LEXUS LS 600h 5.0 4dr CVT Auto (2010)

Good luxurious car, very comfy and quiet, just getting a bit dull

I have to admit I can see why people complain about Lexus' being a beige sort of car. Don't get me wrong this is a good car with lots of recommending features, but... after almost a year of owning one, it's starting to just feel a bit dull.

First some of the major good points. The Lexus LS600 is just unbeatably comfortable. Well I'm sure you could beat it, with a steam bath and a rub down, but really it's beautifully soft, smooth, quiet and spacious to be inside. That's one of the things that pushed me and my ageing body towards it really. On a similar note, I read up on it and it's just stuffed with safety features, all sorts of little things - way over and above just airbags - that promise to keep you and your loved ones safe and sound in the event of a collision. And fancy things like a clever system that helps to keep you inside your lane on the road, very smart I have to say. It's got little cameras mounted at the back that help with parking too. So those things are big fat pluses in favour of the Lexus LS600.

I have only had it for under a year so I can scarcely discuss reliability, although I do know that Lexuses are generally very robust and reliable and that seems as though it should be the case here. I do have some friends who have slipped into mid life crisis mode and bought things like Aston Martins and so on, and they're always complaining about blown this, broken that. Well not me, and I always remind them of it when they're blithering on about revs per minute and horse power etc etc..!

That said, it's not without its own generous power. The 5 litre engine certainly sees to that. It does really zip away from standstill if you want it to, and I've found myself creeping up on 100MPH entirely by accident before, and feeling as though it would happily go quite a bit higher. I've no real interest in that sort of thing but it certainly makes overtaking very easy indeed.

Power aside, the Lexus LS 600h which I've got has a hybrid thingy, works off an electric motor at lower speeds with the engine kicking in for power and higher speeds. It's actually really nifty, works very well, and gives me another certain sense of moral superiority over my fast toy car friends! It's a 'continuously variable transmission' gearbox, which is a silly way of saying that the car never revs out of control, always gives exactly the right amount of power.

Inside the car is truly luxurious. It feels like an aeroplane I have to say. It's got a TV in the back! It just flips out of the ceiling. Very, very swish. Perfectly comfy for three adults in the back as well, although my kids complain about the central column that divides the foot space between the two rear seats, which can sometimes leave your legs slightly uncomfortably (or immodestly!) apart at times. In the front it's extremely plush, the seats are almost infinitely adjustable, all sorts of settings for climate and so on.

The boot is very generous. We went camping the five of us, and with a bit of clever packing we actually got everything, including a tent, in the boot. It's a slightly funny shape though, not quite square at all, so you do need to do a little bit of jiggling and clever arranging.

BUT... (sigh). For all this cleverness, the LS is just starting to feel a little bit boring. I'm not quite at the stage of joining my friends in mid life crisis land, but something about this car is just getting to me a bit. I am most of the time rescued by quite how fantastically comfortable and quiet it is, as well as all the labour-saving features, but for all this it can just be a little bit, well, drab. It's springy enough, but the steering can feel a bit anonymous and the quietness can, ironically, be a bit annoying. Just on occasion I wouldn't mind hearing my engine roar a bit. None of this is in any way a real substantial detraction from what is in the end an excellent car. It's just lacking something special that might keep me more interested and excited.