The Lexus Compact Tourer 200 hybrid – not sure where the 200 comes from – has ‘performance dampers’. But don’t get too excited. These Yamaha-made items are actually suspension turret-braces, but constructed as very high-pressure gas dampers instead of being solid. Their piston rods moving a maximum of a millimetre, they damp vibrations and render the Lexus’s cabin suitably Lexus-quiet.

Not that the effect is obvious, any more than the point of the CT200h’s existence is obvious beyond one key attribute. No other ‘premium’ mid-size hatch has such a low CO2 score, its miraculous 96g/km intended to lure discerning buyers to a low-tax, high-luxury heaven.

It is, of course, a hybrid. The powertrain is Prius/Auris Hybrid, with a ‘Lexus character’ inserted simply by upping the electric motor’s voltage in Sport mode so it can give a maximum 82bhp instead of 60. In this mode the dial beside the speedo neatly switches from regeneration/battery consumption to a rev- counter, using the same needle and taking on a red-mist background.

What the CT200h is not, though, is an Auris with new visible bits. The platform is different and the driver sits lower. The dash gets a swathe of wood to choice, there’s plenty of leather on the top model and the centre console has a laboratorial, technical look.

One advantage of being inside is that you don’t have to look at the outside. This is a strangely styled car, dated and tensionless. To drive, it is similarly underwhelming. Maximum combined power under electricity and petrol is 136bhp, but it feels even less, with acceleration fading out beyond 80mph, even in Sport. The steering is quite quick and the ride on the fidgety side of taut, but the responses are inert, wooden even, and any notion of sportiness could barely be more superficial.

Know what? I’d rather have a Toyota Auris Hybrid, because it’s honest, it rides nicely, it does its job well and it’s much cheaper. Bet you never thought you’d read that in evo.
John Simister