Mooch Lexus RX450h Premium

Many moons ago I owned a 1994 Lexus LS400. I bought it off my father-in-law for the princely sum of 'whatever he had just paid to tax it', and despite having lunar mileage it was still one of the nicest cars that I’ve ever owned, and since then I’ve had a soft spot for marque.

The last Lexus I borrowed was the UX250h that featured in our June 2021 issue, another lovely experience, but for an SUV it didn’t have much in the way of ground clearance, so more recently I asked to borrowing their larger RX450h, and Lexus kindly obliged.

As you would expect, the RX450h is a lovely SUV to waft around in, on all road conditions it performed as it should. Words like smooth, comfort and serenity floated around my mind every time I got behind the wheel, not to mention it’s surprising turn of speed when I floored the throttle.

My aim for the week was to take it exploring, and I don’t mean to Barnard Castle to get my eyes tested, more of the ancient rights of way kinda stuff. Obviously the RX450 isn’t an ‘offroader’, but it is an SUV with AWD, so it ought to be able to handle non-challenging lanes, right?

Our furthest foray was over to North Yorkshire to drive a few lanes that I guess many of you fellow northerners will be familiar with.

Throwing my Peli case full of cooking equipment, and a couple of ActionTrax in the back, ‘cos you never know, I headed over to Settle to visit my mate Andy who happened to have the Citroen Ami on test.

After an enjoyable drive in the Ami I bid my farewell and headed over towards Buckden for my first lane.