New Car Review: 2013 Lexus IS350 C

If you want proof positive that Lexus is serious about building more exciting, involving automobiles for enthusiasts, this is a good place to start.  See the picture above? That's the 2013 Lexus IS350C, a retractable hardtop.

What's so great about it? Well, Lexus chose to make its retractable hardtop using perhaps its best drivers' car...the IS.  And that's an improvement because last time around, Lexus gave us the SC430.  Go ahead, click that link. You'll get a visual reminder of the car that found its way onto Top Gear's "Worst Car In The World DVD", along with a list of the areas in which the long-running SC missed just about every target.

No such worries for the IS, though.  A car that already is so good that non-believers say "This is a Lexus?", the ability to take the top down and enjoy some open-air motoring is just icing on the cake.

$46,790, while not cheap, is a reasonable starting price for a four-seat convertible from a premium manufacturer. Especially when you factor in the 306 horsepower 3.5 liter V6, six-speed transmission, 17-inch wheels...oh, and rear-wheel drive.  

The engine/tranny combo not only delivers some sport, it keeps the fuel economy in good shape too, with the EPA estimateing 19 city, 27 highway, numbers that seem right in line with what we saw in our week with one.

The interior is beautifully done....with perforated leather trim, 10-way power adjustable driver and front passenger seats, dual-zone climate control, a three-spoke leather-trimmed steering wheel, a premium audio system and power everything.

No one would blame you for just taking one stock, but Lexus, as with most manufacturers, is more than happy to upsell.  Our tester added the F-Sport package, getting us 18-inch wheels and summer tires, a revised suspension, heated and ventilated front seats, and some nifty cosmetics ($2,550). High intensity headlamps with LED DRLs added $875. Headlamp washers were another $100, Intuitive Parking Assist $500, satellite navigation with an upgraded audio system $3,520, plus $105 for a trunk mat and $64 for a cargo net. With delivery fee ($895), the bottom line comes to $55,399.

Regular TireKicker readers know I often advise ditching unnecessary options and, again, the IS350 C is great stone cold stock. But...F-Sport makes a sweet ride sweeter. If nothing else, popping the extra $2,550 for that is a good idea.  And if you bought one loaded like our tester, you'd get no arguments from me.  There's nothing in that $7800 worth of options that strikes me as money wasted.

Bravo, Lexus for making the leap from SC to IS for your retractable. 

New Car Review: 2013 Honda Accord Touring V6

Mojo is a horrible thing to lose. And for much of the last decade or so, it appeared Honda had lost it.  The products became too big, too plastic, too...boring.  And the Accord became all those things.  It was as though Honda decided to out-geezer the 1999 Avalon. I expected to find coupons for the Early Bird Special at Hometown Buffet in the glove box.

Well, forget all that.  The company that won Boomers over 30 years ago by showing that jewel-like quality, advanced engineering and just plain fun could co-exist in an affordable automobile (four of them, actually...Accord, Prelude, Civic and CRX) is back with the 2013 Honda Accord.

New Car Review: 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible 70s Edition

I have one question regarding the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible 70s Edition:

Did they actually ever make them in this color, or anything close to it in the 70s?  I was around for the last decade of the Beetle soft-top, and I remember orange, and yellow and by the final two or three years, very nearly every one was triple-white.  But Toffee Brown Metallic with beige top and beige interior?  Not ringing any bells. Maybe it's an earth tones reference. We were big into those back in the day.

Anyway, despite having no idea what makes this a 70s Edition (where are the Coco Mats?), I have to say the Beetle Convertible is a very nice ride.

New Car Review: 2013 Lexus GS450h Hybrid

A lot of people think “hybrid” and see a small car. Let’s face it, the Toyota Prius has had a lot to do with that over the past 15 years. But small cars generally get pretty good mileage to begin with. If you’re looking to make a difference in fuel consumption, bigger is the way to go…and Lexus has gone there with the new GS450h.

