LEXUS CT200h
ADR85 CALLS TIME ON A CAR THAT WAS NEVER LEXUS’S FINEST HOUR
THE JAPANESE USED to play the model-renewal game to clockwork perfection. Churn out a new generation every four to five years, with a mid-life update wedged somewhere in between, and then keep repeating that process over and over, regardless of whether the underpinnings and oily bits have been altered.
But the Japanese have also shown they can be quite partial to an inordinately long model run – particularly Toyota. And caught up among these ‘models that time forgot’ is the Lexus CT200h – Australia’s first (and only) premium-brand hybrid hatchback of the last decade.
Viewed from that context, the Lexus CT was ahead of its time. Rather than mating moonshot gearing to a super-frugal turbo-diesel with ‘aero’ body mods like the Europeans, Lexus sifted through Toyota’s vast powertrain parts bin, unearthed an insipid but efficient 2ZR-FXE 1.8-litre ‘Atkinson Cycle’ four-cylinder hybrid engine shared with the Corolla Hybrid and third-generation Prius, paired it to a CVT transmission (for 0-100km/h in 10.3sec) and turfed the torsion-beam rear suspension of lesser Corollas in favour of an independent doublewishbone set-up, also shared with the Corolla Hybrid.
On paper, the baby Lexus was a winner. Blending decent spec with Japanese reliability, outstanding 4.1L/100km fuel efficiency and the suspension-hardware bones of a nimble little mover, the CT could’ve been a refreshing eco-tonic. It even boasted a bunch of production firsts, including a selectable instrument display, the use of bio-PET eco-plastics, and the first precollision active safety system in a premium small hatch.
Unfortunately, what seemed promising in 2009’s LF-Ch concept was crippled with frumpy production clobber, drowning even the F-Sport model’s 17-inch wheels with a slab-sided, narrow-tracked bodyshape and heavy-set bumpers. The CT went from muscular to meek, and not even two subsequent facelifts (in 2014 and 2017) could save it in the eyes of anyone other than label-obsessed ladies from South Yarra to Noosa who became the CT’s life support.
From both a rational and an aesthetic viewpoint, when the closely related, much cheaper Toyota Corolla is not only better to look at but also much better to drive, you have to wonder why Lexus didn’t pull the pin years ago. Or at least migrate it to an all-new model based on the new-generation architecture that has underpinned the far superior XW50 Prius since 2016!
Yet the faithful old CT200h kept plodding along, achieving a 10-year milestone in March this year – surely a modern-day record for a Japanese passenger car. And in a bizarre twist of fate, it wasn’t Lexus that delivered the final blow. It was Australian Design Rule 85 – a tough new side-impact pole test that comes into effect on November 1 – that forced the ancient CT (and other ageing Lexus models) to give up the ghost, without a direct replacement in sight.