I bought a 2006 Lexus RX400h four years ago, despite being and old git I was stupid enough to land myself with a young child and couldn’t spend four weekends a year maintaining my beloved P38 Range Rover, nor risk it breaking down – not that it ever did.

So I bought Japanese. The car had done 50K miles, this period coincided with a massive drop off in my annual mileage so I’ve only put another 50K on it since.

The Good:

It has a large boot, it’s reasonably refined it has the performance of a V8 Range Rover with the economy of a diesel (30mpg), I'm over 6 foot and find the driving position (2 memory seat, mirror and steering wheel adjustment) to be completely comfortable after many hours at the wheel, The car grips well but offers little feedback.

Thanks to the instant grunt from the electric motors, the sprint to 30mph is very impressive, I’ve “burned off” many more exotic cars at the traffic light GP – the thing just leaps away from the lights. Definitely faster than my old Jag XJR to 30 and faster than the official figures suggest (except in the wet). The later 450h trades some of this acceleration for extended battery-only range. At the last service – the 11 year old battery pack showed no signs of aging and is still very healthy passing the hybrid-drive test with flying colours. The 3.3litre v6 is fairly punchy but like many Japanese cars seems to have quite loud valve-train noise. I’ve listened to a few others - this is perfectly normal. The headlights are excellent, they are the optional follow the steering Xenons.

The Bad:
Soul, or lack of – it does everything well but doesn’t get your juices flowing. A perfectly decent car but completely forgettable. Rust, a few bubbles of rust have appeared near the arches and on the bonnet lip. The wheels are heavily corroded (typical Lexus), the brakes work well when pushed but don’t inspire confidence. The sat nav is rubbish. The traction control is over sensitive and really hampers acceleration in the wet, I suspect this nannying is because of the next issue - there’s noticeable torque steer when hammering it in the wet which never gets out of hand, but it’s there to remind you you’re not driving a Range Rover! If you’re not lead-footed you probably won’t notice either of these traits.
Car Park anonymity! I find I have to drive around car parks with the windows down and the (decent) stereo on, pedestrians just don’t hear you coming when running on battery power and step into your path lemming-style. Reversing lights are awful, I’ve replaced them with LEDs which means the parking camera is now useful at night – but the electrical noise from the dodgy Chinese LED's means I have to turn the wireless off when reversing to avoid a blast of white noise!

Good/Bad?
Don’t forget it has a CVT – some drivers loath them, I think the combination of the grumbly V6 and whirr of the electric motors makes it sound a bit like airwolf from the 80s! The nearest the car has to character!

Costs:
Other than the 90K cambelt service (+£700 to usual service bill) there haven’t been any extra costs associated with running the car, I ditched the horrible squealy half-worn Bridgestones Duallers when I first got it and fitted road biased Toyo Open Country HT Mud&Snow tyres, the fronts are now down to 3mm after 40K miles and need replacing (I didn’t rotate them). They grip impressively in the wet and yet don’t squeal like most M&S tyres in the dry – I tend to corner hard and they really impress. My exuberant cornering style has probably caused another issue – I’m starting to get wheel bearing noise from the rear, I think there’s probably 10K before I’m facing a sizable bill!

All in all it’s a cheap car to run for a large petrol SUV. I have a feeling it will last quite well but will get tatty quickly due to the aforementioned surface rust. It’s not really an off roader (although I waded through a 100 yard, 1 metre flood with "water and electricity don't mix" screaming in my head - with no noticable outcome - there were cars stranded everywhere, the RX was fine.) and the (non-switchable) traction control stops you having any real fun off road anyway – but with the trusty Toyos I don’t worry about wintery conditions – the car copes very well indeed. Later cars have mud and snow modes. If you don’t pnie for excitement from your motoring, there’s a lot to commend this car.