I decided to write a car review this week, partly to get with the programme, but mainly to keep alive the dream that one day a gutsy editor with an eye for talent will invite me to join the hallowed few who can proudly write “motoring correspondent” in the box marked “occupation” on forms.

So I borrowed a new car, tested it over a range of conditions and terrains, boned up on the stats and meticulously crafted a 1,000-word review that was fit to grace the pages of any car magazine in the English-speaking world.

It was also, and I realised this only when proudly reading out a few of the best bits to my wife, unbelievably dull.

At first I was a bit angry about her failure to appreciate my brilliance, but after reviewing my effort in my cramped attic office and comparing its style and content with previous InGear car reviews on the Sunday Times website, I had to admit that it was a soulless, glibly tedious piece of pseudo-petrolhead crap.

To write about cars you’ve got to come across as someone who’s interested in cars in an everyday way, not come across like some kind of scary bore in an owners’ club that holds its annual general meetings in Nige and Biffle’s front room. You’ve got to remain accessible to your average motorist.

They want to know the basics: the mpg and mph, how comfy it was on the long haul, the quality of the sound system and so on, but they also want opinion, insights, someone who’s not afraid to comment and who offers a bit of homespun wisdom, like how to solve the problems of congestion or global warming.

Which brings me neatly to the Lexus RX 400h (I stole that link from Clarkson, by the way), a hybrid petrol-electric 4x4 dream machine. It’s great if you’re driving on your own, great for a four-man golf trip, great for a big family day out and great for the planet. But the best thing about it is that it also throws a serious curve ball to the anti-4x4 mob because it’s less polluting than their crappy estates full of Liberal Democrat literature.

More important, however, it’s not as tall as many other 4x4s so people don’t resent you. Being anti-4x4, as we all know, has little to do with the environment and everything to do with the “looking down their noses” factor.

I mean, a guy sweeping past in a gas-guzzling Roller doesn’t generate anything like the kind of resentment that a blonde in a Chelsea tractor does. He probably produces more harmful emissions and the car is probably bigger, but he remains at the same eye level while she is elevated.

There’s an exception to this rule, of course, and that’s if you’re working. So, for example, van drivers carrying only a tool box in the back and guys driving empty car transporters are allowed to guzzle gas all day in traffic and look down on everyone from a tall vehicle because they’re doing a job.

But a mum on the school run loading up at Sainsbury’s with a baby to wrestle in and out? How dare she want a car that makes her working day a bit easier and kinder on her back? But back to the car review: the Lexus RX 400h. As I was saying, it was very comfy on the long haul, the air-con worked a treat, the stereo was banging, it accelerated well and, above all, it had good mugholders. Oh yes, and it was very frugal on petrol.