Faraaz23

I'm going to disagree there. This car will be very very important for Lexus, as it will be its halo car. This car has a lot of technology derived from F1 and will present technology we haven't seen before on a Lexus. Now as much as we all love SC's, you have to realize its a sporty luxury touring coupe. It is NOT and was never intended by Lexus to be a *****-to-the-walls sports car. Now I know there are 700hp SC's out there with race suspension and such but you can modify the heck out of a lot of cars there and they will be nothing like their stock counterparts.

I think giving the LF-A the SC name would be a huge mistake. The current owners will be the first ones to admit that its intended to be a luxurious convertible, not a hard edged Nurburgring-decimating exotic car. If called the SC many people will assume out there "well it was never really a sports car before, so I doubt this car is going to handle as well as a Porsche or Nissan GTR."

Lexus needs to give this car a unique model designation. I think Lexus has a great idea with the IS and ES. One car is more luxury oriented, one is sport oriented. I think Lexus should make the next SC something to REALLY give the SL a run for its money. Load it up with all the advanced technical/luxury goodies because the cars in that segment generally do weigh a lot anyway. Make the LF-A very lightweight with a somewhat firmer suspension so it can just focus on whipping the 911 Turbo!

Gojirra99

One thing that might have lead to speculation that the next SC *MAY* be derived from the LF-A is that they have tested a hardtop convertible version of the LF-A as seen in real spy photo's, so it could be possible they will have a coupe for the performance oriented super car, & a hardtop convertible version that's less hard edged as the successor to the SC.
Of course it's just a test mule, they can use anything as the body to test the car, so who knows

Faraaz23

I totally forgot about that, you bring up a great point.

Another thing I just thought of... if pricing is what people estimate the LF-A to be... we've heard 120-180,000... would people buy an "SC" for that much? While the SC is an incredible value for the price it is right now, i'm not sure if Lexus could get away with doubling the price.

Gojirra99

I suppose they can put the 4.6 or 5.0 V8 into the next SC & the new V10 in the LF-A coupe to differentiate them, among other things.
A hardtop convertible & a regular coupe should look very different visually too.

But yes, they have to sell the next SC at significantly lower price than the LF-A coupe if the rumoured $100K+ price is what Lexus have in mind.
I do expect the next SC will be more expensive than the current one, but hopefully not by too much. A price hike similar to the LS460 over the LS430 should be acceptable to most I would think ...

Faraaz23

Yea, MB sells SL's by the boatload at 90-100,000. There is no reason that Lexus can't sell a redesigned SC for 75,000. If the new SC will be comparable to the SL, like the LS460 is to the S550.... they'll definitely be able to move some cars.

Another idea, while the front end was grafted onto the IS, I think we may have not seen the last of the LF-C design theme.



They may take some side/rear visual cues from this car as it is a folding hardtop convertible.

Trexus

I totally agree with you. The LF-A will never be called the SC. The SC 300, SC 400 and the latest SC 430 has already have a history and the public knows that the SC was never a sports car to begin with whereas the LF-A is to be an exotic sports car. I'm sure Lexus will come up with a new designation for the LF-A. We'll just have to wait and see.

A good example is Acura's Integra and the NSX. I'm sure Lexus will keep the SC which will most likely be the SC 460. Look at Lexus pattern. All the models that were designated with 300 such as the ES 300, IS 300, GS 300 and RX 300 are currently now the ES 350, IS 350, GS 350 and the RX 350. Models that were designated with 400 such as the GS 400, SC400, LS 400 became GS 430, SC 430 and LS 430. Now the LS has become the LS 460 and the GS 460 is coming and I'm sure we'll see the SC 460.

MR_F1

I have never seen any convertible test mule for the LF-A that was not a photoshop.


The roof design and convertible mechanism on the LF-C concept is killer. It needs to make it to production, at least in the nex SC if not the SC and IS convertible.

SLegacy99

Except people buy MBs for the status. They don't even have anything all that exciting out, excluding the AMG line, and people buy them. The ML is like driving an expensive Jeep, but people want to be able to say that they drive a Mercedes so they buy one over an X5 or RX350.

Trexus

Yes, it would be so cool if Lexus brings to production the roof design and convertible mechanism on the LF-C concept on either the SC 460 or the IS coupe convertible or even both. One can have the option to have the targa top open or a full convertible. Lexus would be the first...

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

Well, this is your opinion. I think there are a few exciting Benz cars. The SLR, SL and CL are very exciting to me. The S ain't chopped liver either. Even the base models of these cars are hot. AMG's are downright freaky. Every AMG.
I agree people buy them for status, though.

BTW...old thread.

SLegacy99

Apparently Im not the only one who feels this way.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19914484/

Trexus

Now that it is confirmed that the GS 460 (with 342 hp) will be out this October 2007, we wait for the SC 460 (will it's hp be at least 340?). Most likely there won't be an SC-F (this could have compared with the BMW M6) since we'll get the LF-A or LF-1.

The LF-A or LF-1 should make it's debut this October 26th at the 2007 Tokyo Auto Show. So stay tuned...

SClean4

That'd be awesome if the LF-A was called the SC-F and the LF-C the SC. I want the LF-A to be a member of the SC family!

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

I disagree. Even though I too owned an SC400, I wouldn't want the LF-A to be associated with the previous SC's at all. The LF-A supposed to be a Halo car. The SC name just can't hold that status.

I also don't want to see a convertible LF-A. It has to stay a fixed hard top IMHO. No particular reason other than I just don't like convertibles

ElitistK

iTrader: (4)

i agree; sc/soarer was never meant to hold the throne. the supra line is going to be split into 2, one higher and one lower (lf-a/supra h)