Price: £46,995
Top speed: 124mph
0-62mph: 7.7 seconds
CO2: 127g/km
MPG: 51.4
On the giant gantries over the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow, the Highways Agency has taken to posting messages that most drivers with an IQ of more than, say, 12 will find insultingly obvious. “Drive Safely!” and “Keep Windscreen Clear!” flashed at me recently. Doh! Last weekend it was “Wear Your Seatbelt!” and “Slow Down!” What next? “Hold the Steering Wheel!” or “Don’t Crash!”? The irony is that the euphorically luxurious new Lexus RX 450h I was driving takes a similarly nannying approach to road safety.
I’ve never been in a car that’s beeped at me more often. Lights, lanes, parking, doors, speeding, rain, radio… touch or do anything and you’re rebuked with a stream of squeaks. In fact, you can barely turn your head without offending the vehicle’s notions of good driving. And I mean literally turn your head. The car’s Driver Monitoring System continuously tracks the movement of your bonce and your eyes. If it detects you’re not watching the road for more than a couple of seconds, it taps the brakes to sharpen your attention. Drift off for a little longer and it puts into play Lexus’s full Advanced Pre-Crash Safety protocol. And you don’t want that, so pay attention!
The list of active and passive driver aids and safety features, from lane assist to adaptive cruise control and an extraordinary 3D visual parking aid which spins an image of the car through 360 degrees on the screen in front of you, is almost endless. Libertarians may feel their role as the driver is being eroded by all this tech, but I am happy to sit back and let Lexus take the weight.When Lexus unveiled its revolutionary SUV in 1998, it was one of the first of a generation of production cars to prioritise technology over performance. Computers rather than mechanics had the whip hand. Today, there is barely a car on the road which isn’t essentially a computer on wheels. It was, however, quickly copied and overhauled by its competitors, so the numerous improvements over its predecessor in every department of this latest Lexus are long overdue. It’s now faster, lighter and even more efficient. It’s also a lot more crumpled. It has so many angles and creases it looks like an origami artist has had a tantrum.
Inside, the RX oozes poshness. The seats in particular are wonderful. Just the right amount of support and give. I spent 16 hours at the wheel over a single weekend ferrying my son up to Edinburgh before driving back to London. After a trip like that I usually get out of the car bent double like the old man in Up, but in the RX I almost bounded out. The extra-wide infotainment screen is super-clear and easy to use, though the fingertip tracker is a very jumpy and fiddly. The car is breathlessly quiet to drive. Its powerful electric motor guarantees efficiency around town, while on the motorway the turbocharged petrol V6 means you glide along at 70mph in a cloud of comfort.
This isn’t an on-the-limit driver’s car, its priority is comfort and the ride is yielding rather than orthopaedic. But it’s all the better for that. It’s a triumph of softness in a hard world…
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter@MartinLove166
