When people ask me why I chose a Lexus I tell them that for a year I worked as a plater when I was between 'proper' jobs. A plater is a delivery driver who picks up cars and takes them from the owner to an auction site or transfers them between dealers and auction sites or vice versa but you get the picture. In that year I drove hundreds of cars, sometimes 5 a day and sometimes just 2 a day on longer journeys but what I did get was a lot of different driving experiences. From Motability Smart cars to S class limos from the Russian embassy in London, from supercars to granny mobiles I drove them all but nothing felt as good as getting in a Lexus and being confident that I'd not only get to my destination but in comfort.
Once the burst of exhilaration at flooring a 911 or Maserati was over I realised that there was more to driving than acceleration or top speed and having been a passenger in a navy fast jet even that was ho hum after the adrenaline wore off. I could have bought pretty much anything that the market had to offer but it was the Lexus brand that stood out after a year of intensive study. Performance? Yes up to a point but it's not the be all and end all that motoring journos major on. I remember one of our really good Sea King pilots wearing a tee shirt that said 'Jets are for kids', there's an analogy there somewhere.