Green Is Good: Acura NSX vs. BMW i8 vs. Lexus LC 500h vs. Polestar 1

I blame the Prius. I know—the word “hybrid” is enough to make your eyes glaze over. You’re probably even second-guessing your decision to read this article. You’re thinking these will be compromise cars, like getting tofu sausage and a kale shake with your pancakes.

But hybrids don’t have to suck. When engineers flip the switch from green to mean, from fuel economy to performance, pairing an electric motor—or three—with a gas engine is a recipe for more power, more torque, and more efficiency. What’s not to love? Hybrid race cars have even won the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans.

As the industry makes the inevitable transition to electric cars, hybrids—especially performance hybrids—are the automotive equivalent of breakfast for dinner. They may be more complicated and heavier than gas-only sports cars, but they’re also charming in their own right.

So we gathered up the four sport hybrids with the most performance potential to see which is best. Each, as you’ll soon see, has a unique approach to the electrification equation.

The 2020 Acura NSX, 2019 BMW i8 Coupe, 2020 Lexus LC 500h, and 2020 Polestar 1 currently represent the pinnacle of performance hybrids and automotive complexity. Are they pricey? Absolutely. But so is any high-end sports car or grand tourer.

Together these four cars share four turbochargers, a supercharger, 19 cylinders, eight transmissions, and nine electric 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.

Although I appreciate numbers, they tell just half of the story. Only driving these cars back to back can tell us which one offers the best experience and whether any can hold a candle to the longstanding truth of displacement-based horsepower machines.

To find out, we took these four sports cars on our favorite—and wildfire-scarred—driving roads that swerve and dip in the hills above Malibu, then to the test track. Do hybrids represent a potential long-term powertrain solution, or are they merely a brief waypoint on our route to an all-electric future? We’re about to find out.

4th Place: 2020 Lexus LC 500h

A Head Start Squandered

By all accounts, Lexus—and parent company Toyota—ought to be building the best hybrids in the world. Toyota was first to come to market with a mass-produced hybrid, the 1997 Prius in Japan. What followed were fuel economy theories shattered and millions of Priuses sold. Nearly every Toyota or Lexus model now offers the company’s vaunted Hybrid Synergy Drive.

Even by the middle of the last decade, with everyone else also offering a hybrid, the Prius alone still accounted for more than 40 percent of the hybrid market share in the United States. That long history of hybrid know-how and sales success primed us with anticipation for the 2020 Lexus LC 500h—and it would help explain our disappointment with it, as well.

Quite simply, we want more.

On the face of it, the LC 500h, Lexus’ flagship hybrid, has a lot to offer. For starters, its classic long-hood, short-deck, rear-drive coupe profile is absolutely stunning. Even in our tester’s dull Atomic Silver, the LC’s taut, sweeping sheetmetal is arguably one of the prettiest designs to come out of Japan in the past decade.

The cabin is even better. “Holy cow, does it punch above its weight,” associate online editor Stefan Ogbac said. “I’d even argue that it deserves to be a pricier car.” Featuring a beautiful mix of colors, textures, and materials—and ignoring its dumpster fire (but finally CarPlay-friendly) infotainment system—the LC 500h is the clear bargain of this quartet at its as-tested price of $100,605.

Unfortunately, the LC 500h’s powertrain isn’t as thoughtfully integrated as its design. One of two traditional hybrids here, the Lexus uses a Hybrid Synergy Drive–derived system that works like this: Power from the 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, with the whole thing supposedly programmed to provide the feel of 10 traditional gear ratios. A little 1-kW-hr lithium-ion battery pack mounted between the rear seats and trunk backs up the system. Total output is 354 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque, and combined EPA fuel economy is 30 mpg.

The Lexus is at its best when you don’t ask much of it. When slicing through traffic around town or on the highway, the LC’s dance between engine and motor and through all that complex gearing is relatively unobtrusive. The car feels quick and nimble, with light, natural steering and relaxed ride quality. Sadly, “EV mode” is a joke, only working up to about 15 mph with a feathered throttle.

Open it up on a built-to-thrill road, and the LC falls apart quicker than my last woodworking project. Ignoring the shrill soundtrack piped into the cabin in Sport+ mode, it seems like none of the LC’s powerplants or transmissions like being paired with one another. The main electric drive motor is underpowered and thus unable to make up for the V-6’s complete lack of low-end torque. The LC’s transmission is also overcomplicated; one senses conflict between the surging of the e-CVT and the rough clunks of the four-speed planetary automatic as you attempt to build up a decent pace on a good road.

The Lexus’ chassis and suspension tuning can’t keep up, either. “As soon as we started charging up the hill, the chassis and driveline fell to pieces,” road test editor (and very fast man) Chris Walton said. “Understeer in this corner, oversteer in that one. There was absolutely no chance of keeping up with the NSX or i8 in front of me.”

