Lexus LM Review 2024

First, ask yourself what you need this much real estate for, and if you’re willing to pay £90,000-plus for it.

If you’re running a chauffeuring business that picks up high-profile clients from their private jets, this is the perfect car for the job when equipped in its four-seat form. Or, if you’re a CEO who works on the move, this layout would be more than enough. 

As the price suggests, this is not a conventional people carrier. With the seven-seat box ticked, priority goes to second-row passengers. The third-row seats split 50:50 and are designed only for occasional use.

There's only one engine to choose from – a 2.5-litre four-cylinder hybrid. It’s enough to carry out the LM’s ‘Luxury Mover’ task, but don’t expect any thrills. Buyers can still choose from front-wheel or all-wheel drive, with the latter being slightly quicker although heavier. 

Opting for the entry-level LM will still empty your bank of £89,995. Those who opt for the range-topping sumptuous Takumi, like the one we sampled, will be £113,000 lighter. 

Choosing the latter removes the seven-seat option and adds two lounge-style reclining rear seats. This also means that gross weight increases from 2,830 to 2,870kg. Go for the all-wheel drive, and the seven-seater weight increases to 2,880kg.

There are very few things available that offer this level of luxury with this much space. There’s the BMW i7, which costs anywhere between £116,225 to circa £200,000 with nearly every option ticked, although it falls short in interior capacity.

There’s also the Range Rover, Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes-Benz GLS and Mercedes-Benz EQS. Still, these are more executive saloons and SUVs, but they offer oodles of luxury nonetheless. 

A more suited competitor would be the Mercedes-Benz V-Class. This starts at £74,585 for the V220d Long while the Extra Long V300d tips at the scales at £80,000. 

Even if you haven’t yet sat in the rear, opening either of the front doors will give you an idea of what’s behind. There's a lavish consistency throughout the LM and this is where the bulk of the sticker price is.

You'll be hard-pushed to find any scratchy plastics up front or in the rear. There are places where Lexus could’ve skimped and saved cash, but they haven’t. Even the seats use a special foam and fancy material to reduce low-frequency vibrations. 

Its steering wheel has a nice touch of Bengala, a red matter often seen in building render and in ceramic. Thick soft carpets line the cabin and its leather seats feel buttery. 

The driver gets a 14-inch touchscreen containing all the gizmos needed and more: it’s fast and the graphics are on point. Likewise, its cabin has good old-fashioned buttons to control the climate, and radio. Opening the little storage lid below the touchscreen reveals a wireless phone charger, and two USB ports: one standard, and one USB-C.

Open the rear electronically assisted sliding doors, and you’re presented with a large 48-inch TV neatly positioned below the opaque privacy screen. This uses Miracast, which means you can watch your favourite TV shows solely from the screen. 

You’ll first need to cast a device, such as a laptop or phone. Those who work on the move will then have a second computer monitor. Sadly, we couldn’t test this as it required HDMI-to-USB-C cables to set up, which weren’t available to us. 

Two nifty pop-out mobile phone devices sit at the tip of the LM’s large central armrest. These allow the rear passengers to control a plethora of functions such as choosing from 64 ambient lighting colours, raising and lowering the side and roof blinds, and climate control adjustment. 

There's also a nifty ambience screen. This allows passengers to select from four pre-set settings: ‘dream’, ‘relax’, ‘focus’, or ‘energise’. Depending on which one you choose, the cabin will either be plunged into darkness, or it’ll open the blinds to let as much sunlight in as possible.

The sound system won’t disappoint. The LM comes with a 21-speaker Mark Levinson 3D surround system or a 23-speaker system for the Takumi model. 

We were quite surprised at just how much luggage space is offered with the four-seater guise. By peering between the two lounge seats, you quickly question how many suitcases it can swallow. 

There's a total of 752 litres – ample amounts for designer bags and a couple of suitcases but choosing the seven-seater causes this to shrink to a miniscule 110 litres with the third row in place. With those folded away, it expands to 1,191 litres. 

With the lounge seating, both rear passengers can adjust their seats via the touchscreens or the buttons on the armrest. Both seats fully recline, and there are seven massaging options because one or two simply wouldn’t be enough.

Opening a cubby below the 48-inch screen reveals a refrigerator; a cool feature – no pun intended – but we found this difficult to open while belted in. Overhead reading lights make for easy night reading and foldout tray tables cater for in-flight meals. The tables are a bit small and we feel a laptop would be too heavy. 

