2005 Lexus SC 430 Test Drive

Luxury Brand Tries to Go Sporty

With the SC 430, Lexus proved it could make a sporty car. But is it enough of a sports car?

Last spring I accompanied my wife to her high school reunion outside of Baltimore. Because the kids didn't come with us, for once we didn't need to drive an SUV, minivan, station wagon or large sedan. It was an all too rare opportunity to enjoy something sporty, preferably top-down, Cheerios-free and with laughably small, if not nonexistent, backseats that no conscientious parent would ever choose in a car.

Imagine how happy we were to find ourselves in a Lexus SC 430.

It was everything that we wanted. It was fast, it looked great, handled beautifully and was very comfortable. It sure beat turning up at the reunion in a minivan.

When Lexus introduced the SC 430 as a replacement for the SC 400 in 2002, it was a radical departure for Toyota Motor's upscale yet conservative luxury division. The SC 400 had been, like all Lexus products, well-made and sophisticated, if not terribly vitalizing. The SC 430, low-slung, tautly muscled and sleek, was a big step up the evolutionary ladder. From the beginning of its marketing campaign, when the first billboards hit the streets, it was eye-catching. But it looks even better in person, particularly with the brilliant red paint job that adorned our tester.

So why are sales off so sharply for the SC 430? Lexus' reputation for quality is near-mythic. On July 8, the 2003 J.D. Power & Associates vehicle-dependability study recognized Lexus for the ninth consecutive year as maker of the most reliable autos in the U.S. Yet as of the end of July, only 6,121 SC 430s had been sold, down nearly 35% from this time last year. Granted, the car was brand new last year, so it is expected that it would enjoy a honeymoon period while me-firsters were jockeying to buy one, but the bloom is off this roadster a little faster than usual.

It's not just the SC 430 that is suffering at the showrooms. While Toyota's overall (car and truck) sales are up about 1% this year and, combined, Toyota and Lexus may overtake DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler division as the third-place car sellers in the U.S. fairly soon, Lexus passenger cars are down more than 20% from the previous end-of-July numbers. The bright spot at Lexus is its light truck group, which saw sales up nearly 50% so far this year, and if you combine car and light-truck/SUV sales for Lexus, you get a modest gain for the marque of about 3%.

But Lexus sedans and coupes aren't big movers right now because the model lineup is fairly old, especially versus hotter brands like Infiniti -- the upscale division of Nissan -- which is suddenly selling tauter-handling cars and crossovers than Lexus has ever offered.

But what might explain the particular difficulties the SC 430 is encountering is the fact that, beautiful and well-made as it is, it is also expensive. The base sticker is around $62,000, which makes it less than top-end cabriolets like the Mercedes SL or Jaguar XK, but pricier than either the Mercedes SLK or CLK. And now the $35,000-$42,000 BMW Z4 Roadster offers yet another sexy alternative that's also far less expensive. Want something smoother- riding than that sporty BMW? You could get something quite Lexus-like in the new, $40,000 Audi A4 Cabriolet.

All of which says that the SC 430 is suddenly fighting stiff competition at a huge price disadvantage.