The CT 200h is an unusual entry-level model. First of all it’s a five-door hatchback in a premium compact car segment dominated

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by sedans, and second there’s no conventional powertrain, a hybrid being the only option.

No wonder sales have never measured up to the segment leaders, the CT dead last in popularity when compared to other premium entry models. Leading the list is Mercedes’ long and lean CLA, a four-door coupe/sport sedan that sold 3,870 units in Canada last year, while Audi’s more conventional A3 sedan was a close second with 3,788 buyers over the same 12 months (Audi just started selling the A3 Sportback e-tron hybrid as well, a car that’s probably closest to the CT in size, body style and powertrain, albeit the German brand is likely only relying on the five-door model for laying down a positive eco footprint, not sales). Acura’s ILX, a slightly

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larger compact sedan based on the Honda Civic, found 2,551 new owners in 2015, whereas Mercedes’ other entry model, the upright B-Class wagon/MPV, lured in 2,356 new owners, M-B’s C-segment total being a class-trouncing 6,226 units last year. On that note BMW had better wake up and smell the small car coffee as its 2 Series Coupe and Convertible were only good for 1,703 new buyers, a four-door model desperately needed to make the blue and white roundel more attractive to price sensitive entry-level buyers (BMW sells its i3 plug-in EV into this segment, but it’s priced quite a bit higher and sales are most likely very low as the monthly figures are not even being released in Canada), while as for the CT, it merely found 814 takers during all of calendar year 2015.

Of course,

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with respect to CT 200h sales we need to take into consideration that it’s now moving into its sixth year of production and third year since its mid-cycle refresh, its current sales numbers the lowest in any of its five available years and about half of what they were in 2012, which is not uncommon for an older model. Still, as comparatively nominal as CT numbers might look it’s even more important to keep in mind that Lexus sold 100 percent more subcompact/entry cars than Cadillac, Infiniti, Jaguar or Volvo, none of which offer anything in the low $30k region unless you discount the heck out of their respective ATS, Q50, XE (and that’s not going to happen at $45k base) and S60. In other words, Lexus is in the game, while they also deserve our respect for being one of the early adopters in this class.

This

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entry category is hardly as important to a luxury brand’s bottom line as the larger and more expensive D-segment compact car class, or even stronger compact and mid-size crossover SUV segments, but it’s critical for luring first-time new luxury buyers into showrooms and then afterwards graduating them upward into more profitable models. To be clear the CT isn’t a bad car at all, in fact it’s very good. It’s simply trying to play its sweet sounding fiddle in a distorted guitar layered grunge band (or a Benny Goodman style clarinet solo in one of Bieber’s new dance tracks, if that’s more to your liking). In other words it’s a classic square peg in a round hole situation.

Square isn’t fair, as the CT is certainly more multifaceted than that. It starts out with the most unique grille in the luxury class, Lexus’ now trademark spindle shaped nose having been updated for model year 2014 along with the rest of the mid-cycle

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refresh just mentioned. Therefore it was carryover last year and other than some package reshuffling is the same car this year. The car in front of you is the result of the model tweaks, it being a new F Sport Special Edition model that’s priced between the $38,000 F Sport Series 1 and the also new $40,800 F Sport Series 2.

The new top-line F Sport 2 package adds voice-activated SD-based navigation along with Lexus’ Remote Touch Interface (RTI), unique F Sport seats in leather, driver’s seat memory linked to the side mirrors that are also upgraded with auto-dimming and reverse auto-tilt, a universal garage door opener, and a single in-dash DVD player to F Sport 1 trim, the latter now including all the usual F Sport styling upgrades such as a more pronounced black mesh grille and bolder lower fascia,

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17-inch F Sport alloys with blackened centre cap detailing, and a larger rear spoiler with aerodynamic cutouts, plus performance and convenience enhancements that include sport-tuned front and rear dampers, aluminum sport pedals with rubber inserts, a three-spoke F Sport perforated leather-wrapped steering wheel, metal-look interior trim, rain-sensing wipers, an auto-dimming rearview mirror with an integrated compass, a back-up camera, and a 10-speaker display audio system.

