Lexus SC430 | The Brave Pill
Why the alleged "worst car in the history of the world" almost certainly isn't
After the wild excess of the Bugatti Veyron that finished off 2021 how about a nice, gentle start to the New Year? This leggy SC430 isn't actually the first Lexus Brave Pill - we featured an IS-F back in February 2020 - but it's combination of a mileage that even the most enthusiastic Lexus-Stan would struggle to describe as non-trivial, a complex folding hardtop - and an appealingly low price tag has given it the nod. They don't all have to be fizzing grenades, do they?
The SC arrived in 2001 at what might well have been the high watermark of Lexus's critical regard, certainly in the UK. Many would likely blame the coupe-roadster for tipping it over the peak and down the hill towards what kids describe as total dadness. The question of whether Lexus had ever been truly cool is a finely balanced one; the original LS and GS had won plentiful respect and triggered fear in German boardrooms, but were hardly party animals. Yet the IS that arrived in 1999 could fairly be regarded as the toughest rival the E46 3-Series ever faced, and was also the progenitor of the clear cover rear lights that spread like wildfire across tuning culture. As the millennium turned, it was certainly a brand on the rise.
Which is why journalists took the new SC more seriously than we probably should have done. There had been a predecessor in some markets before this one, a proper coupe which was sometimes brought into UK as a grey import and is now a popular choice for those who like to fit their wheels at unlikely angles. But the second-generation 'Z40' SC was going to be all-new, a halo model featuring what was still the relative novelty of a powered retractable hardtop, silky V8 power and oodles of standard tech. The bulbous, blobfish styling was claimed to be inspired by the lifestyle of the Cote D' Azur, with the design team sent to the south of France for several months to expose them to a sufficient quantity of this. Which must have made for some fun expenses claims.
The result was, at risk of mortally offending the owners' club, not great - certainly to jaded 2022 eyes. Maybe that's because we know of the visual harm the need to accommodate unwieldy folding hardtops did to a whole generation of convertibles and roadsters - with the resulting size and height of the SC's rear deck definitely its least successful design feature. But when the car was first shown it seemed futuristic enough to keep interest levels high, scoring several magazine covers before it had even been driven.
Getting behind the SC's wheel deflated remaining expectations. Lexus's PR operation had tried to argue the car's roof-juggling abilities meant it was both a dynamic coupe and a roof-down cruiser, but the briefest experience proved any claims of athleticism needed to be taken with a Dead Sea's worth of salt - this was a sports car only in that it would frequently carry its owners to golf courses and bowling clubs. The V8 was silky smooth, and the standard auto changed gears as smoothly as freshly buttered butter, but the combination of 300hp and a 1,750kg kerbweight made for an unexceptional power to weight ratio even in gentler times.
The lack of linear savagery was matched by an equal absence of enthusiasm for making rapid direction changes. Trying to hustle the SC was an exercise in roll, squeal and frustration - with the unmistakable sensation of the bodyshell starting to flex as loadings increased. It gave its driver absolutely no encouragement to push hard. Cruising refinement was good, and the roof was able to draw small crowds in the days when folding multi-piece hoods were still a novelty. But it felt like a spooned goal.
Has 20 years changed things? The SC might not have been a great new car, or even a good one - but it looks like a much better proposition in late middle age. This is a Lexus from nearly the same era as the massively over-engineered first gen LS400 which became a bangernomics favourite, and the SC was built with much the same approach to durability. So while you'd buy a similar vintage R230 Mercedes SL or first generation Jaguar XKR cabrio braced to harvest a crop of expensive problems, even a high-mile SC should be a much less risky bet.
There is still some grit in the oyster. Our Pill's 180,000 odometer score works out at just 10,000 miles a year, and although the private plates the car is wearing in the snaps don't bring up an MOT record we've managed a sneak peek at the one linked to the original reg. This reveals a consistent history of failing for trivial things and then passing shortly afterwards. The most recent of these 'do not pass go' offences were an insufficiently potent windscreen washer, a non-functioning position light and an excessively worn rear tyre - hardly egregious faults. The last ticket expired in November, but you'd expect the dealer to screw on a new one before sale.
The vendor promises a full Lexus service history and that everything works - from the pioneering fitment of what was one of the first DVD-sat nav systems to the combined CD/Cassette audio system which was presumably intended for those hedging their bets over digitizing their music collections. The headlights are suffering from the yellow tinge of faded plastic - 20 minutes with the toothpaste should see them right - and there is visible rust on the radiator top mounts and underbonnet clips. But the interior really does seem to have passed through two decades without picking up any wear at all.
In one of his crueller moments Jeremy Clarkson once labelled the SC the "worst car in the history of the world". But that assessment was based on the distance between expectations and reality rather than any objective levels of awfulness. I'd certainly take one over a Perodua Kenari or Tata Safari, the pairing that top my personal list of automotive dross. For £6,000 this one looks like an interesting bet, especially when you consider the likely condition of any premium-badged rivals around the same price point. It's January - nobody wants another hangover.
tting on. Nuff said. I thought a Brave Pill was a car that was irresistibly attractive to petrolheads for its looks and dynamic or splendidly wafty driving experience, but having tempted an owner in would then bankrupt them with a high incidence of very expensive failures.
The Lexus appears to be the exact opposite; a car with almost nothing to recommend it, except its excellent build quality and reliability. The only thing that's "brave" about it is risking the ribbing you'll get from your mates when you turn up in it!
But it definitely isn't a looker and doesn't apparently sound too exciting to drive.
Surely the only brave element is the mileage, and maybe the price!
The Lexus appears to be the exact opposite; a car with almost nothing to recommend it, except its excellent build quality and reliability. The only thing that's "brave" about it is risking the ribbing you'll get from your mates when you turn up in it!
This really isn’t brave at all, in the usual sense of the word. Keep changing the oil occasionally, and it’ll run forever - including that funky roof mechanism. The brave bit, is meeting someone in it.
Also this car was typically Lexus in the way they kept on improving it year on year. They quickly ditched the rubbish run flat tyres, which ruined the ride quality. Further tweaks to handling and ride in 2002 and 2004 were praised by Autocar at the time. Then in late 2005 there was a very mild facelift and a new 6 speed auto, which makes post facelift 55 on plate SC 430's ULEZ friendly.
A Brave Pill? No, as others have said it is too reliable for that. An interesting ( and in later iterations, competent) left field choice. Certainly. I saw somebody on an American forum consider the SC430 to a spiritual old school Buick, which sums it up perfectly. Lots of interesting tech, emphasis on comfort but with a very mild nod to sportiness. As someone who loves a good stateside barge, you can do a lot worse than that!
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