Ultimately the LC, as my dad was always fond of saying, is all show and no go. The potential for a great sports car is there (the V-8 LC 500 proves it), but the LC 500h will never get there with this hybrid system. Although Lexus has squandered its early lead in hybrid technology, it thankfully has lots it can learn from our top three finishers.

3rd Place: 2019 BMW i8 Coupe

Weird for Weird’s Sake

It’s hard to believe, but BMW deserves the lion’s share of the credit for establishing this segment. Its i8, when it launched in 2014, was the first car that answered the question of what a performance hybrid would (or should) look like.

Space age, it turns out. Even five years after its debut, the carbon-fiber-bodied i8 looks simultaneously modern and futuristic (though who knew the future is full of blind spots and high-silled carbon tub and sitting-in-the-bathtub seats?).

Underneath the carbon butterfly doors and Formula 1–inspired aerodynamics sits a mid-mounted 1.5-liter turbocharged I-3 (exactly half of BMW’s classic straight-six) bolted to an electric motor and a six-speed automatic transaxle responsible for driving the rear wheels. Up front sits one more electric motor, driving the front wheels through a two-speed automatic gearbox. Tying the system together is an 11.6-kW-hr lithium-ion battery mounted between and underneath the front seats to keep the center of gravity low.

Updated for 2019 with more battery capacity, EV range, and power, the i8 plug-in hybrid (PHEV)—essentially a hybrid with a bigger battery that you can plug in, allowing for significantly more time spent cruising with the engine off—now sports a total system output of 369 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. Electric-only range is up to 17 miles before the I-3 fires up. Its EPA score is a test-best 69 mpg-e (a fuel economy score averaging electricity and gas usage).

Although the i8 impressed us when it first hit the streets, our top two finishers prove that more is possible from a performance hybrid. A good mid-engine car is typically well balanced and capable of pushing hard into a corner, settling, and rocketing out quickly.

Yet the i8 never really settles down when driven hard. Steering feel is artificial, the chassis firm, the suspension flinty. Combine that with its relatively narrow-profile front tires, and the i8 fights you instead of working with you on a winding road, pushing and clawing for grip in areas where the top two contenders weren’t.

The i8’s two motors, two transmissions, and one engine wasn’t our favorite powertrain, either. Although they provided good off-the-line torque and zippy performance when dicing through traffic, the i8’s engine and motors don’t deliver the high-end 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 the same time, just north of 60 mph.
A close-ratio eight-speed gearbox in back could likely help make more of less, but adding power seems like the far simpler solution.

Ultimately, the BMW i8 paved the way for all four of these performance hybrids, but as editor-in-chief Mark Rechtin puts it, the i8’s performance, “while sporty, doesn’t live up to the intergalactic styling of the exterior.” Thankfully, our top two finishers deliver on all promises.

2nd Place: 2020 Polestar 1

The Future of the GT Is Here

In a lot of ways, the Polestar 1 represents the best of what both Lexus and BMW have to offer.

Like the Lexus, it’s a beautifully designed and luxurious three-box grand touring coupe. Its design was derived from a 2013 concept by parent brand Volvo, but it’s nevertheless clean, crisp, and modern-looking on the road seven years later. Like the BMW, it’s a super-efficient plug-in hybrid. Unlike the BMW and Lexus, it’s a well-balanced sport tourer with the power and performance credentials to back up its sheetmetal.

Built almost entirely of carbon fiber to keep its weight down, the Polestar 1 nonetheless packs on the pounds with two battery packs totaling a test-best 34 kW-hr of capacity, a front-mounted super/turbocharged I-4, an eight-speed automatic transmission to transmit power to the front wheels and the batteries, and an electric motor and planetary gearset at each rear wheel.

Total system output is 619 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque, with a Polestar-claimed electric-only range of 65 miles. If that number passes muster with the EPA, that’d make the 1 the PHEV with the longest electric-only range on the market. Granted, it’ll set you back $156,500, but look at what you get.

It would be fair to say that Volvo has never really been known as a purveyor of sporting cars, but Polestar, Volvo’s performance subbrand (and the face of Volvo and parent company Geely’s new electrification effort), is. It cut its teeth building touring cars starting in the ’90s. And given the Polestar’s weight, we expected the 1 to be a far more capable grand tourer than canyon carver. Yet the Polestar delivers on all fronts.

“I was really hoping it wouldn’t drive like a Volvo, and it doesn’t,” Walton said. “The Öhlins suspension doesn’t do that brittle/crashing thing other Volvo Polestars do, the body motions are very well controlled, and the steering has a bit of heft to it—the good kind.” Although the manually adjustable Öhlins shocks deserve most of the credit for the handling prowess, the twin rear motors help a ton, providing instant torque vectoring that makes the Polestar feel smaller than it is.

The Polestar’s powertrain is even more impressive. More so than any other car in the test, the 1 feels like an electric car first and a hybrid second. The rear motors make a combined 232 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque, giving the Polestar plenty of power and battery capacity to get around on electrons alone. With the engine on and the Polestar in Power mode, the gas and electric integration is seamless—the motors mask any of the engine’s low-end weakness, and the engine quickly takes over from where the motors leave off.

