There nothing worse than sitting in front of a blank page when writing an article or a review… and that’s exactly what’s in front of me today. Is the Lexus SC430 really that bad ? Not really, it’s the exact opposite and I enjoyed every minute of my 5-day test drive at the wheel of this Coupe Convertible. So what’s wrong? Why am I not capable to write more than 2 sentences about this car?
It will be difficult to explain you the reasons straightaway but I’m maybe too young for this car at 32. The names of today’s luxury convertibles usually rhyme with British or German names, rarely Japanese names come to mind and usually, 90% of the owners of these vehicles have:
- white hair
- wrinkled faces covered in a nice suntan from the French Riviera or the sun in the Glades
- a young and attractive woman in the passenger’s seat
- a rock-solid bank account.
Despite my relatively young age, I can pass the first aspect, but the other 3 are impossible to achieve (hopefully my wife will NEVER read this article).
So these maybe the first reasons why I have these mixed feelings about the Lexus SC430? In the luxury convertible segment, there is no such thing as a second place, only the first place matters in a segment that is known for its cut-throat competition and constant battle to offer more exclusive models year after year. And that’s exactly the second big problem of this SC430.
If Toyota had presented a VERY good high-end 2+2 convertible/coupe, things would have been different, but here we are faced with a “modest” luxury coupe convertible. And modesty in luxury, that does not exist. Luxury has got nothing to do with modesty, luxury has to make everyone dream, turn heads and make everyone else jealous…
This SC430 (as it’s called on the US market) or Soarer 430SCV (it’s Japanese name before the launch of the Lexus Brand Name) was mildly received on the markets. Sales in the USA were good but on its home turf and in Europe it didn’t do very well. I never had the chance to see one on the Old Continent, but Europe is big after all and I didn’t hide in the shrubs like a police officer looking to up his record number of fines either.
5 years have passed now, and things haven’t changed over that period of time. Despite a few cosmetic touches and updates, the bodywork of this car hasn’t changed in a fundamental way. It’s worse when it comes to the interior of the car, because there are no differences between the 2001 and 2007 models, even to the extent that the ridiculously small GPS screen on the Japanese model is still as small as 5 years ago.
Now, for the record, the interior is very nice, everything is balanced and the seats are very comfortable, giving you the impression to sit in a sofa whilst driving on the highway. Even with the roof down, you sit very comfortably and a breeze is blowing through your hair (or what’s left of it).
This SC430 also has a hardtop, so once you put the roof up, you will experience perfect noise isolation as we did on our long journeys of several hundreds of kilometers on the highway.
You might have thought that this car feels more like a couch than a sports vehicle, but let’s look at the mechanical aspects that power this 2+2 coupe.
In order to create a noble car, you have to fit it with a engine worth that name, and that’s what Toyota did with this VVT-I “all aluminum” 4.3l V8 that develops 288bhp and 410Nm of torque.
When looking at the specs of this engine, you could expect that very rich and fantastic V8 sound… but no, unfortunately this is not the case, you won’t hear this V8 clear its throat at every acceleration. The manufacturer decided to mute the sound of the block to prevent spoiling the total quietness in the interior of this SC430.
Is this a fault or a feature? Hard for me to judge, it’s a choice that I can understand as this SC430 is a luxury car in which delicacy is key, and a growling V8 would mess up that picture a bit.
288bhp and 419Nm are the key figures for this engine, but the total weight of 2110kg will keep your feet firmly on the ground and stop you from dreaming. Performance and acceleration is good, let that be clear, but nothing exceptional when this car is compared to other cars in this segment. The Lexus will do a 0-100 sprint in 6.4 seconds and the top speed is electronically limited to 250km/h.
When it comes to the handling of this Lexus, the 2 tons certainly don’t help. The car is heavy and you can definitely feel that when driving it. Luckily Toyota offers the TRC (Traction Control) system to keep everything on the road (they have other models if you like to take things off-road). So this SC430 is not a performance monster, but it’s an enjoyable car that you can enjoy every day of the year thanks to its soft and linear accelerations. It adapts itself to all road types, be it in the city, on winding country roads or on the highway.
When it comes to electronic goodies, we have to say that this SC stays a bit underneath the level that we got from other Lexus models. Granted, you get ECD (on the dashboard and rearview mirror), TRC (Traction Control), EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution) and VCS (Stability Control), but that’s about the same you get on the IS and GS for example.
We already covered the comfort level of this car, and the seats are excellent. The different bodywork elements and the interior finishing are fine, but we do have some remarks about 2 aspects, even to the extent that they are 2 major flaws in my opinion.
The back seat is one of those flaws of this vehicle.
This car is Japanese and in this country, they like to make everything as small/microscopic as possible, but this is just ridiculous. If you’re taller than 1m30, forget about sitting in the back, it’s just impossible.
The only use you can get out of these seats is some additional storage space… and you’ll need that extra space, because the trunk is the second major flaw of this vehicle.
I have been able to test a large number of convertibles and to the exception of the Daihatsu Copen, I have NEVER seen such a small trunk! During my test drive, I was able to slide in 1 backpack, and that’s it! The spare tire is also located in this compartment, and it takes up a huge amount of space. So if you have to take something with you whilst driving this car, don’t bother opening the trunk and throw those golf clubs on the back seat.
There are some more minor flaws: if your hands are rather sweaty and you drive for a while, avoid the wooden steering wheel because it will just become useless. The GPS system has to be reviewed too by the Toyota engineers, especially when you consider what the price of this Lexus is. They should and could have fitted a more sophisticated system in this car.
So, to sum things up, we can say that this car is built in a very nice way with good quality materials and that it offers quite a lot of pleasure at the wheel, but this luxury car really lacks character and does not fit in the current Lexus line-up (with for example the sublime IS350 and 250).
And it’s this lack of character, missing personality and a hollow feeling that remains in your heart and mind after getting out of this car… and that’s really its main flaw.
It will offers you a very high comfort level without getting noticed every 50 meters and being described vulgar and flashy, and that’s what most owners and future owners are probably looking for, but you can’t deny that it feels good for a man or woman to shine once in a while too…
Posted on 23/10/06 By G-A.G
