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2015 Lexus RC F configurator heats up

Just over two weeks after Lexus activated its online configurator for the 2015 RC350, the Japanese luxury marque is flipping the switch on the car we really want to customize – the 467-horsepower RC F. In addition to letting us play about with various configurations for the new sports coupe, Lexus' latest builder is decidedly different and more visually pleasing. It also does away with the brand's typical, and occasionally unintuitive, grouping of options. In its place, we have a trio of simple, logical packages. There's a navigation pack that adds, um, navigation. It also includes in Lexus' Enform telematics suite. You can also select a Premium Pack, that adds luxury features like heated and vented seats, park assist and LED headlamps, while an all-weather pack tacks on a heated steering wheel, headlamp washers and a deicer for the wiper blades. There are some secondary options, too, including an attractive set of 19-inch wheels, an updated leather interior, adaptive cruise control and a moonroof. All in all, pretty standard fare. Prices for the RC F start at $62,400, not counting a $925 destination charge. Head over to Lexus' consumer page and build your ideal RC F.

2013 Lexus ES300h

The Lexus ES lineup, the brand's bread-and-butter sedan, has been completely redone for 2013. With that tip-to-tail rework comes the model's first hybrid. We think the ES350 is better in every way than its predecessor, so a spin in the ES300h is warranted to see what it's like to live with the model sure to become the best-selling Lexus hybrid sedan. In particular, we wanted to see how the gas-electric luxury cruiser handled the battery-sapping realities of winter, so we ventured out into the slush and snow to file this report.
Driving Notes:
Peel away the slush, and this car sure is sharp-looking. It strongly resembles the excellent new GS, no bad thing. With the move to the longer Toyota Avalon underpinnings, the ES300h is long and elegant. Lexus has really upped its styling game lately.

Japanese dealer petitioning Lexus for luxury van [w/poll]

Used to be that if you wanted a luxury automobile - especially one to be chauffeured around in - your choices were basically limited to a sedan. It could be bigger or smaller, more or less expensive, depending on your needs and budget, but it was always going to have four doors and a trunk. But these days the rich and famous are looking elsewhere for their commodious forms of pampering transportation. There are, of course, the crossovers and SUVs, which only seem to be getting bigger and more expensive thanks to the likes of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Range Rover L and upcoming Bentley sport-ute. But luxury vans are becoming the new big thing.
That's the point that one dealer in Japan is trying to make to Toyota. The dealership owner himself reasons that if he's going out on the town, he's likely to take his chauffeured Lexus LS. But if he's taking a few friends along, even the biggest sedan isn't going to cut it. So he takes a Toyota Alphard (pictured above, also known as the Vellfire), a JDM van that's even bigger than a Voxy/Noah or Sienna but hardly a high-end affair. That's why he's asking Lexus to make a luxury van.
The idea may seem a little far-fetched, but isn't without precedent. It didn't take much for Lexus to transform the Land Cruiser into the LX and thus create its first luxury SUV. And as Mercedes has shown with pimped-out versions of the Sprinter and now with the debut of the new V-Class in Geneva, there's clearly a market for it... in some countries, anyway. The only question in our minds is how long it's going to take other luxury automakers to catch on, because let's face it: the Chrysler Town & Country ain't gonna cut it for those used to be driven around in a Maybach.