The navigation system was upgraded for 2005 with improved graphics and new functions. The automatic climate system features independent controls for the left and right sides of the cabin. It has its own, separate LED display for temperature and air flow. It's easy to read and operate yet is quite sophisticated: Lap vents deploy automatically when the top is open to compensate for solar heating.

The 240-watt Mark Levinson® stereo delivers amazingly good quality sound. The radio, cassette player, and six-disc, in-dash CD changer brilliantly reproduce music and voice through a seven-channel amplifier and nine speakers, including an eight-inch subwoofer. It maintains full harmonic richness and high audio resolution even when you're at speed with the top down. It's refreshingly easy to operate in spite of its sophistication, so you don't have to study the owner's manual to figure out how to use it.

A button next to the climate system opens the top. Simply press the switch, a trunk flap rises, the roof folds and slips into the trunk, the flap closes and windows go down.

Lurking behind the front seats are a pair of smaller, form-fitting rear bucket seats rigged with integrated headrests and three-point safety belts. But don't mistake the SC 430 for a four-seater. Those back buckets are painfully upright and are generally unsuitable for humans. Better to use them as a relief storage shelf for the diminutive trunk.

Like other sports cars, the SC 430 is not the best car for picking someone up at the airport. Luggage space is lacking with just 8.8 cubic feet of trunk room. Removing the spare tire expands that to 9.4 cubic feet. Dropping the top eliminates the trunk entirely as a serious storage area. However, the Lexus offers considerably more luggage space than you'll find in the Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet or Cadillac XLR, and slightly more than what's provided in the Mercedes-Benz SL 500. Yet it's a bit smaller than the boot in the Jaguar XK8.

Driving Impressions

The Lexus SC 430 blends performance and agility with smoothness and luxury. With the top up and symphonic sound swirling through the leather-lined cabin, the SC 430 isolates its occupants from noise and rough roads. Its engine and transmission are very smooth and the suspension handles bumps and road undulations superbly, far better than most cars.

Drop the top and the wind swirls above you. Wind buffeting is minimal at normal highway speeds and even at high speeds there's little buffeting. It's easy to conduct a conversation without raising your voice.

The Lexus SC 430 is not a sports car in the sense of a Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet. With its soft suspension, the SC 430 floats and wallows on winding, bumpy roads. Take it to the limit in a tight corner, and it understeers (the front tires lose grip before the rear tires). It offers neither the grip nor the transient response of the 911, the Mercedes-Benz SL 500, the Jaguar XK8, or the Cadillac XLR.

The SC 430 is enjoyable to drive, however. In fact it's quite wonderful at a brisk pace on winding mountain roads. Its rear-wheel drive is the proper layout for a performance car, giving it handling balance and responsiveness that no front-wheel-drive car can match. But the SC 430 is not intended to be driven like a race car. It is, after all, a Lexus, designed to excel in the areas of comfort and refinement.

Similarly, the SC 430 is quick, if not lightning quick. It's capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in less than six seconds. The double overhead-cam 4.3-liter all-aluminum V8 produces 288 horsepower at 5600 rpm and 317 pound-feet of torque at 3400 rpm. (The numbers are down slightly this year because of a change in the Society of Automotive Engineers test procedures. Power and torque are actually the same as last year, just measured differently.) The SC 430 offers acceleration performance comparable to that of the Mercedes SL 500 and Jaguar XK8, which is fast company, but it isn't as quick as the Porsche 911 or Cadillac XLR. Top speed of the SC 430 is electronically limited to 143 mph, more than fast enough.

Around town, the Lexus is smooth, quiet and sophisticated. The four-cam V8 delivers strong torque at low rpm, and has a flexible powerband, which gives it solid, smooth response around town. These are benefits of the VVT-i variable-valve timing and drive-by-wire electronic throttle control.

Adding to the smooth power delivery is a new six-speed automatic transmission, with Formula 1-style sequential manual override for when you feel like shifting for yourself.

Active safety features help the driver maintain control by reducing the chance of a skid. ABS prevents the brakes from locking up to help the driver maintain steering control in a panic-braking situation. Electronic brake-force distribution enhances control under hard braking. Brake Assist helps maintain full braking pressure when the system determines that the driver is responding to an emergency but relaxes pressure on the brake pedal. Vehicle Stability Control helps maintain traction and direction by sensing the onset of a skid and adjusting throttle and brakes to help keep you on track. Traction control reduces rear wheel spin when accelerating on slippery surfaces. Passive safety features include seatbelts with pre-tensioners and force limiters and emergency locking retraction. They are excellent seatbelts, so be sure to wear them as they are your first line of defense in an accident. The SC 430 is equipped with side-impact airbags in addition to the mandated dual frontal airbags.