Driving the RX 400h isn’t a lot different than driving the RX 350. It’s smooth and responsive, yet there are some obvious distinctions apparent the moment it starts up. Twist the key and the dash lights up but there’s no sound of an engine starting, only silence. Slide the transmission lever to drive and you can pull silently away on electric power. This is not intuitive because we’re all accustomed to hearing and feeling an engine running before shifting into drive. Shifting into drive without sound or vibration can feel strange. You get used to it, though, and we enjoy running in electric-only mode.

At low speeds, the RX 400h is perfectly content to operate in electric-only mode. It’s quiet, and you begin to hear things that are normally drowned out by an engine. We found this interesting and enjoyable. It will run in this silent mode in stop-and-go commuter traffic, eliminating the noise and pollution that the cars around you are putting out. The RX 400h maneuvers silently through crowded parking lots as well, where pedestrians often will not hear you coming and therefore won’t always get out of the way. You learn to be patient and need to exercise extra care. Toyota’s hybrid system is an electric motor assisted by a gas engine, while some of the other hybrid systems are oriented around a gasoline engine assisted by an electric motor.

The front-wheel-drive version features a single electric motor in front; the all-wheel-drive model uses one motor in front and one in the rear. The V6 engine starts whenever it’s needed to supplement the electric motor. Step hard on the gas pedal and the V6 will usually kick in quickly and seamlessly. In all cases the response is immediate acceleration, and plenty of it. The 400h is impressively quick, particularly when overtaking a slower vehicle between 30 and 60 mph.

The RX 400h enjoys a 10 mpg edge in fuel efficiency over the RX 350 in the EPA’s City cycle, earning 28/25 mpg City/Highway with front-wheel drive. That might look odd at first, as we rarely see EPA ratings with City mileage that exceeds Highway. With the RX 400h, it’s because the vehicle can run strictly on electric power at lower city speeds, using energy generated in several ways (including the gas engine) and stored in its batteries.

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