2004 Lexus Gx470 Base Sport Utility 4-door 4.7l on 2040-cars

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Vice chronicles Okinawa's illegal street racing scene

We all know that street racing is dangerous, and that motorsports are best left on the track or drag strip. However, that doesn't mean that there still isn't some outlaw allure among enthusiasts of racing on public roads. In this video, Vice Japan profiles Eikichi Nagayoshi of Japan's island of Okinawa. He is a used car dealer by day and an illegal racer by night.
Nagayoshi has a deep love for his highly customized Toyota Aristo (better known to us as a first-generation Lexus GS) that he claims produces over 1,000 horsepower and has hit 205 miles per hour. He races his car both on drag strips and in drifting competitions, but says that he often has to ship the car to mainland Japan to compete. In the absence of those opportunities, he sometimes gathers friends and takes the racing to the public roads. While we're not down with street racing, this Vice video is an intriguing personality piece, as well as a look into Japan's fabled underground racing scene. Scroll down to check out the video, but make sure you have the "CC" button clicked, because several portions are subtitled.

Lexus GX has quietly more than doubled its sales this year

There are some things in this industry that we're perplexed by, like the infotainment system on our long-term Subaru WRX or why the Mitsubishi Mirage is allowed to exist, among other things. Let's add one more to that group, with the Lexus GX. It's not a particularly bad vehicle for a big, body-on-frame brute, remaining one of the only true SUVs in the mid-size luxury class, alongside the equally old fashioned Land Rover LR4.
Considering these things, then, what we're about to tell you makes very little sense - sales are up 135 percent through last month. The Japanese luxury marque has moved over 5,300 during the first six months of 2014, owing in no small part to a significant price drop over the 2013 model. Today, a GX starts at $49,085, while a year ago, it was $53,445.
Don't mistake this price decrease for charity, though. Lexus specifically built a lower-cost GX to lure in customers. According to WardsAuto, faux leather covers the cabin rather than the real stuff, while the overall package is decontented relative to what you might find in a typical Lexus.

Lexus reveals production RC coupe en route to Tokyo

Feast your eyes, ladies and gentlemen, on the new Lexus RC coupe. With the exception of the six-figure LFA supercar, it's the first stand-alone two-door model to come from Toyota's premium brand since the demise of the SC, and it's coming to the Tokyo Motor Show later this month.
With unmistakably Japanese styling, the Lexus RC is clearly inspired by the LF-CC and LF-LC concepts, and features the brand's signature spindle grille. Anyone who's been inside a contemporary Lexus should feel right at home inside the four-seat cabin, where the Japanese automaker has fitted ambient lighting that glows upwards instead of down, coupled with a new Remote Touch Interface.
Lexus has already announced two versions of the coupe: the conventional RC350 with a 3.5-liter gasoline engine and the RC300h with a 2.5-liter hybrid setup. It's all packed into a form that, for comparison's sake, is slightly larger than the new BMW 4 Series but markedly smaller (in every dimension but height) than a 6 Series.