We were also told that the driver and rear passengers could listen to two different radio stations simultaneously. Charging devices is never an issue thanks to the endless amounts of USB-C sockets and wireless charging pads, which sit on both sides of the car. There are also lots of cubbies to hide books, folders, electronic devices.  

This is a UK-first for Lexus, which means there’s only one engine and gearbox available. The 300h has a 250ps 239Nm hybrid petrol engine, mated to a CVT transmission. 

It doesn’t sound a lot, and that's because it isn’t. When compared to other limousines and luxury barges, that often get larger six-cylinders, the LM feels like it should have more oomph. Asian markets get a 366ps version known as the LM 500h, something we feel would be welcome in the UK. 

The LM isn’t glacial when you sink the right foot – it picks up quite well – but we found larger hills somewhat frustrating, and any overtaking needs to be planned.  

Regardless of how you drive it, the CVT transmission still feels smooth but its forte lies at lower speeds. It also runs solely on electricity occasionally, but the battery is tiny and Lexus describes it as a self-charging hybrid. This means it can't quite take the load of the petrol engine for an entire journey. 

It’s incredibly quiet below 50mph. At motorway speeds, road noise begins to creep in, but you’ll soon forget about that, especially if you’re a backseat passenger. It has thick side window glass resulting in impressive sound deadening, even when sat up front. 

Panel gaps have also been tightened to reduce wind noise and extra anti-vibration measures have been applied to the engine bay, around the wheel wells and behind the instrument cluster. Both the A-pillar and bonnet have also been tweaked to cut wind noise. 

It’s still early days, and too soon to say how the LM will perform under Euro NCAP’s strict testing. Regardless, like most Toyota/Lexus products, the LM is packed with safety tech to protect its passengers and prevent accidents.

There's the Lexus Safety System+, something that can be seen on the NX, RX, LBX, and RZ models. This addresses frontal collisions, night-time accidents and unintended lane departures. It has automatic high beam assist, road sign assist, rear-cross traffic alert with auto brake, and blind spot monitoring. 

Going by previous larger Lexus/Toyota models, the LM shouldn’t be too far off a five-star Euro NCAP rating. 

It’s still too early to say but according to the latest Honest John Satisfaction Index, Lexus achieved a 92.37% satisfaction score, making it the UK’s best-rated car brand.

Toyota and Lexus are both known for their reliability and build quality. If this still isn’t enough, the LM is backed by a decent warranty. Its comprehensive warranty covers three years/60,000 miles, the hybrid system is covered for five years/60,000 miles, corrosion and perforation is 12 years/unlimited mileage, and surface rust and paintwork are three years/unlimited mileage. 

Lexus hasn’t disclosed an insurance group for the LM, but we expect it to sit somewhere between 38-44, based on the equivalent Mercedes-Benz V-Class. 

The LM rides on 225/55 R19 tyres, which can cost anywhere from £90 to £210. Of course, you’ll want to buy reputable comfort tyres to make the most of its cushty ride and trick suspension. 

The front-wheel drive LM emits 152 g/km or 163 g/km for the all-wheel drive, meaning it’s up there alongside Lexus’ biggest and most powerful machines. Unfortunately, big and or powerful don’t often come cheap. 

The first-year rate is £670, but buyers need to be prepared to part with £590 per year afterwards, regardless of which trim they choose. Paying only six months reduces this to £324.50, but considering how much the LM costs, we can’t imagine this would be too much of a concern. 

The base LM trim has everything needed to transport a family or do larger airport runs. It comes as standard with heated and ventilated front and rear seats, power-assisted sliding doors, and rear lumbar support, and the rear first-row passengers also get massaging seats. 

Buyers can choose from four exterior colours: Sonic White, Sonic Titanium, Graphite Black, and Sonic Agate (red). Inside, there are two leather colours: black and sand. There are no real optional extras offered, except colours and front-wheel drive for the entry-level car. Instead, tech and comfort are trim-dependent. 

Lexus oddly removed the heads-up display from the top-spec Takumi model and doesn’t offer it as an extra. All cars come with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a heated steering wheel, smart entry, ambient lighting, reversing camera with a digital rear-view mirror, and lots of anti-theft tech. 

Of course, the Takumi comes with a refrigerator, rear wireless phone chargers, folding tables, two lounge seats, and a rear video screen – all options that aren’t available with the standard LM. 

There are no exterior trim options or sporty add-ons. Everything remains very similar between the two trims, and it’ll be hard to determine which is a Takumi as it drives on past – unless you’re a dab hand in MPV spotting.