Although there are definite car cues to the new design, Lexus designers have also included meatier elements, such as the beefy front bumper and pronounced fender flares. Well-designed door handles are of the reach-through type that are more hand-friendly than the fingertip-grip variety, less chance of breaking long fingernails.

A novel feature, something not seen on the U.S. market since the 1949 Tucker, is the Adaptive Front Lighting System (AFS). This system swivels the left and right headlamp as determined by an onboard processor that calculates the optimum angle to provide the best illumination, allowing drivers to see around corners better. It's available only as part of the Performance Package.

A rear view of the RX 330 reveals a visor over the top edge of the rear window, a short radio antenna at the right rear corner of the roof (promising better reception in marginal areas than the imbedded-in-glass type), and clear-lensed taillamps. The latter are trendy with the sport compact kids; we think they should stay there, as these don't seem to be as visible, especially in bright sunlight, as the old-fogy red lenses.

The Lexus RX 330 competes with the Volvo XC90 ($33,350), Acura MDX ($34,900), Mercedes-Benz M-Class ($37,670), BMW X5 ($39,995), and Infiniti FX45 ($44,225), among others. The RX 330 utilizes a modified version of the platform used by the Lexus ES300 sedan, Toyota Camry, and Toyota Highlander sport-utility.