Lexus LS vs MG HS +EV

What's the difference?

The LS500 is the least logical version of the most logical option in the ultimate luxury sedan segment in which logic doesn’t often apply at all. 

Take from that what you will, but if it was me being driven around I would definitely be opting for the hybrid version of the LS instead for its smooth electrified driving characteristics and lower operating costs.

The MG HS +EV Essence is a nicely specified medium SUV that should suit a lot of people. It looks really nice and I love that it's fairly practical with its features and size but would like some of the tech to improve. It’s not always seamless to use and in this market, tech is very important. The price tag and the on-going costs are hard to beat and if you’re looking for a greener option that will happily cruise in the city or on the open-road, this isn’t a bad option.

The distinctive but conservative style of Lexus is on full show across the LS’s massive frame. Like other cars in its class, it’s very much the image of the brand itself with styling points strong, but to me not as impressive as the LC500, which is a definitive expression of the brand.

The LS also has many styling points of the previous-generation Lexus design language which are in the process of being phased out.

The car was only updated last year, bringing with it a more recent interpretation of the brand’s big spindle grille, pointy headlight profile, and angular but traditional rear.

The LS - even in this Sports Luxury guise - does look quite menacing from certain angles. The width and stance of this car is accentuated by its curvaceous rear guards and big square front bumper, with the elegance of a classic three-box sedan maintained in a side profile.

The chrome wheel finish is a bit much for my taste, but there’s no doubt they’re real show pieces. They’d better be, too, because I hear they are incredibly expensive should you need to replace one.

The inside has highs and lows but it’s the place where you can most tell the LS has been on sale for a while.

I love the plush seats, big screen, integrated analogue clock and three-dimensional door card design, which sell the flagship luxury feel.

But this car’s age is on show with its clunky and much maligned 'Remote Touch' pad controller (which Lexus is at long last phasing out in its new cars), last-generation software suite, and its small, crowded instrument cluster.

There are a whopping nine interior trim combinations to choose from and ours has the most recently added black leather and ‘Nishijin Haku’ themed highlights which are meant to be inspired by the way "moonlight sits on an open sea".

The feel is a bit '90s, a rough textured fabric with a silver detailing and elements clad in a thin platinum foil, making you feel like you’re in a classic high-class Japanese taxi.

But I’ll admit it plays well with the ambient lighting effect in the doors, and is a unique selling point compared to the standard leather finish.

It has an inoffensive exterior design that you won’t be embarrassed to be seen in. Curvy in all of the right places, it still manages to look sharp with its tapered LEDs and chrome accents.

It sits firmly within the medium SUV specs at 4574mm long, 1876mm wide and 1685mm high, so navigating your local shopping centre car park will be manageable.

The interior looks polished with the Bader leather sports seats and their suede-like inserts. The air vents are cute and add some personality to the robust dashboard.

There’s a plethora of soft touchpoints throughout that enhance the overall comfort and refinement, too.

For passengers, as you’d expect, the LS is stellar. The massive outboard rear seats offer plenty of room, and are complete with reclining, message, and cooling functions.

Adjustable vents feature, with quad-zone climate, and the screens come with individual headphone jacks and HDMI-in so you can bring with you all sorts of entertainment options for those longer journeys.

Other suitable additions worth noting include the wine cooler (although it’s a bit small for anything other than minibar-sized beverages, hardly the 007 trope of rolling out a full-size bottle of Bollinger), flip-down mirror with a light in the roof, and the touch panel controls in the armrest. I also appreciate the built-in sunshades. Nice touch.

Less impressive is the general vibe of the middle seat. With a large raised centre split in the floor and such wide and lavish outboard seats, the middle seat feels a bit forgotten.

Up front, the practicality offering includes a high level of adjustability for the seats to suit a wide range of driving positions, electrical adjust even for the steering column, and a nice wide seat which you simply sink into.

Of course, soft finishes adorn even unseen parts of the cabin so you’ll never touch a nasty hard plastic, and there are large storage areas in both the doors and centre console box.

This big armrest console also hides the USB connectivity within, and there’s a set of big cup holders with a flip-away lid if you want the wood grain design uninterrupted when they are not in use.

I have to mention the useless touchpad controller here, but hand the brand props for offering a collection of climate shortcut buttons on the dash, an actual volume knob, and truth be told you don’t need the touchpad anyway because the screen is touch. Just be ready for the matching last-generation software, which isn’t the best to use or navigate.

The boot has a volume of 440 litres which sounds plentiful, but the actual use of it is a reminder of one of the reasons SUVs are so popular.

Yes, it’s big and reasonably deep, but putting the largest CarsGuide case in there proved a bit clumsy as you have to lift it over the tall rear bumper and it only just clears the top of the relatively small opening.

