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2015 Lexus RC 350

Luxury coupes like this new, 2015 Lexus RC 350 have got, to my mind, a more challenging mission than their all-out-performance variants; in this case, the recently reviewed RC F.
That's not to say that I think actual owners and shoppers of cars like the RC F, BMW M4 and Cadillac CTS-V Coupe only care about output figures and lap times. In fact I'd say that those are outliers in terms of how they get used most often. But the story that we reviewers tell - and that shoppers in the ego-boosted segment tell themselves before they pull the trigger - have a lot to do with what the car is capable of on the edge of its envelope.
Mainstream coupes can't rely on that kind of irrational pull, however, at least outside of the emotional world of styling persuasion. For a buyer to drop more than $40,000 on the RC 350, he or she will want tons of features, comfort, good looks, and, yes, a dash of sportiness to spice of the pot. Reason and desire seem a lot more balanced here. That's great news for Lexus, with its history of creating sensible luxury cars and a pretty composed luxury coupe in this new RC.

Lexus to display turbocharged LF-NX Concept at Tokyo Motor Show

Concept cars typically have a short lifespan. They debut at a major international auto show, then make the rounds of the lesser local shows, and that's pretty much it. They might be loaned out for test drives or put on display in a museum, but by and large they've had their fifteen minutes of fame by that point. That said, Japan's automakers have found a way to keep these show cars going and keep them in the news. They're modifying them and giving them a fresh lease on life.
That's what Subaru is doing with the Viziv concept for the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, and what Lexus is doing as well with the LF-NX concept. Having already unveiled the crossover concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Lexus is fitting the LF-NX with a new 2.0-liter turbo engine. (But then, as far as we could tell, Lexus never revealed engine specs for the concept in the first place.)
To go with the turbo engine, Lexus has also fitted the concept with a new front splitter, but otherwise it's the same - and even appears to be wearing the same liquid-metal paint, unlike the LF-LC concept that got repainted from red to blue when its limelight was starting to fade.

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.