1996 Lexus Sc400 Base Coupe 2-door 4.0l on 2040-cars

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Lexus Bladescan is another new headlight safety breakthrough U.S. won't get

Lexus is back at it with innovative lighting technology. The BladeScan headlights available in Europe on the 2020 RX utilize a new mechanism for throwing light further down the road, aiming that light more precisely, and doing so without blinding other road users. Lights from other OEMs with the same capabilities have increased the number of LEDs inside the housing for finer control. The BladeScan module inside the Lexus lights holds the number of LEDs down to 10 on each side of the RX, which Lexus says is a more cost-effective solution. In fact, BladeScan uses fewer LEDs than Lexus' most recent adaptive high-beam system, which has 24 LEDs on each side. The LEDs in the new module are arranged in two rows, eight on top, two on bottom. The diodes are fed information about objects ahead, and adjust their intensity to dim light aimed at an oncoming car, or illuminate a pedestrian by the roadside. However, the LEDs don't shine their light down the road, they shine their strobing light onto two blade-shaped mirrors — hence the name BladeScan — that rotate at high speed. The light reflects off the mirrored blades and into a lens, which orients the beam down the road. Not only is the reflected light easier to handle for oncoming drivers, the system has aim accurate to 0.7 degrees. Lexus' current adaptives are accurate to 1.7 degrees, making BladeScan a 143-percent improvement. That means the new feature can throw even more light into areas that are hard to reach with current lights — Lexus says pedestrian recognition at night has increased from 105 feet to 184 feet. Buyers of the 2020 RX will be able to take advantage when the new crossover goes on sale in Europe later this year. Naturally, U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 means we won't get BladeScan — that goes for you, too, Canada. The now-52-year-old U.S. law mandates a single low beam and a single high beam setting, with no intermediate settings and no activation of high and low beams simultaneously. Toyota, Audi and BMW have been trying for six years to get FMVSS 108 changed to permit new and potentially lifesaving headlight technologies. The automaker wrote in a statement to Carscoops, "Last December, Lexus submitted a petition to NHTSA to allow ADB in the United States. Currently, we await the Agency's decision and hope to see an amendment in FMVSS 108."

Lexus LC 500 stands apart from the go-fast sport luxury crowd

We at Autoblog, by and large, love the LC 500. For its concept-car looks, derived almost verbatim from the 2012 LF-LC concept. And for the charming V8, which growls and burbles appropriately but doesn't subscribe to the faux-backfire trend. Our Editor-in-Chief, Greg Migliore, perfectly summarized the LC 500's appeal when he drove it recently: "Evening walkers cast curious glances. A guy in an old pickup almost sideswiped me as he gawked while taking the corner fast. It's a celebrity car. It also sounds good; the 5.0-liter V8 growls and rumbles. Style and muscle. An excellent execution." I just spent a week in it, my first encounter with the car, and it made me think most about how it's positioned in the Lexus lineup. Notably, it's not positioned as the performance extreme. This is refreshing, because not every car needs to attempt a Nurburgring time. If you want to hunt road-course records in this day and age, it takes massive power and massive traction. We're getting to the point, perhaps well beyond it, where that is doing the stopwatch more favors than the driver. Part of this is decades of marketing putting the sportiest variant of a particular vehicle above the most luxurious in the pecking order of regular vehicles, which doesn't make a ton of sense if you think about it. In the 1960s, the ultimate Mercedes-Benz was the 600 Grosser limousine, which was built like a Rolex bank vault. It had a huge engine, but the point was to move the massive thing around, not for the sheer pleasure of it. Ironically, the Grosser's engine made its way later into the 300 SEL 6.3, turning a large and luxurious sedan into a surprisingly capable bruiser, and then into the Rote Sau race car. Arguably, this was an impetus for the sort of sporty arms race I'm decrying. (Now, when you talk about supercars, or ultimate luxury cars like a Bentley or Maybach, this distinction makes less sense. But let's limit our discussion to vehicles the well-heeled average consumer could actually purchase — things at the upper end of the ranges of normal car manufacturers.) This takes us to the Lexus LC 500. Unlike Mercedes, whose Mercedes-AMG cars are on top of the regular car pecking order, Audi's RS line, BMW's M Division, and Porsche's various Turbos, the LC 500 is simply a large, powerful car. It's comfortable, it looks interesting, and it has more than enough grunt to get out of its own way. There are Sport and Performance options packages, but there's no LC F or F-Line trim available.

2023 Lexus LX 600 adds a few features, higher prices

With Lexus launching the all-new LX 600 here for the 2022 model year, and the brand selling every one it can make, there isn't much changing for the 2023 model year. The base trim benefits from a heated steering wheel as standard equipment. The F-Sport Handling finally gets a crack at the exterior Nori Green Paint option, to go with its exclusive Ultra White and Black Onyx. The Ultraluxury adopts Takanoha wood as the standard trim, a Japanese specialty engraved wood. Buyers at the top will also get the option of a Sunflare interior. And thanks to customer feedback, the rear seat entertainment system will come with covers for the screens next year. That's the extent of it. Prices are up across the range as well. After the $1,345 destination charge, MSRPs for the 2023 Lexus LX 600 and their changes from 2022 are: Base: $89,160 ($915) Premium: $97,110 ($765) F Sport Handling: $103,370 ($1,025) Luxury: $105,110 ($1,165) Ultra Luxury: $129,250 ($1,905) Next year's model is up on the Lexus retail site now, but deliveries won't begin until closer to the end of the year. Motivation holds steady from the 3.4-liter twin-turbo V6 with 409 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque shifting through a 10-speed automatic and providing acceleration we called "a bit boring" because it's so effortless. Since that's the only engine available until Lexus decides to include a hybrid option, swift travel won't need much more than $89,000. We still recommend the Luxury trim for buyers out to travel swiftly in the right amount of style for the right price, and warn all to test drive the F Sport Handling on home roads before signing on the dotted. Those 22-inch F Sport rims can be felt over just about every crack, seam and expansion joint.