I love sedans, but this is one area where you can see the benefit of a hatch opening, particularly if you were frequently doing the airport run.

The cabin space is very practical with its size. Each row has a decent amount of head and legroom. The big sunroof also makes the cabin feel airy and light-filled, which adds to that roomy feeling.

The leather-accented sports seats are quite comfortable and both are electric but the passenger side misses out on additional lumbar support.

I did have a few comments this week about the front seats, though, mainly that it feels like you’re perched forward in them. It would have been nice to be able to dip the bottom of the seats back.

The individual storage options are solid for this sized SUV with a glove box, two cupholders, drink bottle holders in the doors for front occupants and an air-cooled middle console box.

I missed having a utility tray next to the two USB-A ports and 12-volt outlet, as the Essence features wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but there is a dedicated phone holder next to the cupholders.

Back seat passengers enjoy two cupholders in the fold-down armrest, map pockets and drink bottle holders in the doors.

The seats in the back are well padded but you feel like your knees are propped up a bit because of the shallow footwell. Taller passengers may feel like they’re folding in on themselves.

The technology looks good but isn’t always easy to use. The 10.1-inch touchscreen multimedia system is simple to understand but regularly feels laggy.

It has built-in satellite navigation but a lot of the controls are found via accessing the touchscreen – like the climate control and heating function for the front seats.

The 12.3-inch digital instrument panel is very easy to read but not really customisable.

Charging options are okay and I like the two USB-A ports in both rows but there’s no wireless charging pad or USB-C port which would provide faster charging speed.

The boot is a decent size for the class at 451L and you can bump that up to 1275L if you fold the back seats down. The rear seats have a 60/40 split for added practicality.

There’s a cargo blind and some underfloor storage for the charger and a tyre puncture repair kit. I liked using the powered tailgate but found it a bit glitchy, it sometimes stopping mid-action.

There are only two models in the HS +EV line-up and the Essence is the top dog.

It will cost you $51,990 drive-away and that positions it as one of the most affordable options relative to its rivals. Only the Haval H6 is more affordable at $41,990 (drive-away) but admittedly, it’s by a fair chunk of change - almost $10K!

The Essence is well-specified with Bader leather-accented trims, heated front seats, electric front seats with four-way adjustment for the passenger seats and six-way for the driver, a powered tailgate, as well as a massive panoramic sunroof. The middle console is even cooled with air-control for added convenience.

The exterior hosts full LEDs with its daytime running lights, headlights and tail-lights, as well as, a heated rear window with timed cut off.

It also sports dual-zone climate control up front and directional air vents in both rows, plus multiple charging options add to interior practicality.

Its technology feels up to category standard with the sizing but the usability isn’t as great as its rivals. More on that later. 

And an added bonus. All the paintwork colours are included in the price.

The LS500 packs a 3.4-litre twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine with impressive peak outputs of 310kW/600Nm.

This engine is designed to replace a V8 in terms of its power and feel, and in a lot of ways it does.

It might surprise you to learn the only other place you’ll see this engine used in Australia is the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series.

The alternative present in the LS500h is a hybrid version of the same engine, sans the turbos.

With its electric assistance, power outputs are lower than this turbo version, but get close with a combined total of 264kW.

While I like the walloping nature of the turbocharged V6 we drove, I think the hybrid is a no-brainer choice for reasons explained in the driving segment.

Both HS +EV models share a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine and electric motor hybrid combination. Maximum outputs are 189kW of power and 370Nm of torque.

It’s very responsive with its power output and you definitely will be surprised by how much grunt this thing has.

Drive goes to the front wheels via a 10-speed auto transmission but it’s clunky and a bit too slow to shift out of the lower gears. This can make it feel like the engine is pulling back even when you’re accelerating, which I didn’t like.

On the electric motor side of things – the lithium-ion battery has a 16.6kW capacity and 63km (NEDC) driving range.

It has a Type 2 AC charging port but it can’t be hooked onto a fast charger as it lacks the CCS enhanced port. On a 7.0kW system you should see a full charge be completed in around five hours.

Given the angry sounds emanating from under the bonnet of this LS every time I put my foot on the accelerator, I was surprised to find overall fuel consumption for the week was surprisingly good.

I used the LS to drive mostly around town, and yet it beat its own urban claim of 14.2L/100km, settling at 12.9L.100km, closer to the combined fuel figure of 10L/100km.

The hybrid is said to nearly halve this consumption, and I’m inclined to believe it based on previous experience with Toyota/Lexus hybrid systems. 

The LS500 requires at least 95RON unleaded fuel and has an 82-litre fuel tank. That means you're looking at a range of around 635km, using our real-world figure.

With the electric motor being used, the official combined cycle fuel figure is 1.7L/100km and the urban figure comes out at 5.8L/100km.

