Should you buy one?

The Lexus RX is a good luxury SUV, if not quite up there with the best on the market. It’s comfortable, refined, efficient, spacious and it comes with loads of clever technology to keep you both entertained and safe on the road. But it fails to topple the current class champ, the BMW X5.

If you want ultimate luxury from your SUV, you’ll probably be better served by the full-sized Range Rover. Just bear in mind that the RX 450h+ Takumi (which comes with all the bells and whistles) is almost £20,000 less expensive than the cheapest Range Rover. When you draw that comparison, the Lexus begins to look like something of a bargain.

While the RX does comfort very well, it is a bit one dimensional. There’s a growing expectation for cars to do more than just one thing competently – and there are more well-rounded PHEV options in the RX’s class that are vying for your attention, such as the driver-focused BMW X5 or the supremely capable Land Rover Discovery Sport.

The BMW might not be quite as comfortable as the Lexus, but it’s better in the corners, much faster in a straight line, more spacious in the boot and, at the time of writing, around £200 cheaper. The Land Rover, meanwhile, will happily carry seven passengers up a rocky escarpment. The Lexus only comes with five seats, it isn’t all that sporty and it certainly isn’t set up for serious off-roading.

Our advice is to sit down and weigh up what you need your luxury SUV to do. Do you want to regularly go hunting for twisty B-roads or spend your weekends towing horseboxes down muddy fields? If the answer to both these questions is no, then the RX might just be perfect for you.

What we like

The plug-in hybrid drivetrain is excellent, offering punchy performance, refined high-speed cruising and enviable overall efficiency. All that it really lacks is a luxurious soundtrack, like that which blessed the previous RX or the six-cylinder BMW X5.

What we don’t like

For such a polished all-round performer, the lack of body control and indifferent ride quality is very disappointing. That’s especially evident on the 500h – if this is Lexus’ best fist at a sports SUV, better not to bother.