Was asked to drive one of these to give it a run and charge the battery and check it over as it had been sitting lying unused by a friend.

10 years old, under 30000 miles. Most will be familiar with the exterior and interior which is posh Japanese in that even if the wood is real it doesn't look it, but very well built, and only similar rattles to a typical one year old car.

V8 sounds smooth but very distant, makes the S8 sound like Nascar at part throttle at 2000-3000 RPM in comparison, but both quieten down equally at cruise.

It had adjustable suspension which firmed up a little but really was going from 10/10 soft to 9.5/10 soft.

0-60 is about 6 and on winter tyres it did light up the traction control occasionally out of junctions, but did not launch me into RWD death.

Lots of great things considering the VFM, the soft suspension isn't an issue for the type of car, but it doesn't have the dual purpose of being genuinely sporty like the S8.

As well as making the Audi V8 sound exotic and loud under throttle, it also made the steering of the Audi seem like a sports car. The Lexus has a very sloppy steering which has a lot of slack and feels like rubber bands connected to the wheels. This is the only real downside to the car, the fuel consumption will be a minor part of most people's running costs and its unpopularity makes it a luxury bargain.

Everything worked. A quality item.

 

Dad owned one for a while after a friend had recommend one. I used to use it every so often for long trips and i can't think of a more relaxing car, never had any issues either but didn't own it for too long. (Under a year )

 

A mates dad has one and it is a comedy gold colour.
Perfectly competent but more pikey than a pitbull chained to a chrome caravan.

 

LOL ive seen a lot of the Gold Badged ones in Bradford

 

Real gold leaf.

 

Beige ??? Aka jewish racing gold :-)

 

It is a shame the image they have as they are very impressive for ride quality and refinement, right up there with 10 years newer German stuff. The steering was shocking though.

 

BWAAHAHAHAAA! It matches him perfectly TBH.

 

Mother in law had an SC430, possibly the most boring 'performance' car I've ever been in. Wheels needed refurbed 3 times due to corrosion and the interior had a danger of putting you to sleep if you looked at it too long. Performance wise it couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding!

 

I remember being quite excited when these came out; big engine, smallish car, funky roof. What a crushing disappointment!

 

Best thing about it was the roof, that in itself is a testament to how rubbish it was.