My real-world usage came to 6.6L. That’s not bad at all, but I have done a lot of open-road driving this week. 

Based on the urban figure and the 55L fuel tank, you should see an approximate driving range of 948km.

MG recommends a minimum 95RON petrol be used. 

For a seemingly very sophisticated car, there’s something decidedly unsophisticated about the way the LS500 feels from behind the wheel.

Immediately, it feels nowhere near as cutting edge or even as special as something like the LC500, which to me becomes the truest expression of everything Lexus.

No, the LS500 in this turbo V6 guise feels a little bit too old-fashioned. It’s quiet and under acceleration feels like a V8 of just a few years ago, but the Aisin-sourced traditional torque converter automatic transmission is, dare I say, ordinary, lacking the finesse of its German rivals. It’s a problem which is easily solved. Pick the hybrid.

Elsewhere the experience is decidedly Lexus. If you’ve driven even an IS the experience is very familiar in the LS. The touchpoints all match, the steering is light and smooth with a healthy serve of electrical assistance, and, for the most part, the ride is as floaty and comfortable as you’d expect.

I say ‘for the most part’ because there are limits to what the LS’s adjustable-height air suspension will filter out on the enormous 20-inch wheels, complete with run-flat tyres.

Small bumps and potholes are dispatched with ease. Anything too large which passes a certain thud-factor will definitely be communicated to the cabin, though, making for a strange all-or-nothing ride quality.

It is impeccably silent inside, though. The engine is distant, even under load, and tyre noise is virtually non-existent thanks to specially designed alloy wheels with hollow chambers designed to minimise this effect. Now that’s more like what I expect from a Lexus.

It handles very well for such a big unit, making it at least decent to drive for the few buyers who will actually take the helm themselves.

This is no land yacht, it’s a surprisingly agile and adept machine when faced with a bit of blacktop. And it's here where the turbocharged V6 comes into its own compared to the hybrid, offering superior driver engagement.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the overall driving experience. Besides the slower gear shifting, it’s generally smooth to handle. The power is there and makes it easy to keep up with traffic or overtake if you need to.

The suspension handles bumps very well and the steering is responsive. You can tackle corners or a winding road with confidence and without too much roll!

The cabin is quiet, even at higher speeds but you will note the whining of the engine at lower speeds as those gears shift.

On a windy day at higher speeds, the car moves about in the lane more than I like but otherwise, is firmly placed.

The regen braking isn’t customisable but it’s firm enough that you’ll feel it when you pull off the accelerator.

Going down a mountain let me gain five per cent charge on the battery and despite driving over 500km this week I only popped it on charge once (with 15 per cent left) - just to give you an indication of its performance.

I kept the EV mode on default but you can switch it over to a full EV if you want to wring out the most from the electric range.

This is not a difficult car to park and you’ll love its size in a small car park. However, the 360-degree camera view, while pretty clear, is jumpy.

At first, I thought it was laggy but the image just shudders, like a bad connection. I's prefer to see front parking sensors, too, as this MG only has them at the rear.

The safety features are good on the HS and I like the 360-degree camera view but don't like the way the image shudders while in use.

It has a blind-spot monitoring system but the interior ‘alert’ light is in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it position.

Other features that come standard, are LED daytime running lights, forward collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, lane keeping aids, lane departure warning, intelligent seat belt reminders, rear parking sensors, traffic sign recognition, a driver fatigue monitor and adaptive cruise control.

It has autonomous emergency braking with car, pedestrian and cyclist detection which is operational from 0-80km/h.

The HS +EV hasn’t been assessed by ANCAP but its fuel-based sibling achieved a maximum five-star rating in 2019.

It only has six airbags, which is pretty low for an SUV, but the curtain airbags cover the back row.

There are ISOFIX child-seat mounts on the outboard seats and three top-tether anchor points but two seats will fit best.

Front passenger space may be compromised a little when a 0-4 rear-facing child seat is installed but overall, it was very easy to install my booster seat this week.

Lexus offers a five-year and unlimited kilometre warranty, and LX buyers get three years of complimentary membership to the brand’s ‘Encore Platinum’ owner experience, which includes three years of capped price servicing, free loan cars at the time of service, invites to events, discounts on fuel at Ampol outlets, and four uses of ‘Lexus On Demand’ which lets owners swap into another Lexus model for up to eight days at a time, as well as eight free uses of valet parking at certain locations.

Servicing on the LS occurs once every 12 months or 15,000km and is fixed for the first three years at $595. Very cheap for the space it plays in.

The ongoing costs are great on this! It comes with a seven-year/unlimited km warranty, which includes the hybrid battery.

It also has a seven-year capped-price servicing plan, which is above average for the class, and services average $426 which is competitive.

Servicing intervals are every 12 months or 10,000km, whichever occurs first, which is fine if you don’t clock a lot of kays every year.