Is there such a thing as the perfect car – a machine that combines all the elements you could possibly expect in a vehicle, with performance, luxury, and practicality all well represented in a good-looking outer package? In truth, it’s hard for manufacturers to hit all those metrics without some form of compromise and few set out to do so, but Lexus had other ideas in the early 2000s. It came up with a vehicle that offered a rare combination of reliability in the shape of its Toyota engine, versatility in the form of a hatchback body, and dynamic performance to boot.
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