Feature: Hemi vs. Hybrid: a professional driver's take
Rob MacDonald; photo by Danny Bailey. Click image to enlarge
By the editors of CanadianDriver; photos by Danny Bailey
Photo Gallery: Hemi versus Hybrid
Let's get one thing clear: I don't profess to be a "car guy." I'm a driver. I love driving and I love driving fast. For me cars are mostly just a means to an end. I simply like cars that give me a superior driving experience. I've driven some very nice race cars and perhaps it's unfair, but it is those standards I hold vehicles up to in terms of pure driving enjoyment.
Lexus GS 450h; photo by Danny Bailey. Click image to enlarge
And when it comes to hybrid vehicles, I must admit I've got some preconceptions. My take is that people seeking hybrid alternatives have a significantly different priority list than most automotive consumers. Specifically, I envision the hybrid customer as someone who places great importance on fuel economy and reduced emissions at the expense of power, handling, and overall performance (the driving experience). So I didn't really get the connection when I first heard about Hemi vs. Hybrid. I mean, at least from the consumer standpoint, aren't we talking about apples and oranges here?
Up to the moment I arrived at Niagara District Airport, where we were to pit these two seemingly incompatible contenders against each other, I never considered hybrid vehicles to possess the design characteristics that could provide an enjoyable high-performance driving experience. Ill-conceived or not, I believed the engineering focus to be put elsewhere; specifically, into batteries, electric motors, transmissions, and the other gadgetry required to make a hybrid vehicle functional.
Now a word about the hybrid in question: the Lexus GS 450h. I knew enough about the Lexus brand to be optimistic about the performance of this vehicle when I turned the wheel, but what about when I depressed the accelerator? And, would there be enough overall performance to redefine how I thought about hybrid vehicles, in general?
Then there's the HEMI: Chrysler's 300C. You might classify this as a luxury sports sedan, because like the Lexus, it shares certain luxury features, but the defining technology in this car is Chrysler's famous HEMI engine -- a term synonymous with high-performance.
Lexus GS 450h and Chrysler 300C (top) and Lexus GS 450h; photos by Danny Bailey. Click image to enlarge
Admittedly, these vehicles vary significantly in price, but I can tell you that from a driving perspective, money doesn't always talk. In terms of performance, the most common starting point for comparison is power to weight ratio, and these vehicles are almost identical.
When it comes to the driving experience, it begins when you turn the key (or in the case of the Lexus, when you press the button!). In contrast to the satisfying grumble of the 300C when its V8 HEMI comes to life, the GS 450h is decidedly anticlimactic - as you have yet to demand anything from the internal combustion engine, you're not totally sure if you've started anything at all. There is a 'cool factor' associated with this, but it fails to provide the preferred foreplay to a high-performance driving experience. I noticed that both cars provide a comfortable "9 & 3" hand position for the ensuing fun, although the 300C provides more lateral support in the seats, which I intended to use.
The first test I initiated was a linear slalom, which evaluates the vehicles' ability to transfer weight, as well as steering response, and rebound -- that is, the ability of the suspension to put the tire back on the ground after the suspension has been compressed. This is more than just a speed exercise, as superior handling results in a quicker negotiation of the pylons. The GS 450h showed its superiority immediately. As a racer, I prefer very direct steering. Most production vehicles have a fixed steering ratio of approximately 14:1 -- meaning for every 14-degree rotation of the steering wheel, the front wheels turn one-degree. It is unclear to me what effect, if any, the Lexus Variable Gear Ratio Steering system had in this test, but the amount of steering required to negotiate the linear slalom was noticeably less versus the Chrysler. The platform of the GS 450h remained remarkably level throughout and it was more than ready to head back in the other direction when I demanded it, ultimately using no more than a quarter turn in either direction from the starting point. The 300C, in contrast, had a much more difficult time. The body roll was more apparent and it struggled to transfer its weight as quickly.
Paul Williams and Grant Yoxon; photo by Danny Bailey. Click image to enlarge
Ultimately, I found myself rotating the wheel several degrees more. Additionally, the power steering assist was stronger in the 300C, and while this may be nice in the parking lot, it reduced the overall feedback through the wheel making it more difficult to understand what the car was doing. In the end, the 300C was only three-tenths of a second slower than the Lexus hybrid, but one was a Sunday drive and the other was a Bristol dogfight.
Let's change the parameters by keeping the wheel straight and doing some longitudinal tests -- the first one, of course, being the popular 0-100 km/h. Here I want to see how the hybrid competes against the HEMI in terms of throttle response, acceleration, power band torque distribution, gear ratio efficiency (and I'm not talking about fuel here), as well as overall feel. Transmissions represent another departure point for these vehicles so I wasn't surprised to get a very different experience from the Lexus CVT and the Chrysler five-speed automatic. Both vehicles were satisfying off the line and each recognized quickly what I was after. The CVT on the Lexus provides incredibly smooth and efficient power application and with no real gear ratios to speak of, provides consistent torque throughout the power band.
Lexus GS 450h; photo by Danny Bailey. Click image to enlarge
The screaming engine and shifting gears of the 300C give the impression that it's working harder under the circumstances, but these things contribute to an enjoyable experience under hard acceleration. The HEMI really comes alive above 4000 rpm, and the extra torque in this range really puts a smile on your face. While the GS 450h bested the 300C by three-tenths of a second (6.4s vs. 6.7s), in terms of driving enjoyment, the Chrysler came out on top. As a driver, I like hearing and feeling the engine as the gears are used up and changed and I like it when the additional torque coincides with higher (i.e. louder) engine speed to make you feel as though the rubber might leave the road if you only had wings.
It is now time to stop the cars from 100 km/h. From a high-performance driving perspective, the better the car is under the brakes, the longer you can stay on the gas, and in my opinion rapid deceleration is nearly as exciting as rapid acceleration. In everyday driving the safety implications of better brakes are obvious. It was in this test that the Lexus really shone. Generally, the benchmark for high-performance is a stopping distance of 40 metres or less from 100 km/h. The GS 450h came to a halt in a mere 36.5 metres, and the car was remarkably stable under this aggressive input.
Lexus GS 450h and Chrysler 300C; photo by Danny Bailey. Click image to enlarge
The 300C by contrast needed 43.8 metres to stop its mass and was not nearly as confidence-inspiring in terms of managing its weight. To be fair, it's not that the 300C was so bad; it's that the Lexus was truly amazing in this regard.
The question now is: has my general impression about the high-performance capabilities of hybrid vehicles changed? The answer: definitely. Lexus has produced an incredibly fun hybrid. Which vehicle would I choose on a purely high-performance basis? While the 300C HEMI has got grunt and attitude, it is not enough to compensate for what it gives up in terms of overall performance. With the Lexus GS 450h I may not be getting that HEMI exhaust note or that gritty power band, but I'm getting a quick, capable, and fun driving experience. As a fan of driving, and one who can appreciate the benefits offered by hybrid technology, it's nice to know that I can have my cake and eat it too.