New Car Review: 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport

The original idea behind the crossover SUV was to get people from huge trucks to carlike sport-utes...eliminate some of the bulk and achieve some efficiencies in both packaging and fuel economy. For the most part, it's worked. But there's one thing the Suburbans and Tahoes and Expeditions whetted an appetite for that's not going away...and that's the third row of seats.

Many manufacturers have simply crammed in a final row at the expense of cargo room. Others are making their crossovers bigger to accommodate the extra seating. Hyundai, on a roll lately, came up with what looks to be the intelligent solution...keep the Santa Fe at its current size as a five-seater and offer a new, slightly larger model with three rows of seats.

The only confusion is, to capitalize on the equity in the Santa Fe name, that's what they're calling the new three-row crossover. What was the Santa Fe last year is now the Santa Fe Sport. But it's been re-designed, refined and just plain made a lot better.

New Car Review: Lexus GX460

15 years as a professional TireKicker (automotive journalist) and there are still things to learn.

When I got the Lexus GX460 for a week, I thought it was a spectacularly dumb design for one thing...the tailgate. The window would open upward, but the whole assembly didn't swing up and the gate below the window wouldn't swing down. Drove me nuts. Why would Lexus build a $60,000 SUV and make you load the cargo compartment from the rear seat?

A few hours later, my teenage son walked up to the GX for the first time, and opened the door out to the side.

Duh.

I could cut myself some slack and say it's an unusual, if not unique design for a rear door on a big SUV, but for many years I owned a Suburban with barn doors, so I really have no excuse.

Why am I telling you this? Because it's the only thing I could find wrong with the GX460...and it wasn't.

Spock vs. Spock for Audi

Will this sell Audis? Will it cause Mercedes-Benz intenders to have second thoughts?

Don't know. Don't care. This spot is priceless. Use the little buttons at the bottom of the post to share via Twitter, Facebook and/or e-mail.

New Car Review: 2013 BMW X1

Comes a point when a crossover becomes so carlike that the term "crossover", much less "small SUV", no longer really fits.

The BMW X1 is at that point. With low ground clearance, this really is more a station wagon than anything else, though BMW likely won't be happy I said that.

New Car Review: 2013 Volvo S60 T6 R-Design

The phrase “Mid-size Volvo sedan” no doubt causes some eyes to glaze over, especially for those who think they know what Volvo’s all about. But the key is to ask “Which mid-size Volvo sedan?”

Yes, they’re all called the S60, but that car comes in three different turbocharged flavors these days: The T5, a 2.5-liter 5-cylinder with 250 horsepower; the T6 AWD, which adds half a liter, one cylinder, two more driving wheels and 50 additional ponies; and the T6 AWD R-Design, which pulls 325 horsepower out of the same 3-liter six. And that’s the one we’re talking about here.

New Car Review: 2013 Lexus RX 450h

You have to give Lexus credit. They were early to the party (first, in fact) when it came to putting hybrid power in luxury vehicles, opening up a market among buyers who had extra money to spend.

They started 8 years ago with a hybrid version of the RX crossover (it was the 400h then). There have been changes along the way, but this year, there are several significant revisions:

The basic RX design has remained constant for 15 years, but 2013 brings a freshening that gives all RX models the signature Lexus spindle grille, a new bumper and headlamp design, LED daytime running lights, updated tail lamps and four new colors (Silver Lining Metallic, Claret Mica, Deep Sea Mica and Fire Agate Pearl).

New Car Review: 2014 Mazda CX-5 Skyactiv

Big changes rarely happen in year two of a new vehicle. But Mazda’s not known for coloring within the lines and, frankly, it can’t afford to hold good stuff back for the mid-cycle refresh three or four years down the road. It needs your attention now. And if the 2014 Mazda CX-5 doesn’t get that attention, it’ll be your loss as well as Mazda’s.

The big news is a second engine option:  A 2.5-liter SKYACTIV-G mill brings 29 more horsepower and 35 more pounds per foot of torque to the party than the standard 2.0-liter SKYACTIV-G, but gives up only one mile per gallon, dipping from 26 city to 25 and 32 highway to 31 (EPA estimates for automatic transmission front-wheel drive models).