Lexus LBX Premium: 'I test drove the new Lexus in Yorkshire - and I fell in love'

Thirty years on, Toyota’s premium brand has now given us the Lexus LBX. It is a short, plump hatchback cross-over, built in Japan on the bones of Toyota’s funkier and cheaper Yaris Cross. Visual similarities are not apparent.

They tell us that the LBX or Lexus Breakthrough Crossover is the first Lexus to be developed specifically with European tastes in mind.

They also say they are aiming at younger buyers with hopes of 6,000 sales a year in the UK. (In the first seven months this year Lexus sold nearly 9,000 cars.) Prices start at a fiver under £30,000 and end a few hundred shy of £40,000 for an all-wheel-drive version in the top trim level.

This “younger buyer” thing is curious. The LBX will catch the eye and the wallet of anyone who can afford to pay a significant premium for what is actually a small car inside its bulky body. We liked it very much.

A wealthier cross section of people has been enriching makers of prestige cars for decades. Viz, an Audi A3 rather than a Skoda Octavia or a BMW 1-Series instead of a Ford Focus.

LBX customers need to assess its capacity. I would not be comfortable sitting in the back behind someone my compact size who was driving. The front elbow room, door to door, is a cosy 54 inches. It’s a car for couples with or without children who can afford quality — and the LBX has plenty.

The interior elegance brings to mind a Jaguar. The outside is confidently conservative, standing high on alloy wheels with fat and deep-walled tyres which eschew silly low profile rubber.

Engines? Just one at the moment, a super-smooth three-cylinder 1.5 litre petrol electric self-charging hybrid CVT automatic similar but not the same as the one in the Toyota. Detail improvements include a counter-rotating balance shaft to reduce inherent vibrations.

The battery is lighter and more efficient and can run a larger motor. Lexus, through its Toyota parentage, is a specialist in self-charging hybrids with integrated motors and engines and gearboxes. Toyota was in at the start with its influential Prius in 1997. Hollywood tree huggers bought it, so did Yorkshire taxi drivers.

In just about every way I like the demure LBX. It drives nicely, has plenty of acceleration, handles sweetly. The touch-control information screen is at a sensible level (higher grades get a larger screen) and is combined with manual buttons and switches on the dashboard, central console and steering wheel.

A voice control system can carry out many functions including radio tuning and route navigation. Fiddly touch-sensitive controls are fitted to the steering wheel on all bar the Urban and Premium grades.

We were sent the £32,505 Premium, the second price rung after the Urban.

The Lexus slogans for LBX include a premium casual feel and that it focuses on a rewarding driving experience and delivery of the “Lexus Driving Signature” — control, comfort and confidence for the driver at all times. Fair enough, that’s how I felt, almost.

My driving notes on Day One started with “excessive tyre roar” and “road rumble” and “hard suspension”.

This was a surprise. I want road shocks to be soaked up on a premium car. Takumi grades, from £38,225, get acoustic glazing and noise cancelling technology.

The test car was on fat 225/60/17 Yokohama tyres. I got used to it. The ride interference may be exacerbated by the 18-inch, 55 profile tyres fitted to the LBX grades above Premium.

A cheerier note was the advice “please proceed paying attention to the bicycle lane”and later a warning of traffic approaching from behind.

The first fuel consumption reading showed 50mpg on a regular, mostly built-up drive but with a marvellous 64mpg overall for a subsequent 256 miles.

Quality inside met expectations, with lovely ivory leather with exposed stitching for the seats and fascia.

Except it was synthetic, vegan if the term doesn’t waken the hunter gatherer beast in you. The steering wheel cover was also vegan leather. It would have fooled me.

There is the expected supply of usb charging ports, storage pods, a sliding armrest between the seats over more storage, space under the central console and a single map/book pouch for rear people. Two would have been nicer.

There is no overhead storage for spectacles. A sniffy Lexus PR bod once told me that Lexus did not make cars for reps (archaic: a lower order of driver using a car for business calls).

A chap I know bought a second-hand Lexus as a stop gap after his new Jaguar suddenly conked out in a road junction. He felt he got off-hand treatment from the Jaguar dealer (who was not in our region), thus getting rid of both the Jag and its vendor.

The Lexus dealer keeps in touch, aware that the man is wealthy enough to buy a brand new one and will never go back to Jaguar. This word of mouth stuff is important. He tells me, he tells his friends, they tell others, etc. Bad news spreads, but so does good news. I have another neighbour who adores his Jaguar.

Lexus LBX PremiumPrice: From £32,505Engine: 1.5-litre three cylinder petrol hybridPower: 134bhpTorque: 136lb/ftTransmission: CVT automaticTop speed: 106mph0-62mph: 9.2 secondsEconomy: 63mpg (matched in testing)Tank: 8 gallonsCO 2 emissions:127g/kmLength: 165 inchesBraked towing limit: 750kgMore: lexus.co.uk end