{"id":1990516,"date":"2026-06-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1990516"},"modified":"2026-06-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T21:00:00","slug":"lexus-lm-long-term-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1990516","title":{"rendered":"Lexus LM – long-term review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ladies and gentlemen, a respectful bow to one of the strangest vehicles ever to join the TGG fleet. The Lexus LM350h, a slice of Japanese weirdness that defies easy description, but, if we\u2019re forced to give it a go, would have to plump for \u2018\u00a3118,000 minivan\u2019.<\/p>\n

To be clear, I am entirely here for this weirdness. I love a van. If it\u2019s hip to be square, it\u2019s surely even hipper to be cuboid. With BMW and Mercedes cheerily charging six figures for a 7 Series or S-Class limo \u2013 vehicles in which you\u2019ll struggle to wear even a modestly sized stovepipe hat \u2013 then I see no logical reason why a \u00a3118k minivan should not exist. More interior \u2013 and the LM has a LOT of interior \u2013 is simply the potential for more luxury.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The LM350h is based upon the Toyota Alphard MPV. We don\u2019t get the Alphard in the UK, a decision for which I have never truly forgiven Toyota. The LM350h goes some way to alleviating the pain.<\/p>\n

Like the Alphard, the standard LM can be had with three rows of seats. Our LM does not have three rows of seats. It arrives in Ottoman configuration, which brings just four chairs across two rows.<\/p>\n

The two seats up front? Yeah, they\u2019re fine, perfectly nice. The real story is the two in the back, a brace of vast, plump thrones packed with every seat-based amenity (apart from, mercifully, this one<\/a>) including powered, extended footrests, and the ability to fold completely, totally flat.<\/p>\n

The phrase \u2018business class\u2019 is applied too often to any vaguely posh car (it\u2019s a squishy headrest and a bit of mood lighting, not Virgin Upper) but in top-spec Takumi trim, this is the first cabin I\u2019ve seen to genuinely rivals the poshest airline seats. The LM\u2019s vast rear compartment is a riot of creamy leather, brushed metal and fine wood. There are many, many blinds. There\u2019s at least one large fridge, and possibly several more I have not yet discovered. There\u2019s a 48in telly screen stretching the width of the cabin. Does a grander second row exist in the car universe?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The appointments, then, are unquestionably luxurious. The engine? Jury\u2019s still out. This \u00a3118,000 minivan is powered not by some buttery twelve-cylinder mill of limitless torque, or indeed a whisper-quiet electric set-up. It\u2019s powered by 2.5-litre four-cylinder hybrid \u2013 though not a plug-in \u2013 driving all four wheels through a CVT gearbox. It is fair to say that the words \u2018continuously variable transmission and \u2018six-figure luxury car\u2019 have rarely appeared in the same sentence. Whether they make comfortable bedfellows, we shall see.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The LM350h, of course, isn\u2019t really about the experience of the white-glove-wearing schmoe behind the wheel. It\u2019s about the high-ranking dignitaries being chauffeured in the back. But I am not a chauffeur of high-ranking dignitaries. I am the chauffeur of my own children, a pair of primary school delinquents who, upon arrival of the LM, have been displaying clear delusions of grandeur.<\/p>\n

Especially since they discovered that the privacy hatch between the two compartments is controlled by the rear-seat occupants. Bored of your parents asking you to turn down the volume of the massive telly on a long drive? Simply raise the rear screen and shut them out. Now that\u2019s<\/em> luxury.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the question: could this poshest of minivans represent the ultimate in family transport? If you prize heart-rate-lowering luxury above all else, is the LM350h the pinnacle of comfort? Exactly how many fridges are<\/em> there on board? We\u2019ve got six months to find out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ladies and gentlemen, a respectful bow to one of the strangest vehicles ever to join the TGG fleet. The Lexus LM350h, a slice of Japanese weirdness that defies easy description, but, if we\u2019re forced to give it a go, would have to plump for \u2018\u00a3118,000 minivan\u2019. To be clear, I am entirely here for this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1990516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1990516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1990516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1990516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1990516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}