The Polestar’s powerplants pull hard in a straight line, but they really come alive on a switchback-ridden road, where the torque vectoring, instantaneous power delivery, big Akebono brakes, and tremendous grip from the all-wheel-drive system help the 1 dive hard into a corner and claw itself out just as fast. A car that weighs as much as a Jeep Gladiator shouldn’t rotate this quickly, yet the Polestar continually lives up to the brand’s origins as a Volvo race team. Best seats of the bunch, too.

So what relegated the Polestar 1 to spot No. 2? Simply put, our No. 1 finisher is a more engaging, dynamic, and thrilling hybrid performance car.

1st Place: 2020 Acura NSX

Eureka, Acura Found It!

To say the second-gen Acura NSX had a rough start would be an understatement. From 2007 to the time it hit the streets a decade later, the NSX evolved three times as Acura attempted to figure out just what a modern NSX should be.

The mid-engine hybrid supercar Honda Motor would end up launching had the immense challenge living up to the crushing reputation of the original.

It didn’t help that NSX 2.0 was under-tired, prone to plow, and lacked the original’s organic nature. In our 2016 Best Driver’s Car competition, the NSX suffered a disappointing eighth-place finish, as our staff waited for the “Eureka!” of the new-age sports car experience that never came.

So how did the 2020 NSX topple the Polestar 1, BMW i8, and Lexus LC 500h?

You can thank Acura’s 2019 update for that. Thicker anti-roll bars help cure the car’s tendency to understeer, stickier tires improve grip and steering feel, and a rethink of many of the car’s electronic control systems capture a touch of that sparkle that made the original so special.

The changes work hand in hand with the NSX’s unchanged hybrid powertrain. A mid-mounted 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 paired with an electric motor and nine-speed dual-clutch automatic drive the rear wheels, and up front an electric motor drives each front wheel. A small 1.3-kW-hr battery between the engine bay and cabin scavenges electricity for the powertrain. Total system output is 573 hp and 476 lb-ft of torque.

We had to wait a while for Acura to get the NSX’s ride and handling balance sorted, but that wait was worth it. The NSX’s magnetic shocks help the supercar feel as docile as a Honda Accord around town and as buttoned down as a Civic Type R on a good road. “The suspension is terrific and ‘breathes’ so well,” Walton said. “Docile, compliant, and, even in Race mode, 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 that the pre-refresh car suffered from.

As good as the chassis changes are, the NSX’s powertrain is the star of the show. Despite the immense complexity of ensuring three motors, two turbos, six cylinders, and nine gears play nice with one another, the Acura’s powertrain is nearly organic in its responsiveness.

The linear way the NSX delivers power is truly impressive. The Acura’s three motors provide a strong, forceful shove off the line as the turbos whoosh behind your head, building up boost. Just as the electric motors start to wane, the V-6 begins to howl, with the full boost of the turbos taking over. Shifts from the close-ratio nine-speed gearbox snap off instantly as the V-6 growls to its 7,500-rpm redline, and the whole process begins again. The end result is a tremendously powerful drivetrain that feels, well, naturally aspirated.

Aside from the obvious acceleration advantages, the NSX’s motors also make it a better handler. Just as the Polestar’s twin rear motors provide instant torque vectoring, the Acura’s twin front motors do the same, independently distributing power through bends and helping give the NSX a disgusting amount of midcorner grip—providing the driver with a magnificent amount of confidence while pushing the car harder down a back road.

Inside, the interior interfaces are beginning to look a bit dated compared to the Polestar’s Volvophile user experience, but ultimately it’s the NSX’s confidence-inspiring performance, combined with the engineering voodoo that turned the Acura’s four separate powerplants into one cohesive team, that helped Team Acura earn its redemption and victory.

On nearly every metric, both objective and subjective, the NSX outclasses the Polestar, BMW, and Lexus. It’s quicker, sharper, and sportier than its electrified rivals. Most important, it’s more fun to drive. Although the Acura is the least fuel-efficient car here, the NSX’s seamless powertrain integration ought to provide a good model for others to follow as we enter a new decade and inch ever closer to an internal combustionless future.

Sharp-eyed readers will notice that our order of finishing also matches the field’s escalation in as-tested price. That is coincidental. Our grading in performance, drivability, and livability among our finishers was more about how well the hybrid technology was applied than about optional features and benefits (though the Lexus’ 50 grand discount from the rest of the field is indeed notable). In the case of the NSX, however, the quality of its hybrid technology easily distances it from the rest of the field.

If you’d asked any one of us a decade ago if an electrified sports car could ever be as engaging as a gas-powered car, you’d have gotten a resounding no. (Call it the Prius factor.) But as the NSX, Polestar 1, i8, and LC 500h prove, the future doesn’t have to be scary. Or boring.

The post Green Is Good: Acura NSX vs. BMW i8 vs. Lexus LC 500h vs. Polestar 1 appeared first on MotorTrend.

Source: WORLD NEWS