2004 Lexus Rx330 Base Sport Utility 4-door 3.3l on 2040-cars

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Toyota Hilux gets heart transplant from Lexus IS F

The Toyota Hilux might not be sold in the US, but Toyota's venerable pickup has an international reputation of being able to go anywhere and do just about anything. The trucks aren't really known for their speed, though, at least until Toyota South Africa Motorsport's new, one-off project. This bruiser ditches the usual diesel engine and replaces it with an unrestricted 5.0-liter V8 from a Lexus IS F making 449 horsepower. Of course, it takes more than power to handle the rigors of high speed off-roading. The motorsport team also adds bigger, competition-spec brakes, fully adjustable dampers, new springs, and retuned gearing to make the truck look practically ready for the Dakar Rally. The gearbox is really the only part that carries over. The V8 gives the special Hilux quite a mean growl, too. With the new Tacoma just launching in the US, maybe the engineers at TRD need to apply this same concept over here for its own Lexus-engined, one-off pickup.

Watch an Aventador, Viper and LFA play the songs of their people

Our friends at Road & Track recently stopped by Cars and Coffee in Irvine, California, with the 2013 SRT Viper and found themselves a place to park between a Lamborghini Aventador and a Lexus LFA. Those machines might as well be the three musketeers of ludicrous exhaust notes, and rather than keep those 24 raging cylinders muffled, R&T set about conducting an orchestra of internal combustion. On seeing these three lined up, we were more than prepared to call the Viper victorious when it came to tickling our ear drums, but the latest domestic V10 sounds down right civilized in this company.
If we're picking favorites, we have to say the LFA takes the cake. There's something about the noise of a street-legal V10 that can wrap it's tachometer all the way to 9,000 rpm that turns our knees to quivering dollops of jelly. Check out the clip below for a listen. We shouldn't need to tell you to get frisky with the volume.

These are the top luxury cars bought by people entering the segment for the first time

Let's say you just got a big promotion at work or the kids are moving out of the house, and you finally have some extra money. You decide to blow it all at once and treat yourself by upgrading your ride. Naturally, you look to a luxury automaker. What do you choose?
Models like the Audi A3 and Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class may be tailor-made to introduce buyers to the premium segment, but a new study finds that they don't garner the highest rates of non-luxury customer conquests. It turns out that a Volvo leads among folks moving up to a premium brand, and it isn't even one that's made anymore, at that.
A recent study by Polk and IHS Automotive looked at what models had the highest rates of buyers upgrading from a non-luxury segment. The information comes from its new vehicle registration data through April 2014. All ten top models boasted conquest rates of over 50 percent, but the Volvo C70 led the field with 68.01 percent of its customers coming from non-premium brands.