Many of us act on impulse - I’m one of them. But impulsive choices can sometimes be the better ones we make.

Me and 3 close college buddies were planning a trip to Vancouver Island, Canada. We don’t quite know how the idea came about, but by July 2005 it was definite - we were going somehow. We were departing from Los Angeles, CA, up through Oregon with a stop in Seattle WA. From there we planned to cross the border and head to the ferry terminal to Vancouver Island.

We had a big problem though - nobody had reliable transportation. I was in the market for a new car because my 1991 Mitsubishi Montero was started to give me less than 15 miles per gallon and was ready to kill over. I was initially looking at the Nissan Xterra’s but there was something about them that kept me unenthusiastic. I was also trying to plan the car purchase with our trip to Canada so we could use my new car.

My girlfriend has a Honda Insight and I’ve always marveled at the hybrid technology, not to mention the increased fuel efficiency. Being an SUV person myself and not being happy about the gas-guzzling label, I looked into the Lexus RX400h. I instantly fell in love with all this car had to offer. This car was a bit out of my price range but it was still manageable. I worked the numbers and decided to buy the car.

Many people said I was crazy to volunteer my car for the Vancouver road trip - everyone except for me and my college buddies. With the transportation problem solved, we were ready for our trip.

There was a lot of last-minute packing the day of our trip. The Lexus RX400h seemed sleek and compact from the outside but the inside room was impressive. The Lexus RX400h also comes with a roof rack so you can strap camper tops to it. We borrowed a very large (and old-school) Thule camper top (thank to my buddy Aaron P. for the hook-up). Inside we managed to fit 4 sleeping bags, two Coleman grills, a 24-pack of water, cooking utensils and more. Inside the car, we managed to fit our tents, bags, an acoustic guitar, boom-box, laptop, 2 ice chests, small miscellaneous items and all four of us!!! I was thoroughly impressed with all we fit. We made sure not to surpass the weight restrictions as specified in the Lexus RX400h manual (even though we weren’t close to the limit by like 60-80 lbs).

We started off a little late and as a result we had make up for it. I liked how Lexus RX400h handled even with the increase weight. The handling and acceleration were slightly affected but still impressive. The electric motors kicked in during acceleration to provide some more torque. I was still able to keep up with the 70mph flow of traffic without any problems.

The Lexus RX400h’s swiveling headlights came in handy when driving through some of the northern California roads at night. One thing that also impressed me the most was how quiet the inside was. The Lexus RX400h has double rubber seals on all four doors plus there is extra insulation to provide a low-noise environment.

The Lexus RX400h performed to expectation and safely drove us to Vancouver Island and back. We didn’t have any mechanical problems. The only incident occurred when I accidentally left the RX400h on overnight while charging something. The RX400h didn’t want to start. Luckily, this car had pretty normal procedures for dead batter situations. A kind woman gave my car a jump and I was able to turn it on.

NOTE: Embarrassingly, I had to ask for another jump after the first one. The Lexus RX400h shuts down the engine if you stay idle after turning on the car. This is normal operation in order to conserve fuel. In my situation (where I ran the batter dry from leaving it on), I had to keep the gas pedal depressed in order to keep the engine from shutting off while recharging.

I was quite pleased with the Lexus RX400h. It provided us a comfortable, smooth and trouble-free ride on an amazing journey from Los Angeles, CA to Vancouver Island, B.C. and back. The gas mileage was about 23mpg on average. This was a dramatic improvement over my old car and better than some cars of similar and greater caliber.