AT the rate fuel costs are spiraling these days, one would think ten times before buying any kind of luxury brand. After all, spending P2,000 a week on fuel, not to mention an arm and a leg on the amortization (and this after an exorbitant down payment), is not what one would call an intelligent move.

But over the weekend, Lexus Philippines’ Danny Isla decided to let me test the company’s new compact car, the CT 200h. Following a call from Carlo Chungungco, the big PR guy of Lexus, I picked up the CT 200h on a Friday for a weekend getaway.

The “h” in the CT 200h stands for “hybrid.” That means the Lexus I drove is one of the latest crazes among car companies worldwide:  an automobile with two engines—a regular internal combustion engine and an electric motor.

This combination is the real first step toward weaning our auto industry from its reliance on fossil fuels by combining the power of a gas engine with the environmental kindness of an electric motor.

Of course, Lexus’s mother company Toyota was the first to deliver this technology with the successful Prius. And having that technology in hand, it was only a matter of time before it found its way into the Lexus.

Now, I have tried the Prius in its numerous permutations since its first appearance and it is indeed a revolutionary machine. But exterior-wise, it looks far too futuristic and the interior gives you the feeling of being inside the Millennium Falcon.

Fortunately, the CT 200h did not follow the Prius’s design cues. Its exterior is festooned with flowing lines that express luxury—the classic, proper way. Of course, many would argue that today’s hatchbacks have the same basic theme, but the CT 200h has been given a different twist—CT 200h is based on the MC platform, which also underpins the Lexus HS250h hybrid, the Scion tC, and the Toyota Corolla.

Like the HS, this car has a trailing-arm multilink rear suspension—instead of the torsion beam used by the Corolla—to better package the nickel-metal hydride battery pack and allow a lower load floor. Struts are used upfront. Lexus uses so-called performance dampers—braces that have a damper within them—between the front strut towers and spanning the trailing edges of the body to stiffen the structure and reduce vibration.

Once you get into the driver’s seat, the feeling is like that of a baseball snugly sitting in a catcher’s mitt. All controls are within arm’s reach and everything is simplified, from the entertainment dials on the steering wheel to the power adjustments on the console.

I was lucky enough to get the sports variant which has a computer that decides how to control the drivetrain to get the most out of your driving style based on the prevailing road conditions.

Then there is the Eco mode in which the car runs at its most economical despite any attempts by driver to be heavy-footed on the road. The Sports mode, on the other hand, gives motorheads some joy, when the engine condition meter turns into a digital tachometer and allows you to try and red line the car (something I was so tempted to do but which I decided against since the car wasn’t mine and I wanted to be on the safe side all the time).

The front compartment has a lot of space with its generous head and leg room as well as horizontal maneuverability. The back seats, however, can be a challenge for large passengers. Two persons can fit in there, not quite that spacious, but it’s comfortable enough.

The interior is lavished with high-quality materials. It has leather seats (even part of the dash—the one over the dials), which are neatly and elegantly stitched and tied. The climate control is automatic and interior noise is virtually nonexistent. Press the start button and the only reminders that the car is running are all the lights on the dials and one indicator that says “Ready.”

The Lexus CT 200h F-Sport runs on a 1.8-liter, 137-hp, L-4 engine with an electric motor. The beauty of it is that the gasoline engine consumes an average of 16.7 km per liter of fuel when used alone. With the electric motor engaged, the actual consumption of the CT 200h comes to about 24 km per liter, whether during city or country driving.

And let us not forget that this is a Lexus, a luxury car that is so much fun to drive that I felt sad the moment I had to bring it back to the showroom. After all, this is a “me car”—one that you want to own and drive for yourself. It gives you a feeling that it is yours, it is comfortable, it is economical and it is the luxury car solution.

At P2.308 million for the standard variant and P2.888 million for the F-Sport version, one would think this could be a steal.