When Toyota launched a luxury brand most of us had a quiet laugh. Any Italian – and quite a few Brits, eh Jaguar? – will tell you it takes more than just building superbly engineered, class-beatingly refined, smoothly powered, ergonomically perfect… hang on a minute. This is going to work, isn’t it?
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GS 300/430
$95,174 - $137,200
Will never win second prize in a beauty contest, not even when playing Monopoly, but is nonetheless a fabulously wafty sedan. Love affair with the road not included.
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IS 250/220d
$54,390 - $79,000
The genius of this 3-Series rival is the use of rear-wheel drive. It's not only a proper BMW-botherer, it's got a chassis that makes a Mondeo feel like a Suzuki Jimny.
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LS 600h
$244,464 - $251,879
Five-litre V8, four-wheel-drive, 205km/h, huge. Easy target. Hang on, though, it’s a hybrid. With an electric motor. Both black AND white?
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RX
$35,550 - $44,415
You're more likely to take your washing machine for a walk in the park than drive this SUV across a muddy field. So what? Both machines do what they do very well.
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SC 430
$168,833
Ahead-of-its-time, in the sense that it was designed before man had learned how to design motor cars properly. Presumably.

