2026 Lexus RZ steer by wire tested
That means the steering wheel has been physically connected to tyres – it works, it's proven and it's safe.
So why change it?
That's the question Lexus's new RZ 550e F Sport has to answer.
The RZ first launched in just 2023, and the brand has already prepared a big upgrade. Lexus says it addressed customer feedback and luke-warm reviews to deliver a new model with faster charging times, an improved 500 km of range, and 280kW of power.
This is, by all standards, a comfortable, well-engineered SUV with all the comfort and safety you'd expect from a higher-end electrical vehicle.
But things get particularly interesting with the RZ 550e F Sport – a car which looks normal on the outside, but has completely redesigned steering system.
The RZ 550e F Sport uses steer-by-wire.
This means there is no mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the tyres. Instead, it uses an actuator to interpret the driver's right and left turns, and then electrically delivers those signals to the steering rack.
It's like a video game – you steer and a computer interprets what it thinks you want.
It might be relatively new for cars, but its equivalent 'fly-by-wire' has been in commercial planes for years. It's in fighter jets, too.
To be honest, I was expecting this to be a drastically different driving experience. I thought there would be a sense of unreality that comes with there being no link between the driver and the tyres. That wasn't the case at all. The RZ 550e F Sport felt perhaps a bit sharper, more precise – but not in a manner that would fundamentally change how a person drives.
In fact, it would be easy to forget that the car even used steer-by-wire, were it not for the constant visual reminder that comes in the form of a yoke-style steering wheel.
These have been in Australia before. Famously, Tesla's X and S models both had similar designs before reverting back to round. Customer feedback said they were annoying for drivers who struggled to do three-point turns without the hand-space at the top. It normally takes two or three complete revolutions of a wheel to go from lock-to-lock, after all.
But in a car with steer-by-wire, the yoke-style wheel makes sense. It takes less than one turn, or a maximum of 200 degrees, to move from centre to full left or right lock. As a bonus, the driver gets better visibility of the dashboard and road ahead.
However, while testing the limits of the steering lock, I did find the yoke-style to be a tad uncomfortable. While parking, the driver's arms will likely have to cross over – it might be ergonomic but it didn't feel natural.
Not being able to sense the condition and texture of the road through vibrations on the steering wheel also felt strange in the beginning. While I quickly adapted, it is worth noting that I was driving in perfect conditions: hot, dry, well-maintained roads in the middle of Portuguese summer. How this car feels in wet weather, icy conditions, or unexpectedly muddy roads remains to be seen.
But assuming the car handles well in all conditions, most customer reservations will likely come down to safety.
Lexus has done what it can to appease anxiety on this matter.
It says every element that controls the steer-by-wire system is duplicated with a redundancy. In addition, there's a separate battery that controls the steering, should the car run out of charge and need to be towed.
Lexus also stresses that its steering system is different to one used in the 2014 Infiniti Q50, the only other car in Australia to have experimented with steer-by-wire.
It was not a successful experiment.
The Q50 was broadly panned for its inconsistent handling and faced recalls for steering faults.
Infiniti's system had a full mechanical steering system waiting to take over at a moment's notice in case the electric version failed – which Lexus does not use.
For a vehicle which is pushing boundaries and re-writing a major component of car engineering, the RZ 550e F Sport, does pay homage to ICE engines. This comes in the form of its interactive manual drive.
While in 'M' mode, the car's eight virtual gears can be shifted up and down using paddles on the side of the steering wheel. The car replicates a manual experience through the throttle, a tachometer displaying the virtual rpm, and virtual engine sounds that play inside the cabin.
Frankly, I wasn't sold on the fake engine noises.
It reminded me a little of a Dyson vacuum cleaner pretending to be a car.
Most drivers, I imagine, will try the interactive manual mode once, have a laugh, and never touch it again.
But in a racier mode, it does remind you that this RZ 550e F Sport is no slouch; it gets from 0-100 in 4.4 seconds.
When it reaches those higher speeds, it handles them well. The car is comfortable, well-balanced, and the cabin is pleasantly quiet (except for the fake engine sounds, that is).
While in M mode, the RZ 550e F Sport feels like a car that's trying to bridge a widening gap between the past and the present of motoring.
On one hand, it uses genuinely innovative engineering for its steering technology – a system that could alter the manner in which cars are manufactured and driven forever.
On the other, it's clinging to vestiges of old technology, with fake gears and fake engine noises.
It's lip service.
An apologetic nod to motoring of yore, by a company that's fully dedicated to an electric future.
Perhaps I'm a killjoy.
I'm sure lots of people will enjoy being able to pretend to have gears in an electric vehicle. Fun doesn't need to make sense.
But when we moved from horse and cart to motorised vehicles, humanity didn't agonise over making cars that could neigh, or kick you in the nads if they were angry.
Sure, we lose some charm when technology moves on, but that's the price of progress.
If the future is electric, it's better, I think, to fully embrace the possibilities that unlocks, rather than resorting to nostalgia for vehicles that are not yet obsolete.
All that aside, Lexus clearly has an eye on the horizon with the RZ 550e F Sport.
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