The Greening of the Hybrid Crossover (Lexus RX450H)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/automobiles/autoreviews/07hybrid.html?hpw

Note: If asked to sign in, you can use priuschat as both the username and password.

"Hybrid fans can breathe easier around the new RX 450h, and for more than its lowest-in-class emissions, including 20 percent less carbon dioxide output than a 4-cylinder Honda Accord. This is the first Lexus hybrid that lives up to the hype and puts up big numbers: an impressive 35 miles a gallon in town and 31 on the highway, for a combined average of 32 m.p.g. over a week of driving a pre-production model. That makes the RX 450h the highest-mileage midsize crossover I’ve driven — by far."

"Bottom line, if you manage 30 m.p.g. in the RX hybrid — trust me, it’s easy — and the typical 20 m.p.g. in the standard RX 350, the hybrid will save you $700 a year in premium fuel (at a current national average of $2.77 a gallon), balancing out its added cost in roughly seven years of ownership. You’d also cut your gas consumption by a substantial 1,750 gallons over those years, and make far fewer stops to refuel."