2025 Lexus LM500h Ultra Luxury quick drive

If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to jump into a chauffeur car in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore or Malaysia to be shuttled from an airport to a hotel or into the city, you’re probably wondering the same thing we have on many occasions.

I’ve had the experience multiple times on holidays in those parts of the world. Why can’t we access these sorts of vehicles in Australia? In Japan especially, they are quite common. 

Well, Lexus has finally stepped up to the plate, and the luxurious LM500h is now available in our market. In Ultra Luxury guise as tested here, you’re looking at a starting price of $223,520 before on-road costs.

All-wheel drive, four seats, and a passenger experience that delivers high on luxury, space and premium comfort make it hard to argue with the price. You can, of course, opt for the LM350h in either 2WD or AWD as well (both with seven seats), from $163,520 and $168,520, both before on-road costs. Everywhere you look, signature Lexus attention to detail and quality are part of the LM experience. 

The LM is an interesting conundrum in that it is significantly more expensive than any of the competitive set, but delivers luxury the others don’t and is targeted at an exclusive audience.

Think electric Mercedes-Benz EQV300 or LDV MIFA 9 Luxe. The ‘Benz comes closest to the LM in regard to luxury and amenity, but the MIFA 9 can’t compete. Further, Lexus has told Drive that it sells every LM it can get its hands on, and there is significant interest in it, despite the price. 

The people-mover comparison is a vexed one too, because in real terms, the limo sedans offered by Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are really the only cars that go close to delivering the same level of second row comfort as the LM rather than anything else that looks like a people mover.

Comparing our pick of the people movers - the excellent Kia Carnival - to this LM is also unfair. The Carnival, as good as it is, is very much more family-focused. 

You would assume most LM buyers would be VIP-style limousine and chauffeur companies running one or more on fleet, and you’d probably be right. Further, with so little that competes with the LM on a spec-for-spec basis, the asking price absolutely makes sense to a business buyer in a way that might not to a private buyer. If you want to look after clients in style and comfort, this is the way to do it. 

Forget the styling for the moment, because as a passenger you won’t be concerned with that. Open the sliding rear doors and take in the ridiculous luxury of the back seats - two only - that ensure any drive is a comfortable one.

The sliding doors are power-operated, of course. You also get two sunroofs with their own electric sun shades, side windows with clever shades, and individual climate control for the two rear seats. If you need to cruise around town incognito, the LM is the perfect option. 

Unsurprisingly, the rear seats are electric, feature extended foot and leg rests so you can stretch right out in comfort, and are heated and cooled with massage functionality, too. The recline right out, so a comfortable snooze is absolutely on offer if you’re a little weary.

The chunky centre console that sits between the rear seats controls a host of functions, and the rear seats are separated from the driver and front seat passenger by a trimmed panel that has an electric glass window inside it. You can even switch the glass from clear to frosted if you like - it’s crazy stuff. 

There’s also a cold compartment for drinks, and fold out tables if you need a work - or snack - space. Suspension can be tuned via selectable damper control, again as you’d expect, but this system is a little different. Lexus has provided Sport, Comfort and Normal in the settings list, but there is also a setting that prioritises rear-seat comfort and bump absorption, entirely appropriate given the passenger-centric nature of this vehicle. 

While the seats - and their unrivalled ability to provide comfort - are the focus from the minute you open the sliding rear door, the enormous entertainment screen is due just as much attention.

It’s a whopping 48-inch unit (Remember when your TV at home was that size?), and it can be paired with your devices to display whatever it is you might want to watch. You can also control it via one of two smartphone-sized controllers that are set into the centre stack between the seats. 

The standard 23-speaker Mark Levinson audio system is a cracker, delivering concert quality sound, with genuine clarity and depth, and you can have a cinema experience in the second row if you really want to. Also critical, the way we measure it, is the amount of luggage space you can access despite the size of the rear seats and the legroom they afford. Airport runs will be a cinch for the LM. 

The driving part of the equation, then, is excellent, too, even if most of you would be more likely to be a passenger in the LM. Our tester gets the flagship 2.4-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with electric assistance for a combined power output of 273kW. Lexus quotes 202kW and 460Nm for the petrol engine alone, and you also get a six-speed transmission and AWD. 

The engine uses a pair of electric motor generators in a parallel-hybrid arrangement, and Lexus still opts for an older tech nickel-metal hydride battery as opposed to a lithium-ion battery pack. As such, the quoted fuel consumption figure is impressive - 6.6L/100km. We saw a figure of 9.0L/100km almost entirely around town in traffic, with a short freeway run mixed in. 

On the freeway, the interior is serene, right up to 110km/h, as befits the luxury chauffeur experience that Lexus is seeking to provide. Whether you’re up front or a passenger, the cabin is quiet and refined. The only negative up front is the legroom for taller occupants, which is tightened quite a bit by that fixed bulkhead. In every other sense, the quality of the fit and finish and the choice of materials, is as good up front as it is in the back seats. 

What’s entirely unexpected is the punch and ability of the drivetrain. It’s actually a quick vehicle, something you won’t experience if you’re driving passengers around, but with the back seat free of recliners, I got the sense that the power and torque on offer as well as the AWD system, ensure you can push the LM along with some authority if you really want to. 

It will keep punching, right up to highway speed, too, with no breathlessness in sight. The gearbox is excellent, and its undoubtedly smooth, somewhat muted, and composed, but faster than I expected.

All that means it feels like an effortless thing to drive no matter how hard you push it, even though you may never need the urge that it can provide. The one blip in the refinement offering is the way the petrol engine cuts in and out, which isn’t quite as imperceptible as we’d like. 

There’s no doubt the 2025 Lexus LM500h is a stunning luxury people mover with a blend of style, substance and comfort no other vehicle in the class can match. That it takes the fight to the established limo brigade is even more impressive. If you’re a professional driver, few vehicles will leave your clients as impressed as this one. 

Trent Nikolic has been road testing and writing about cars for almost 20 years. He started at CarAdvice/Drive in 2014 and has been a motoring editor at the NRMA, Overlander 4WD Magazine, Hot4s and Auto Salon Magazine.

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