Smart Money Article on SC 430 (2001) very favorable
11-11-03, 07:49 AM
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Smart Money Article on SC 430 (2001) very favorable
Love Object
By Paul Ingrassia
June 19, 2001
The Lexus SC 430: Other drivers gawk, bikers grunt approval, and this reviewer swoons.
I CAN'T SPEAK for most car reviewers, but this scribe, at least, rarely falls in love with a new model. In fact, there are plenty of times when I can't wait to turn in the car I'm testing and get back into my own set of wheels — the Saab 9-5 SE wagon with a turbocharged V-6 that I leased last December.
But every once in a long while something special comes along. And the new Lexus SC 430 — a "2 + 2" coupe (that is, it has a backseat) with a convertible aluminum hardtop and a 300-hp V-8 engine — ranks as one of those. Not since the Audi TT debuted have I liked a new car this much. And there is plenty of evidence that I'm not alone.
During my five-day test-drive, the SC 430 stopped traffic several times. Members of my family who normally ignore cars begged me to ride in this one. And my cousin's son became a temporary celebrity at his high school when friends spotted him in the SC 430.
Lexus has become the top-selling luxury marque in America by peddling cars with lots of substance but, unfortunately, precious little style. The SC 430, however, has plenty of both. The Lexus publicists say the car's exterior designer, Sotiris Kovos, drew inspiration after being dispatched to the French Riviera to observe the sensuous shapes there.
They're referring to the yachts, of course. (Note to editor: Can I go to the Riviera to draw inspiration, too?) Whatever the PR spin, the SC 430 is the first Lexus ever with truly head-turning styling.
Perhaps the most effective way to present my thoughts on the SC 430 is to let you ride along with me on my test-drive of the car (figuratively, of course). What follows, then, is my SC 430 diary.
Day One
I pick up the car in the parking lot outside my office in Jersey City, N.J. Even before the SC 430 arrives, I know that its vital statistics, at least on paper, are promising. The car's base sticker price is $59,000 (all prices include destination charge) — about $2,000 more than the competing Mercedes-Benz CLK430 cabriolet. The CLK430, though, doesn't have a retractable hardtop. Instead, it sports a convertible ragtop, albeit a very nice one. Mercedes also sells a CLK430 coupe, which has a regular hardtop.
The Lexus SC 430
Its curves inspired by the shapes of the French Riviera, the SC 430 is a Lexus with head-turning style.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Lexus has just three options: a DVD in-dash navigation system for $2,000, a rear spoiler for $440 and run-flat tires (letting you omit the spare and thus save trunk room) for $400. That totals $61,840, assuming dealers don't add their own surcharge, which they probably will for a while. But the CLK430 that I test-drove for comparison's sake had nearly $11,000 worth of options — a CD changer, an integrated phone, heated front seats and so forth — bringing the total sticker to $67,035. The CD changer and heated front seats are standard on the SC 430. Score one for Lexus.
And the Lexus provides a little more muscle: 300 hp vs. 275 horses on the Mercedes-Benz. This gets the Lexus from zero to 60 miles an hour in just 5.9 seconds. It takes 6.1 seconds for the CLK430 coupe and 6.9 seconds for the cabriolet. Score another point (a small one) for Lexus.
I walk out to the parking lot with Danny Berke, my cousin's son and my unofficial automotive assistant. "Paul, everyone is staring at us," he says. Usually those are worrisome words from a 15-year-old, but Danny is grinning. We indeed draw stares of admiration as we retract the hardtop into the SC 430's trunk in 20 seconds flat.
Then we hop onto the Jersey Turnpike, top still down, for the ride to Danny's house. Immediately, we discover that the SC 430 needs a new safety feature — an indicator that flashes when other cars linger in your blind spot too long. Because lots of drivers are doing just that: pulling up slightly behind us in an adjoining lane just to ogle the SC 430.
Traffic slows to a near crawl around us, though the turnpike isn't terribly busy, as other drivers stare and wave. Around the George Washington Bridge, we find ourselves surrounded by a group of bikers shouting loud grunts of approval, as best I can tell.
The SC 430's fuel economy isn't bad for a car with such muscle; it gets 18 miles a gallon in the city and 23 on the highway.
Day Two
The next day brings more of the same. My Saturday morning errands take longer than usual because people want to talk about the car. The ride and handling on the SC 430 provides a nice balance between comfort and performance. This is a sports car for adults, at least for well-heeled adults.
Using the car's in-dash navigation system proves easy. But the SC 430's first flaw appears. The touch screen on the navigation system quickly becomes filled with unsightly fingerprint smudges. They mar the appearance of what is otherwise a gorgeous dashboard. Note to Lexus: Try finding some smudge-proof glass.
