Maintenance intervals every 10,000 (for a minor check-up) and 20,000 miles (for a major service) are acceptable and RX has a reasonable insurance group for its class, ranging from 15 to 17. Fuel consumption is what you’d expect of a petrol V6, although the 3.5-litre unit that arrived in 2006 is more economical than the 3.0-litre engine it replaced. The hybrid’s batteries offer very long life too – Lexus claim they will last the life of the car so should never need replacing.

The RX performs pretty poorly on the eco front. It does feature a hybrid engine, which is essentially a petrol engine linked to an electric motor, which captures energy from braking or coasting to charge the battery for the electric motor. However while emissions are impressively low (for the performance) at 192g/km of CO2 it still only returns 35mpg – about the same as equivalent power diesels.

Only a handful of manufacturers come close to Lexus/Toyota reliability. The RX is well built with millimetre-perfect panel fit while mechanically it is also very durable. We’ve heard of no problems, but in the unlikely event, Lexus dealers are the best around.