Lexus Rz vs Ford Tourneo

What's the difference?

When Lexus revealed its first dedicated electric car, a sporty looking SUV based on the Toyota bZ4X, price seemed to be the biggest factor in its disappointing sales figures.

Starting at about the $120,000 mark, the Lexus RZ you may have seen around, if you’re extremely eagle-eyed, was far from popular. 

After a little bit of time off showroom floors, however, the RZ is back.

More range, more power, a new first for Lexus in terms of driving tech and a much, much lower starting price could see the brand’s first dedicated EV pick up the pace.

But, there’s a big question mark over that new tech - the much-hyped steering yoke that replaces the wheel in the top-spec F Sport, which uses a steer-by-wire system in a debut setup for Lexus.

Is it a revelation, or a gimmick? We attended the updated RZ launch in Victoria to find out.

This idea hasn’t always worked out too well. Take a parcel-van (in this case the Ford Transit Custom) strip out the rubber matting and cargo barrier and bolt six or seven seats into what was the load area. Sure, the original vehicle to use this concept, the Volkswagen Kombi way back in the 1950s, got away with it, possibly because there wasn’t anything better around.

Ford has plenty of history with this notion, too. The first Transit of 1965 was also available as a mini-bus, but worked okay because the Transit itself was such a car-like departure from the commercial-vehicle norm.

Things didn’t go so well for Ford in the early 1980s, however, when the Econovan-badged parcel van it shared with Mazda (the E2200) was fitted with eight seats, given some fuzzy velour trim and dubbed the Spectron. And it was dreadful. In fact, so bad, that it made the contemporaneous Mitsubishi Nimbus and the even more forgettable Nissan Prairie seem like vastly superior alternatives to the job of moving people. Only because they were.

Early versions of the Spectron retained the Econovan’s crude suspension, wheezy (and fragile) little engines and even the tiny dual rear wheels that entirely deprived the vehicle of any traction. In fact, dreadful doesn’t even cover it.

So you can see why Ford might be a bit antsy about me referring to the new Tourneo (a badge that has been around in Europe for decades) as a Transit Custom with extra seats and windows. Yet that kind of sums it up (up to a point, anyway). Luckily, the Transit Custom itself is a pretty sorted thing these days, so maybe Ford has nothing to worry about. Maybe…