A new kid on the block for Australia is the Lexus CT 200h. Lexus is a marque that has already garnered quite a lot of respect, and the Lexus CT 200L should see it collecting even more. Interest in the Lexus CT 200h has been quite high since the unveiling of the concept at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2010.

The Lexus CT 200h is a luxury hybrid vehicle, meaning that a car doesn’t have to be Spartan to be green. Physically, you’d describe the Lexus CT 200h as a rather punchy, boxy-looking four-door sports hatch. This doesn’t look like a car that runs on electricity some of the time. The Lexus CT 200h looks like a lot of fun and luxury combined into one stylish package. And it is.

The Lexus CT 200h combines a 1.8 litre 4-cylinder petrol engine with a high-output electrical motor (650 volts) for those moments when the punch of petrol isn’t needed, thus saving you money and the planet a few greenhouse gases. At the time of writing, it isn’t completely clear what the exact specs of the Australian models will be, but we do know it has an electronically controlled CCVT (continuously controlled variable transmission). It looks as though the Lexus CT 200h will allow you to select one of several driving modes. Sport mode ups the responsiveness of the power steering and tones down the Traction Control and Vehicle Stability Control when you want to do more active driving for yourself just for the fun of it – and a red light illuminates the cabin. The Eco mode plays around with the air con and the throttle so the Lexus CT 200h sips fuel as thriftily as possible – and you get a blue light in the cabin. EV mode uses the electric motor only, but this has a range of only one mile. Normal mode is just what you expect – sit back, enjoy the drive and let the Lexus CT 200h take care of you.

And the Lexus CT 200h will take care of you. The active safety features in the Lexus CT 200h include ABS brakes with EBD and Brake Assist. As already mentioned, Traction Control and the stability package are always operating, although Sport mode allows you to tone them down a bit. The cruise control has a radar-based pre-collision detector system that checks how close you are to the vehicle in front and adapts accordingly – and warns you visually and audibly. Passive safety features in the Lexus CT 200h include airbags all over the place (a knee airbag for the driver and front passenger, usual driver and front passenger airbags, and side curtain airbags).

But now onto the fun stuff in the Lexus CT 200h. Let’s start with the seats. These have been designed with enjoying sports-style driving as well as comfort in mind. The ride of the Lexus CT 200h is very responsive and comfortable, and the Macpherson front suspension and double wishbone rear suspension have been tailor-made for the Lexus CT 200h, especially the front suspension. The idea was maximum driving pleasure, and the reviewers overseas seem to agree that the designers have done it. They say that although the Lexus CT 200h’s steering and suspension give great feedback, vibrations are minimised for maximum comfort.

The interior of the Lexus CT 200h has a new material as the standard upholstery trim: something that the makers call NuLuxe, which looks and feels like leather but is synthetic; leather is available as an option. The dashboard is laid out to allow the driver to operate all the bells and whistles – and there’s going to be a lot of them, even if we don’t know the full Australian list as yet – with ease and with minimum distraction or changing position. So far, it looks likely that the Lexus CT 200h will boast Bluetooth preparation, a six-speaker Lexus Premium audio system with CD/MP3/Auxiliary input and steering-wheel mounted controls, eight-way adjustable seats with memory for the driver… and probably a few more.

The current model series includes the:

• Lexus CT 200h

For any more information on the Lexus CT 200h, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes, even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quote requests out to our national network of Lexus dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!

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