Lexus RX 400h

When Lexus unveiled the RX 400h in 2005, it proclaimed the arrival of "the world's first high performance hybrid SUV". Two years later, there are still no rivals for the big Lexus.

If a buyer has decided he wants SUV-like characteristics from his car, yet the performance of a sports saloon, the likelihood is that fuel bills, tax and maybe even CO2 emissions could put him off. That's where the RX 400h comes in. It retains all the normal characteristics of a powerful, petrol-fuelled SUV, yet is a little more efficient.

Admittedly, if most of your driving time is spent on the motorway, then the hybrid version of the RX is wasted on you, as the car utilises its petrol engine only in such conditions, but around town it has the ability to operate via its battery pack and electric motors only. All that is found in the other hybrids featured here, but the RX also has the advantage of electronically-operated four-wheel drive, with an electric motor on each axle providing traction when the system deems it necessary.

Tuesday March 27