• Build quality up there with the best
• Enormous infotainment screen
• Some of the tech is annoying

How is the quality and layout?

Rest assured, this is a typical Lexus product. Nearly everything you touch is soft and feels as though it’s been made to last. You won’t find rattling trim pieces or overly flexible materials here. You sit quite low for an SUV, which can make you feel a bit like you’re reaching up to control the infotainment set up.

The powered and dimmable panoramic roof is really impressive. It can easily and quickly switch from transparent to opaque, rather like the windows on a Dreamliner aeroplane. It’s also coated to reduce heat build-up on warm days, and keep things toasty inside in colder conditions.

The climate controls are on neat configurable dials, as with a Land Rover, but the other, important things, such as the driving modes, are buried within a sub menu. This makes it a bit tricky to operate, with some systems taking several prods of the screen to use.

The steering-wheel controls are touch sensitive and multifunctional. You’ll need to look at the head-up display to figure out what’s going on. You get used to this, but overall this RZ is a tech-heavy car and definitely not one for luddites.

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Infotainment and tech

The centrepiece of the RZ’s interior is an imposing 14.0-inch infotainment touchscreen featuring Lexus’s latest operating system and Android Auto/Apple CarPlay compatibility. It’s a connected setup, so you’ll be able to keep track of the car’s location and get it to flash the hazard lights for assistance locating the car from a distance.

You can spec it with radiant heaters at knee level up front, which are part of a package which includes heated seats and a heated steering wheel. This directs infrared radiation at your knees and works a bit like an air blanket. Lexus says this speeds up the warm-up process for occupants, and therefore is more efficient because it’s loading up the battery for less time.

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Comfort

• Soft, large seats, front and rear
• Vented and massaging seats available
• A bit dark in the rear without pano roof

The seats are large and ones you can really sink into. Perfect for a long motorway drive. They’re adjustable too and the ‘driving position memory’ system allows three users’ seat, steering wheel and door mirror positions to be memorised and accessed via buttons.

Ventilated front seats are available as an option and work wonderfully, offering air conditioning to your back. This also uses less energy than traditional air conditioning, something important for a car that isn’t very frugal.

Rear space is good enough, aided by the flat floor, but it gets pretty dark back there if you don’t opt for the panoramic roof.