup may not attract much attention beyond buyers already set on Lexus, but those who do try it are getting a better SUV than before.