Day Three
On Sunday my brother and his wife come to our home in New Jersey for dinner. They live in Brooklyn, and their attitude toward cars falls somewhere between apathy and antipathy. But not with this car. "It's like a Batmobile!" Larry exclaims when we retract the roof.
Larry decides he has to drive this car. That means going to dinner in separate cars, because the SC 430's backseat can't hold two adults. It can't hold even one adult, and a baby seat will hardly fit. This backseat is best considered as the storage space that the trunk lacks — good for grocery bags or golf clubs but barely fit for human occupancy.
Even this truncated backseat, though, gives the SC 430 a big edge over the other hardtop convertible on the U.S. market, the Mercedes-Benz SLK. The SLK, launched in 1997 as the first modern (i.e., reliable) convertible hardtop, has no backseat and virtually no trunk, and thus is smaller than both the Lexus and Mercedes's own CLK.
Also, the SLK doesn't offer a V-8. It comes with either a four-cylinder engine (the SLK230 Kompressor, with 190 hp) or a six-cylinder (the SLK320, with 215 hp). To get a V-8, you have to buy the CLK, which doesn't offer a convertible hardtop.
The SLK does offer a six-speed manual transmission as well as an automatic. Score one here for Mercedes. But the SLK's ride and comfort level seem harsh and primitive compared with the SC 430's. Of course, the SLK320 carries a base sticker price of $44,545, well below the SC 430's.
Give Mercedes credit for making a convertible hardtop work, but give Lexus credit for putting it in a civilized vehicle.
Day Four
Monday: I can't resist sneaking out with a few colleagues at Dow Jones Newswires, my daytime job, to show off the SC 430 on the streets of Jersey City. (OK, it's not the ideal setting.)
My colleagues are suitably impressed, especially by the convertible hardtop. They have to open and close it over and over again, like kids playing with a new toy car.
Mercedes should put a convertible hardtop on the CLK, and thus create a true competitor to the SC 430. Instead, Mercedes is extending the CLK family in another way — muscle. The CLK55 AMG coupe boasts a 349-hp, 5.5-liter V-8, with a zero-to-60 time of just 4.9 seconds. Its base price is $67,400. A cabriolet version of the CLK55 AMG is coming later this year.
Day Five
The most difficult day of all. I have to give the car back to Lexus. I miss it still.
By Paul Ingrassia
June 19, 2001
The Lexus SC 430: Other drivers gawk, bikers grunt approval, and this reviewer swoons.
I CAN'T SPEAK for most car reviewers, but this scribe, at least, rarely falls in love with a new model. In fact, there are plenty of times when I can't wait to turn in the car I'm testing and get back into my own set of wheels — the Saab 9-5 SE wagon with a turbocharged V-6 that I leased last December.
But every once in a long while something special comes along. And the new Lexus SC 430 — a "2 + 2" coupe (that is, it has a backseat) with a convertible aluminum hardtop and a 300-hp V-8 engine — ranks as one of those. Not since the Audi TT debuted have I liked a new car this much. And there is plenty of evidence that I'm not alone.
During my five-day test-drive, the SC 430 stopped traffic several times. Members of my family who normally ignore cars begged me to ride in this one. And my cousin's son became a temporary celebrity at his high school when friends spotted him in the SC 430.
Lexus has become the top-selling luxury marque in America by peddling cars with lots of substance but, unfortunately, precious little style. The SC 430, however, has plenty of both. The Lexus publicists say the car's exterior designer, Sotiris Kovos, drew inspiration after being dispatched to the French Riviera to observe the sensuous shapes there.
They're referring to the yachts, of course. (Note to editor: Can I go to the Riviera to draw inspiration, too?) Whatever the PR spin, the SC 430 is the first Lexus ever with truly head-turning styling.
Perhaps the most effective way to present my thoughts on the SC 430 is to let you ride along with me on my test-drive of the car (figuratively, of course). What follows, then, is my SC 430 diary.
Day One
I pick up the car in the parking lot outside my office in Jersey City, N.J. Even before the SC 430 arrives, I know that its vital statistics, at least on paper, are promising. The car's base sticker price is $59,000 (all prices include destination charge) — about $2,000 more than the competing Mercedes-Benz CLK430 cabriolet. The CLK430, though, doesn't have a retractable hardtop. Instead, it sports a convertible ragtop, albeit a very nice one. Mercedes also sells a CLK430 coupe, which has a regular hardtop.