Incidentally, the LED headlamps and fog lights, powered moonroof, and aluminum scuff plates get pulled up from lesser Touring trim, whereas the auto on/off headlamps, LED daytime running lamps, LED brake lights, heatable powered side mirrors with integrated turn signals and puddle lamps, proximity access with pushbutton

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ignition, bright and colourful electroluminescent primary gauges, TFT multi-information display, multifunction steering wheel, Drive Mode Select, dual-zone auto HVAC, heatable front seats, NuLuxe pleather, eight-way powered driver’s seat and four-way powered front passenger’s seat, satellite radio, Bluetooth streaming audio, and numerous active and passive safety features are standard across the line.

For just $100 more than the F Sport 1 package, the $38,100 F Sport Special Edition features everything that comes as part of the first step up into the F Sport class, plus glossy black side mirror caps, door handles, and tail lamp surrounds, that inky finish also coating the 17-inch alloys, not to mention two-tone crimson on black

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NuLuxe F Sport upholstery. This option comes exclusively in Atomic Silver exterior paint that also includes a black painted roof, the latter initially leading me to believe a panoramic sunroof lay beneath and therefore causing some disappointment at learning it was merely a mirage.

Still, it’s hardly a car that disappoints overall, at least as long as you understand what you’re getting into. What do I mean? Its low-slung five-door liftback styling is sporty and therefore might lead a person to believe that it’ll tear up the tarmac, but make no bones about it, this little luxe machine is little more than a Toyota Prius in drag. This is a great thing if you’re more about saving a buck at the pump and doing “the right thing” for mother nature, but its straight-line performance isn’t

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exactly going to light a fire under your seat or scare one of its aforementioned competitors away from the starting line.

First off the performance positives, these being 5.5 L/100km city, 5.9 highway and 5.7 combined, enough to make the stingy Scrooge in all of us crack a sly smile. Such are Toyota Prius numbers, albeit not the all-new 2016 Prius that achieves a five-cycle rated 4.4 L/100km city, 4.6 highway and 4.5 combined. At first glance it would appear that the new Prius’ figures are a direct result of 13 fewer horsepower, but according to the Japanese automaker it has more to do with a revision in the way its engineers rate power unit output. If we are to believe this, it’s likely the CT’s real output is closer to the current Prius’ 121 horsepower,

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but either way it feels quicker than the numbers suggest, especially on the highway where it delivers ample passing performance.

Lexus doesn’t bother with paddle shifters for its CVT or a manual mode via its Prius-like PRNDB shifter, but rather if you want to go faster simply give a clockwise twist the metallic rotating knob positioned right beside that shifter. This engages a Sport mode similar to the “Power” mode in the Prius, releasing a fuel economy be damned surge of electrical energy along with all the thrust the little 1.8-litre Atkinson-cycle four can muster. Its torque-rich drivetrain actually moves forward with enthusiasm and as noted is plenty enjoyable on the highway, but with a 10-second saunter to 100 km/h you’re not going to embarrass CLA 45 AMG buyers, let alone a CLA 250 or B-Class owner,

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or for that matter anyone driving anything else in this segment, truly the CT is more about comfort than speed.

To that end the little Lexus rides and handles very well, the CT’s engineers finding a nice balance between sport and comfort that was only offset slightly by the non-stock winter rubber underneath. It stuck to its lane when pushed around corners nonetheless, offered superb maneuverability in the city, provided excellent visibility no matter where I was driving, and truthfully put down as much power as I ever “needed” throughout my test week. The fact is that most of the time I was held up in heavy commuter traffic, which is almost always the case in my town, so I might as well be saving on fuel.

This

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is where EV mode comes into play, the CT swapping back and forth between a conventional internal combustion/electric combination and full electric motive power as it sees fit in order to optimize fuel economy, at least when set to Eco mode. You can press an EV mode button to the left of the rotating Drive Mode Select controller, and it’ll keep the car silent right up until about 40 km/h as long as you’re not too hard on the throttle, at which point the gasoline-fed portion of the powertrain cuts in, but take note that it’ll only go into EV mode then the battery is amply charged and that only happens via brake regeneration and coasting. This said an EV mode that allowed the car to keep up with traffic would be even more useful, but this would require a much heftier battery and possibly a plug-in port, and that’s not the mission of this Lexus.

