RETURN TO SPLENDOUR

These plug-in hybrid SUVs combine great luxury with potentially low running costs. But when choosing one to live with, which should you come right back to?

If you want to travel from London to Sydney, £10,000 is pretty much the difference between booking 1 a Singapore Airlines suite or sitting in economy, where the person in front will probably recline their seat into your knees and the one beside you will steal your armrest.

Now, imagine that you could have a first class ticket for the price of an economy one. Seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it? If that's the case, this test shouldn't take too long, right? After all, the new Lexus RX 450h+ in rangetopping Takumi trim costs that much less to buy than the rival Range Rover Sport P440e in midspec Dynamic SE guise.

At first glance, it really is quite difficult to figure out why there's such a large gulf between the list prices of these two plug-in hybrid (PHEV) SUVs; they both have posh badges, are a similar size and can drive solely on electricity to reduce your fuel and tax bills.

Are you paying thousands extra simply for a Range Rover badge? Or does the British car better its Japanese rival in enough tangible ways to justify its higher price? That's what we aim to find out.

DRIVING

Performance, ride, handling, refinement

It's been said that, from an aerodynamic point of view, bees shouldn't be able to fly, but no one has told them, so they do anyway. In much the same way, it's improbable that anything as big and heavy as our contenders can be so quick. In our tests, the RX and Range Rover blasted from 0-60mph in 6.5sec and 6.1sec respectively, which means they're as rapid as many hot hatches.