What a difference a steering wheel makes.

When I recently reviewed a Lexus RZ 500e, it was fitted with the butterfly-shaped yoke (‘yoke’ in this instance being what they call it rather than the more generic Irish use of the word to describe something odd).

BY BRIAN BYRNE

If you read it, you’ll recall that I was less than entranced.

I recently spent time with the RZ 350e, the lower-power version. It had a normal steering wheel, properly round, unlike the variety of flattened, hexagonal and other variations of round that are current in the car design industry.

I so appreciated it, especially in the lock-to-lock workouts we do when parking or the manoeuvring necessary in multi-storey car parks and similar.

It made such a difference to my overall experience with the car that I was much more inclined to take it out just for the fun of it.

The RZ is the first Lexus built on the e-TNGA dedicated electric car platform, with Toyota and Subaru relatives.

It's mid-sized, crossover in format, and aimed directly at Tesla's Model Y but with a lot more premium attitude.

The styling at first view is perhaps a little jarring, with some angles awry, then one quickly gets to like it.

I had the odd thought that if, in 30 years' time, somebody wanted to remake the Back to the Future movie franchise, they might use the RZ as the vehicle star.

I should say, though, that the driving experience between the Lexus and the DeLorean is not comparable — I have driven the latter, and it was brutal.

Inside, the sensory coherence from the quality of the trim is high.

The operator space looks and feels driver-designed with real rotary and switch controls where they should be, including a proper start-stop button, and instruments with simple and readable graphics (though I would have liked the driver display to be somewhat brighter; it could get lost in bright outside conditions).

The heft of the wheel was Goldilocks-right for my mitts, and the transmission selector on the centre console was exactly where it should be for backing-and-forthing in tight spaces.

It's a big car, a bit shy of five metres long, so anything making things somewhat more nimble for the driver is good.

There's plenty of occupant accommodation front and rear, in seats that I found to be generous and which proved as comfortable as something with the Lexus badge and pricing ought to be.

The 522L of cargo capacity aft suggests the car with four adult occupants would do the Irish Grand Tour quite well.

And my time with the car left me in no doubt that the designers had engineered the suspension to make such trips comfortable regardless of the quality and type of roads used.

I have mentioned this to be lower power than the 380hp of the 500e, which also was AWD.

This FWD version tops out at 224hp, which for me was plenty, and adequately pokey with a 7.5s sprint to 100km/h possible.

Does anyone need their passenger car to have the 4.6s capability of the 500e? Not least for what the cost would be in premature replacement of tyres.

When Toyota set out to create a premium brand, way back in the day, there were many car industry types, especially those already producing 'luxury' motors, who didn't believe they could.

But the Japanese are nothing if not dogged and meticulous, and patient, and the Lexus brand eventually achieved a deserved elevated space in the automotive hierarchy.

The RZ 350e represents that achievement well, and at a reasonable cost point.

PRICE: €66,280;

WHAT I LIKED: Feeling that bit more up in the world.