Such slow moving meant that I had time to enjoy the CT’s many luxuries and play with

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its electronics, its cabin refinements including an almost fully soft-touch dash top that wraps right overtop the instrument panel ahead of the front passenger and around the centre vents, while a nice padded contrast-stitched leatherette primary gauge hood dresses up the space ahead of the driver. Some appreciated detailing includes padded leatherette knee protectors on each side of the centre console that are also contrast-stitched, Lexus going further than most competitors when it comes to pampering front occupants.

Toyota’s usual circular engine start-stop button with “POWER” lettering is easily accessed on the upper right, this being a carryover item from the old Prius, whereas an attractive set of analog and digital primary gauges incorporate a tachometer when Sport mode is engaged and a TFT multi-information display showing

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hybrid functions when in Normal and Eco modes, plus gear selector info to the left, a large speedometer at centre, a fuel gauge and monochromatic trip computer to the right, and other backlit readouts for Sport mode, etcetera elsewhere around the package.

As noted earlier, Sport, Eco, and Normal modes are accessible via a large rotating dial on the sloping centre stack, not to mention EV and traction control-off buttons. I find this setup ultra-handy because I like to swap between various modes as I drive, making the most of a given vehicle’s performance when needed and optimizing fuel economy the rest of the time.

Positioned close by, a set of two rotating seat heater knobs offer near infinite temperature

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settings, while I must say I like the rotating dial style infotainment controller (RTI) used in this car much more than the older joystick design recently retested in the GS and RX models, as it’s much simpler and a lot easier to apply accurately. The joystick style RTI moves the cursor around the screen too quickly, but there’s no problem using this one. I’d prefer the newer touch pad even more, but I could understand why some might appreciate this simpler setup more than either of Lexus’ more upscale infotainment controllers.

This RTI connects through to a fairly well featured infotainment system housed in a fixed tablet-style display atop the dash, and while the graphics are excellent I found it a bit small. As noted its reverse camera came as part of the F Sport 1 upgrade and provided good rearward vision, whereas this model’s 10-speaker audio was quite good with deep resonant bass tones and nice bright highs, but it was

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no Mark Levinson surround sound system. Lexus includes a CD player for those who appreciate higher quality audio recordings, plus the stereo also boasts weighty rotating knobs for power and volume to the left plus tune and scroll to the right. While nicely detailed with chrome rings around their perimeters, these controls weren’t as high end as the new RX 450h’s genuine metal knobs. This is to be expected in the CT’s entry-level class, while more importantly they were well damped with zero side-to-side wiggle, as was the rest of the switchgear in the cabin. This includes the dual-zone auto HVAC interface that’s long, narrow and modern looking, with a large digital display.

To brighten up the CT’s interior Lexus uses classic satin-silver surfacing on the steering wheel’s lower spoke and across the dash, while engine-turned metallic inlays

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finish off the instrument panel ahead of the front passenger. The seats are covered in Lexus’ NuLuxe leatherette, the aforementioned crimson and black seats matching the door panels that get the same red insert and stitching motif. It’s a racy look that certainly spices up the CT’s interior design, living up to the outward expectations brought about by this Special Edition’s sportier glossy black exterior bits.

On a more practical note, the rear passenger area is amply large with decent legroom, and while the seats are very comfortable with excellent lower back support, Lexus doesn’t include a centre armrest and therefore no dual cupholders are integrated within. Likewise there were no rear seat heaters and none are available, but the seatbacks fold 60/40 to provide even more cargo space under the

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liftback than its already accommodating 405 litres (14.3 cubic feet), the CT’s maximum being a sizable 965 litres (34.1 cubic feet).

At the end of my test week I was fonder of the CT 200h than I was stepping in, something that seems to happen each and every time I drive this little car. It’s good looking, fun enough to drive, great on gas, suitably luxurious, wonderfully comfortable, impressively reliable and plenty practical, while its base price of $31,800 and as-tested MSRP of $38,100 should certainly be affordable to those stepping up into the premium class. I’m the first to say the CT isn’t for everyone, but for those wanting something a bit different, let alone a car as green as this segment gets this side of an all-electric BMW i3, the CT 200h is well worth considering.

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