Let's be completely honest for a second. Unlike certain European rivals with six- and eight-cylinder engines, the RX and XC60 are not performance-oriented sport utility vehicles. They're not sluggards either, although one of them is much slower than the other. But which one?
The vehicles in the video below are called RX 500h and XC60 T8 Recharge, and the biggest difference between them is the powertrain. Both rock turbo four-cylinder lumps, although the Volvo ups the ante with a supercharger and a plug-in hybrid system. The Lexus may feature a larger engine, but it's only turbocharged. As the name implies, the RX 500h isn't a plug-in hybrid either, but a hybrid with a rear-mounted drive unit.
A similarly important difference comes in the form of transmission. Both are fitted with torque-converter automatics, with Lexus using an Aisin sixer and Volvo employing an eight-speed box from Aisin as well.
Last but certainly not least, curb weight matters a lot in a drag race. Given that it's larger in pretty much every imaginable way, the RX also happens to be heavier at 4,750 pounds (2,155 kilograms). The XC60 in T8 Recharge flavor is rated at 4,689 lbs (2,127 kgs).
Redesigned from the ground up for the 2023 model year on Toyota's TNGA-K platform, the RX uses a parallel hybrid setup with a total system output of 366 horsepower at 6,000 revolutions per minute and 406 pound-feet (550 Nm) between 2,000 and 3,000 revolutions per minute. There's a chance for this powertrain to be adapted for the 2024 Toyota Tacoma, but we still don't know if that's actually the case.
Over at Volvo, the Swedish crossover is quite a bit pokier in both respects. Power and torque peak at 455 ponies and 523 pound-feet (712 Nm), although said torque is developed 1,000 revolutions per minute later than the RX 500h. It's pretty clear the XC60 T8 Recharge has the upper hand on paper, but you'll be shocked by how much it beats the RX 500h in a quarter-mile showdown at Ontario's Dunnville Autodrome.
The Volvo gets off to a very good start – for a plug-in hybrid crossover, that is – and eventually crosses the quarter-mile finish line in 13.2 seconds, a whopping 0.8 seconds ahead of the RX 500h. As per the GPS performance meters fitted to said vehicles, zero to 60 mph (97 kph) took 4.5 and 5.9 seconds, respectively.
Sam CarLegion's latest upload continues with a series of rolls, the first at 32 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour) and the second at 80 kilometers per hour (42 miles per hour). The difference is noticeably smaller in the second race, but alas, the Lexus couldn't hold a candle to that cool-looking Swede in either rolling start race.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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