Blue Tongue Overland XR vs Lexus IS200T

What's the difference?

The Overland XR Series 2 isn't quite the perfect camper, there's a few little things in the set-up that preclude it from that. Still, at the price and with the features it gets as standard, it's a really good value trailer. It's comfortable, it'll handle off-road trips with ease, and it the kitchen is really quite good.

The Lexus range comes with a four year/100,000km warranty with roadside assist for the duration. Servicing is every 15,000km or twelve months, whichever comes first.

Sadly, there's no fixed or capped-price servicing regime, not even a pre-pay option like the stingy Germans. Lexus will only commit to indicative pricing, although the first service at 15,000km is priced keenly - it's free.

When you buy a Lexus, they don't like to let go of you. My father-in-law's original IS 200 is still fetched by the dealership - should he so desire - for its annual service. If he chooses to darken the dealership door himself, he'll drive out in a loan car. Nobody has ever stalked him at the dealership demanding he consider a new one.

The IS200t seems the pick of the IS bunch, despite pricing on par with a couple of the IS350s. It's a worthy alternative to the usual suspects, with its own look, feel and approach to luxury motoring. In fact, it's far more a luxury car than sports sedan, but manages to do both well. In the end, a BMW will edge it for handling and overall chassis grace, the Merc has that badge and the Audi is all-wheel drive and bang-up-to-date.

But none of them can touch the Lexus for after-sales service nor are any of them quite as well put together as the Japanese-built IS. It may not be as fast or as fun, but it's very, very good.

As the lid becomes the floor, it's quite open inside the camper, with plenty of room to move around and space to do everyday things standing up, like get dressed, which is often more difficult in a forward fold, as there's not a lot of standing room inside them. There's also no stairs to climb getting in or out, as the hard floor is almost at ground level.

The tent seems quite well made. It's a 450gsm waterproof canvas with a tropical roof, windows all around the bed and three doors, one each side of the hard floor. Almost the whole passenger side can be rolled away, too, creating a giant opening into the camper, which offers a pretty good outlook on hot summer days at campsites by the beach.

There's no shortage of extra canvas, either. There are two awnings (although only one you'll use often, an ensuite tent and an optional kids room. The best of the awnings is the quick version, which is simply a rectangle of canvas that shelters the kitchen and only needs two poles to hold it up. A more complete awning, which also comes with walls and a floor, goes up reasonably easily, but it'd only be used if you were settling in for a week or more, I reckon, and then only if the weather was questionable. Its pitch has been improved over the Series 1, which had a flatter roofline and was more susceptible to pooling water. The ensuite room is gigantic – about the size of an actual small bathroom.

One of the biggest reasons to get a rear-fold over a forward-fold is the internal access to storage. As the rear-fold's is all under the bed, the four steel drawers make it easy to get to. Two of them are even accessible when the camper is shut, which just isn't the case in a forward-folding camper. A large, wide step makes climbing up into the bed easy, too. It has an innerspring mattress which is firm but comfortable and plenty big enough to spread out on if you are sharing it.

The Overland XR Series 1 was very well equipped electrically, maybe too well equipped. It was fitted with three 100ah batteries, which is not only a lot of extra weight, but that much battery takes ages to charge – if they were all flat, a day's driving probably wouldn't do it, especially if the car also had a second it needed to attend to. The Series 2 has dropped back to two batteries, which is far better suited to the camper and should easily be maintained by one of the optional 144W solar panel blankets. It can also be fitted with Redarc's Redvision, offering phone connectivity to the camper's electronics so you can not only monitor everything, but turn things on or off remotely.

The other side of the camper's forward storage is large enough to fit a generator or any other bulky camping appliance. As it can be accessed when the camper's open or closed, it's perfect for all manner of gear. A smaller box facing forwards is great for hoses and recovery gear or even a couple of jerry cans. Beware of loading this area up with too much really heavy gear, though, as the ball-weight's already on the heavy side. Fortunately, the camper has a flip-over luggage rack, which is ideal for heavier or bulkier items. Underneath, it can carry 155-litres of water in two tanks.

The IS's cabin is probably the weakest point of the car, with limited storage for your bits and bobs. Front and rear seat passengers do get cupholders for a total of four, but the rear doors don't have bottle holders, limiting you to the two upfront.

On hot days like Sydney's 2017 summer, those cooled seats are heaven-sent.

The centre console bin is small and is the only place for your phone apart from the cupholders, which isn't an ideal spot, let's face it. The boot is a German-matching 480 litres and you can split fold the seats for more room.

Having said that, it is one of most comfortable cars you can buy, for both front and (short) rear seat passengers. The front seats are especially good and on hot days like Sydney's 2017 summer, those cooled seats are heaven-sent.

The Overland XR is very stable under tow, which has a lot to do with its ball-weight. Weight to the front of a trailer improves trailer stability (although reduces braking and steering efficiency), so there needs to be a compromise. At 180kg, that's actually a reduction on Series 1, and although that's quite heavy for a camper trailer, is on par with other modern rear-folds, like the Kimberley Kamper.

Well and truly off-road ready, the XR has independent coil-spring suspension and dual shock absorbers, standard, as well as an AL-KO 360° ball hitch, so obscure angles on a rough track won't cause any trouble.

The camper is quite tall, thanks to the spacing of the suspension arms, so clearance will rarely be an issue – when level, the ride height suits a lifted four-wheel drive.

Alloy wheels and 265/75 R16 all terrain tyres fit the bill nicely, and as they're a six-stud LandCruiser pattern, they, and the two tonne bearings, are easy to replace anywhere you find yourself.

After having the good fortune to step out of the IS350 and into the 200t, it was immediately apparent that the 200 is the better car. For a start, it feels so much more nimble. Sure, it doesn't have the seamless urge of that silky V6, but the 2.0 turbo does a fine impression of a bigger engine. Once on boost, the engine is smooth with a lovely flat torque curve. If you're off boost, though, you're in a bit of trouble - the eight-speed is reluctant to downshift and needed prodding from the steering wheel mounted paddles on occasion.

As with just about every Lexus, the ride is impeccable and refinement virtually unmatched in the class.

From a driving point of view, the fundamentals are better - less weight over the front wheels meaning the steering feels better, it turns in better and it moves more fluidly, which is impressive because the 350 isn't a slouch. Even the dashboard is better. The 350 has a traditional two clock arrangement where the 200t has a single dial in the middle that is digitally remastered. Press a button and it slides to the side to provide extra info on your choice of the available data. It leaves a fair amount of black space but it's easier to read and doesn't suffer as badly from reflections.

As with just about every Lexus, the ride is impeccable and refinement virtually unmatched in the class. There's something about the way a Lexus knocks the edge of all but the biggest bumps, sails over speed bumps and handles imperfections that is hard to beat and hard to find unless you're spending really big bucks. The adaptive damping never feels like it's doing anything which is exactly the point - even when switching to Sport+, there's an ease to the ride without it feeling loose.

You'll barely know the engine is there, and the way the transmission slurs around the gears means non-stop serenity.