LEXUS RX 400h 3.3 SE-L 5dr CVT Auto (2005)

Hybrid is highly recommended

The science is quite simple if you're familiar with hybrids: the petrol engine charges the batteries which allow the car to run without producing any emissions whatsoever. Its important to remember though that it isn't totally non-fossil fuel, people seem to think it is but it isn't, you're still using petrol its just that the negative affects happen elsewhere, they are offset. When you work on the petrol side of things, you can get about 30mpg out of it. Before you ask, I don't know how good the RX 400h is off-road, I've never tried it, I'd imagine probably not great.

The ride is really great, its really comfortable inside and when you blast the accelerator when you're feeling rebellious, you seem to always get a good burst of power no matter what engine you're running on. The build quality on the inside is also very good and its very big inside the cabin, plenty of space, headroom can be a little tight in the rear if you're tall.

Provided you play nice with the batteries and remain pretty much under 30mph, they will continue for a good while and then the petrol will kick in. They all stop when the car is stationary, saving fuel and conserving energy.

I think the hybrid idea works quite well in practice, it was actually an idea of my wife's to get something which was a hybrid. As I say, it works well and the rest of the RX 400h is as you would expect. It just gets incredibly boring telling people how it works every five minutes.