fraggin

After putting close to 200 miles on the SC430, and after reading the experiences of other's (with acceleration and power), I'm curious why Lexus decided to use the V8 in the SC430. With the Stock exhaust, it's as quiet as a church mouse. The low end torque doesn't seem to announce that it contains a V8. I think that my ES350 has more low end torque and acceleration than the SC430. I'm not bashing it by any means. The question I'm asking is what was the intention of putting in a V8, when Lexus could have used a V6 or even a straight 6?

mrblister

V8 sells cars . When i looked at the slightly larger sc convertible that came out after the sc430 with a six i was very unimpressed .

Moonstruck

Toyota had the V8 available from other models. When it was desired to put the SC430 into production the V8 was the obvious choice because of the open road appeal. This is the opinion of the two car guys on the net. Can't remember the name of their show right now, but they reviewed the car some years back. I do wish it had a better exhaust sound.

fraggin

When it comes to typical v8 performance, what is lacking in the setup of the 3uz? I realize trying to get performance gains out of this engine can be very costly. If you had to list the strong points of this engine, what would you consider to be the plus side the UZ series?

JohnnyCake

The target market for this car was luxury cruising, not high performance. So I have always figured the V8 permitted a flatter torque curve across the board, and also more power lower in the RPM range. Lower RPM means quieter, which is highly valued in the luxury market. Church mice are good!

jadu

iTrader: (42)

the silky smooth 4.3L V8 was the flagship at the time the SC430 debuted 15 years ago. IMO, I'm not exactly sure why Lexus did not include the 2JZ I6 but I believe it was because they didn't want to carry it over i.e. there was no successor to the 2JZ present in the 1SC compared to 1UZ jump to the 3UZ. Plus, I don't think Lexus was too fond of tuners going NA-T in this luxury cruiser, just my opinion.

Bgw70

Frick and Frack?

ogjohnsmit

How could the "Crown Jewel of Lexus" have anything but a V8?

fraggin

It's beginning to make sense. The stock setup does fit the Lexus image. Thanks guys.

Bgw70

Remember torque is created by the stroke and engine size. The bore could actually be the same size between those two engines you mentioned.

Also, what year is the ES compared to the SC...the power always seems to go up every couple of years, except for the SC.

NickTee

Because the car is absurdly heavy. They are slow enough as is, imagine if they had utilized the GS300 engine.

Coleroad

It's a quiet smooth low RPM open cruiser. It was geared toward older people. It wasn't meant to be a moded, stanced hot rod. This older generation grew up on v8 power. It's a group with a certain mindset Lexus was trying to reach.

ogjohnsmit

Not that the SC430 is a fast car by any means but when I pass someone on the freeway I really don’t want them to hear me a mile away. One thing that makes me laugh are the cars with the coffee can size exhausts making all this noise and going nowhere. I like to just whisper by like they were standing still and leave them wondering “What was that, a Lexus ???”.

Maybe I’m just too old and appreciate the sound of quiet and refined power these days… Why would you want your Lexus to sound like a Mustang?

Coleroad

+1

My BMW has a low growl nod that's as loud as I want. I don't want my sc430 to sound that way. For me the Lexus IS more of that quiet refined comfortable driver. I can't imagine the sc 430 ever having the feel of my BMW, and I don't want it to. I have five different cars that all feed different wants in a car. All but the BMW have a v8.

Harold57

Another reason for the V8 is that it was a rock solid engine. One of the most reliable around. For a car that they didn't seem to want to spend any more time and effort on upgrading, it seemed like a good choice.