The Lexus SC 430
Its curves inspired by the shapes of the French Riviera, the SC 430 is a Lexus with head-turning style.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Lexus has just three options: a DVD in-dash navigation system for $2,000, a rear spoiler for $440 and run-flat tires (letting you omit the spare and thus save trunk room) for $400. That totals $61,840, assuming dealers don't add their own surcharge, which they probably will for a while. But the CLK430 that I test-drove for comparison's sake had nearly $11,000 worth of options — a CD changer, an integrated phone, heated front seats and so forth — bringing the total sticker to $67,035. The CD changer and heated front seats are standard on the SC 430. Score one for Lexus.
And the Lexus provides a little more muscle: 300 hp vs. 275 horses on the Mercedes-Benz. This gets the Lexus from zero to 60 miles an hour in just 5.9 seconds. It takes 6.1 seconds for the CLK430 coupe and 6.9 seconds for the cabriolet. Score another point (a small one) for Lexus.
I walk out to the parking lot with Danny Berke, my cousin's son and my unofficial automotive assistant. "Paul, everyone is staring at us," he says. Usually those are worrisome words from a 15-year-old, but Danny is grinning. We indeed draw stares of admiration as we retract the hardtop into the SC 430's trunk in 20 seconds flat.
Then we hop onto the Jersey Turnpike, top still down, for the ride to Danny's house. Immediately, we discover that the SC 430 needs a new safety feature — an indicator that flashes when other cars linger in your blind spot too long. Because lots of drivers are doing just that: pulling up slightly behind us in an adjoining lane just to ogle the SC 430.
Traffic slows to a near crawl around us, though the turnpike isn't terribly busy, as other drivers stare and wave. Around the George Washington Bridge, we find ourselves surrounded by a group of bikers shouting loud grunts of approval, as best I can tell.
The SC 430's fuel economy isn't bad for a car with such muscle; it gets 18 miles a gallon in the city and 23 on the highway.
Day Two
The next day brings more of the same. My Saturday morning errands take longer than usual because people want to talk about the car. The ride and handling on the SC 430 provides a nice balance between comfort and performance. This is a sports car for adults, at least for well-heeled adults.
Using the car's in-dash navigation system proves easy. But the SC 430's first flaw appears. The touch screen on the navigation system quickly becomes filled with unsightly fingerprint smudges. They mar the appearance of what is otherwise a gorgeous dashboard. Note to Lexus: Try finding some smudge-proof glass.
Day Three
On Sunday my brother and his wife come to our home in New Jersey for dinner. They live in Brooklyn, and their attitude toward cars falls somewhere between apathy and antipathy. But not with this car. "It's like a Batmobile!" Larry exclaims when we retract the roof.
Larry decides he has to drive this car. That means going to dinner in separate cars, because the SC 430's backseat can't hold two adults. It can't hold even one adult, and a baby seat will hardly fit. This backseat is best considered as the storage space that the trunk lacks — good for grocery bags or golf clubs but barely fit for human occupancy.
Even this truncated backseat, though, gives the SC 430 a big edge over the other hardtop convertible on the U.S. market, the Mercedes-Benz SLK. The SLK, launched in 1997 as the first modern (i.e., reliable) convertible hardtop, has no backseat and virtually no trunk, and thus is smaller than both the Lexus and Mercedes's own CLK.
Also, the SLK doesn't offer a V-8. It comes with either a four-cylinder engine (the SLK230 Kompressor, with 190 hp) or a six-cylinder (the SLK320, with 215 hp). To get a V-8, you have to buy the CLK, which doesn't offer a convertible hardtop.
The SLK does offer a six-speed manual transmission as well as an automatic. Score one here for Mercedes. But the SLK's ride and comfort level seem harsh and primitive compared with the SC 430's. Of course, the SLK320 carries a base sticker price of $44,545, well below the SC 430's.
Give Mercedes credit for making a convertible hardtop work, but give Lexus credit for putting it in a civilized vehicle.
Day Four
Monday: I can't resist sneaking out with a few colleagues at Dow Jones Newswires, my daytime job, to show off the SC 430 on the streets of Jersey City. (OK, it's not the ideal setting.)
My colleagues are suitably impressed, especially by the convertible hardtop. They have to open and close it over and over again, like kids playing with a new toy car.
Mercedes should put a convertible hardtop on the CLK, and thus create a true competitor to the SC 430. Instead, Mercedes is extending the CLK family in another way — muscle. The CLK55 AMG coupe boasts a 349-hp, 5.5-liter V-8, with a zero-to-60 time of just 4.9 seconds. Its base price is $67,400. A cabriolet version of the CLK55 AMG is coming later this year.
Day Five
The most difficult day of all. I have to give the car back to Lexus. I miss it still.
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