Lexus

Lexus

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?

  • Lexus GS 300/430

    GS 300/430

    £30,675 - £47,030

    Will never win second prize in a beauty contest, not even when playing Monopoly, but is nonetheless a fabulously wafty saloon. Love affair with the road not included.

     

  • Lexus GS450h

    GS 450h

    £38,314 - £47,165

    Cunning double agent offering hybrid technology to appease the greenies, but then sneakily using the electric power to boost performance. Not many losers here.

  • Lexus IS250

    IS 250/220d

    £21,154 - £42,319

    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.

  • Lexus IS-F

    IS F

    The words 'mad' and 'Lexus' usually sit together as comfortably as 'Kilroy-Silk' and 'tolerant world view'. The IS-F changes all that.

  • Lexus LS 460

    LS 460

    £55,419 - £69,124

    True class speaks for itself, but this is a limo that's lost its voice. You can't arrive at the premiere and have to explain to the crowd why it is actually a very good car.

  • Lexus LS600h

    LS 600h

    £78,819 - £85,279

    Five-litre V8, four-wheel-drive, 155mph, huge. Easy target. Hang on, though, it’s a hybrid. With an electric motor. Both black AND white? How to baffle the Daily Mail.

  • Lexus RX

    RX

    £31,309 - £43,868

    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.

  • Lexus RX450h

    RX 450h

    £40,779 - £54,684

    You can argue over just how meritorious a hybrid urban SUV actually is, but the RX450h is more about how damn expensive the car is in the first place

  • Lexus SC430

    SC 430

    £52,759

    Ahead-of-its-time, in the sense that it was the first coupe-cabriolet, and in that it was designed before man had learned how to design motor cars properly. Presumably.

Advertisement