Toyota Mirai

The Mirai rides like a luxury vehicle. This Lexus-based, rear-wheel-drive sedan serves up a majestic ride that makes passengers feel well-isolated from bumps and undulations.

With well-suppressed road and wind noise, and no engine noise, the Mirai’s cabin is exceptionally quiet. The only unusual noise is a swooshy sound as soon as you shut the car off and witness the discharging of the water vapor, which leaves a small puddle on the ground.

It’s immediately clear that the Mirai is adept at carving corners. It handles like a genuine rear-drive luxury sedan (think: BMW 5 Series), with good steering response and road holding that inspires confidence. Plus, the suspension keeps the body controlled, limits unwanted motions, and is unfazed by midcorner bumps.Acceleration is smooth and quiet—typical of EVs. However, the Mirai doesn’t feel as snappy as most EVs, which launch off the line with real zip. But then, with only a modest 182 hp for a hefty 4,300-pound car, you can’t expect a rocket ship.

Whereas EVs take hours to charge (unless using DC fast charging in public places where replenishing can take up to an hour), fuel-cell vehicles get clamped to a hydrogen dispenser and fill their tanks in a few minutes, similar to how gas is pumped into a conventional vehicle. Another crucial difference is that while EVs can be charged at home, fuel-cell vehicles cannot. From a fueling speed perspective, fuel-cell vehicles have an advantage over EVs, but the elephant in the room is the scarcity of hydrogen stations, which means the Mirai has to remain on a tight leash rather than roam freely.

It doesn’t help the cause that the average cost of a kilogram of hydrogen, the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas, costs $16.50. That explains why both Hyundai and Toyota provide complimentary hydrogen fill-ups for buyers and lessees. Mirai lessees get $15,000 worth of fill-ups for three years. Buyers get that same amount but for six years. At the average price of hydrogen this amounts to over 900 kilograms, which translates to covering about 66,000 miles for the XLE.

High-quality materials surround the Mirai’s swanky cabin. Soft-touch surfaces and solid switchgear abound, as well as synthetic leather for the seats, with attractive stitching. A cabin with this ambience wouldn’t be out of place in a Lexus.

At a length of 196 inches, the Mirai is a large sedan. Rear-seat room, however, is shockingly tight. That’s because one of the hydrogen tanks lies in the tunnel that otherwise would host the drive shaft, and the seat—which doesn’t fold down—is squeezed from behind by the hybrid battery. Likewise, the trunk is tiny because the hybrid battery ahead of it and the electric motor underneath it. This is a stark difference compared with expanded cabin volumes offered by most EVs that use large battery packs mounted below the floor.

We weren’t enamored with the flush buttons for audio and climate control functions. The touchscreen is a far reach for the driver, and it’s easy to get bogged down in the myriad screen displays. The gear selector is identical to the one in the Prius and is easy enough to use.