Category: Lexus

Generally, Lexus luxury vehicles never venture beyond the golf club, private school drop-off, or underground parking space in an office tower at the big end of town. Recently, I had the new Lexus NX 300h hybrid on test and got to wondering how the petrol-electric crossover SUV would go outside its comfort zone. It so happens my wife Lynn and I were to attend a wedding in Townsville and puzzled over how the Lexus hybrid would travel from the Gold Coast to north Queensland and back. We decided to give… Read more

Lexus continues its conversion to hybrid vehicles apace, with the NX 300h crossover recently reaching our shores. Lexus origins lay in the mid-1980s with a desire to replicate all that’s good about a luxury vehicle with particular reference to the Europeans such as Mercedes-Benz. Since then, it has become clear that lifestyles are being shaped by younger more affluent professionals, some of who are turning away from traditional prestige in search of a more radical driving experience. With the NX series Lexus says it has sought inspiration from trend-setting fashion,… Read more

Ecologically speaking, Lexus, like its parent company Toyota, has nailed its future firmly to the hybrid powertrain tree, Lexus sedan and sports utility vehicles being early adopters of the petrol / electric hybrid system. In 2010 the company came up with the CT200h Compact Touring hybrid hatch, the first of its type on the market. At less than $50,000, it provides an ideal introduction to the upmarket marque. With the help of the Lexus L-Finesse design philosophy the car has evolved into a vehicle that lives out the intended ‘Creative… Read more

The Lexus GS300h has attracted a steady stream of happy passengers during its time in our hands. Provided those passengers aren’t perched on the middle seat in the back, not a single person has had anything negative to say about the GS experience. From the driver’s point of view, the GS is a quiet, easy car. Until recently, it had spent its time almost exclusively pounding the streets of Sydney. Now a family event called us north for a quick overnight trip and a chance to test the big hybrid… Read more

The Lexus IS F wasn’t destined to be an instant modern classic, but when it was released way back in 2007, it was a car of many firsts. One of those firsts was that this was the first time Lexus had really played the same game as BMW M and Mercedes AMG. It was a bold step and one that could have come undone fairly spectacularly and made a mess of Lexus’ reputation. Seven years on, the IS F faces replacement with two cars, the RC F and a rumoured… Read more

The statement is getting old and tired, but bears repeating – Lexus needs to attract younger buyers; ideally yesterday. While the affable local MD, Sean Hanley, has been known to scoff at his German competition for their definition of luxury, they’re taking the buyers Lexus wants with their niche-filling model range. Lexus made their first foray into going younger with this GS, which has been around a year or so. It’s much sharper looking, looks like it’s related to halo cars like the LF-A and IS-F but also carries the… Read more

There’s no better way to road test a car than to live with it for an extended period, rather than our usual single week. So we borrowed a Lexus ES 300h for a longterm test, planning to pay particular emphasis to its petrol/electric hybrid system. The small ‘h’ in any Lexus model indicates the use of a hybrid powertrain. Each model in the all-new Lexus ES line comes in two specification levels, Luxury and Sports Luxury, the latter adding $9000 to the price of both the petrol-only ES 350 with… Read more