Lotus Exige vs Lexus LC500H

What's the difference?

Driving naked is ill-advised, and possibly illegal, but taking a spin in the Lotus Exige 350 Sport is as close as you'd ever want to get. It's not so much that you feel you've left your clothes at home, but that the car has shed its accoutrements, and indeed its very flesh, leaving you with a kind of skeletal vehicle; just bare bones and muscle.

What this punishingly hard and fiercely focused machine does to your bones and flesh is best described as extreme chiropractry - in particular the stress of ingress and egress - but fortunately it makes up for the moans, bangs and bruises by fizzing your adrenal glands in a big way.

The question is whether the fun is worth the suffering, and the  $138,782.85 price tag.

For those merely gazing up to the lofty, ivory-tipped towers of high society, it would be easy to think that the mere ownership of a plush, premium vehicle, like the Lexus LC 500h for example, is a reward in and of itself.

The truth, though, is that Australia's premium manufacturers then sweeten the ownership pot even further, often inviting new owners into a secret club filled with tickets to exclusive events, seats at the fanciest of dining tables and concierge-style car maintenance, to name but a few of the perks on offer.

Lexus, though, sits atop the pile when it comes to offering ownership perks to its owners, and now more than ever, with the brand's existing Encore Club today welcoming a new and more-exclusive tier, called Encore Platinum.

We'll circle back to all of this under our 'Ownership' sub heading, but the short answer is that anyone who has bought a RC F, GS F, LX, LS or LC, like this 500h, since January 1 this year is automatically signed up, and is in line for some serious goodies. 

Perhaps the most pressing question, though, is will it be the new ownership program that lures customers into a LC 500h? Or can the luxurious Lexus performance coupe stand on its own four wheels? 

Let's find out.