Walk into a Lexus dealer with $39,000 to spend on a new sedan and you’ll find you have a surprisingly wide array of choices. That will buy you a Lexus IS 350, a compact rear-wheel drive sedan aimed squarely at the BMW 3 Series. Or, you could get Lexus’ top-selling sedan, the Camry-based ES 350, which is aimed directly at those buyers who used to drive Buicks.
 
Now there’s a third option: the hybrid-only Lexus HS 250h. Based on the Prius and the sold-overseas Toyota Avensis, the HS uses the Camry Hybrid’s 2.4-liter four-cylinder drivetrain. The HS appears to be aimed at Prius-shopping professionals who want something “nicer” that still gets excellent mileage. Cars like the aforementioned Camry Hybrid, the fun-to-drive Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan Hybrid, or a diesel-powered Volkswagen Jetta TDI might fit that bill, but they don’t have the cachet of the Lexus name. (Vehicle links point to the model overview pages, where online subscribers can access road tests and ratings.)
 
They don’t have the HS’s price tag, either. Our car is an HS 250h Premium, which gets you a wood and leather trimmed interior, power seats and steering wheel adjustment, and 18-inch wheels. A bunch of piddly little options (spoiler, glass breakage sensors, remote start, a cargo net and trunk mat, and all-weather mats) added a whopping $1,094, bringing the total with destination to $38,939.
 
We’ll let you know if the HS lives up to Lexus’ standards of quiet refinement as we put miles on our test car.
 
—Tom Mutchler