AUTO RED BOOK REVIEW: 2010 LEXUS SC 430

On The Cover Review: 2010 Lexus SC 430

For those seasoned motorists who pine for the days of the late ’50s Ford Retractable hardtop, Lexus continues to build their own version of an aging convertible hardtop; the SC 430.  This car is high-quality, smooth, and bland, kind of like vanilla Whole Milk Yogurt.  It is creamier and more expensive than, say, your run-of-the-mill sporty convertible, but it does so without the fun flavors, chocolate chunks, and nuts of something like a BMW.  The SC 430 has been around in more-or-less the same guise as it has since 2002, but you might not have noticed that many of them.  True, they don’t sell nearly as many of these as they do Camrys, but some of their anonymity may go back to the bland yogurt analogy.  They’re nice—you just don’t notice them.  Power comes from a 4.3-liter V8 that slow-churns 288-hp.  Again, we’re talking smooth, but not particularly impressive acceleration and performance.  One thing that you can count on is an impressive array of standard and optional features, including voice navigation, Mark Levinson Audio System, and fancy HID headlamps.  So even if the overall car isn’t extraordinarily exhilarating, there are plenty of electronic gadgets to keep you entertained.