2011 Lexus Ls 460 Base on 2040-cars

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J.D. Power: Mini, Lexus again offer most satisfying sales experience

JD Power has released its annual Sales Satisfaction Index Study, and once again Mini and Lexus have taken top honors. Overall, buyers are more satisfied with the auto-buying sales experience than they were last year, with those surveyed reporting an average score of 664 points on a 1,000-point scale. That's up from 648 in 2011. Dealer satisfaction also increased by five points over last year as well.
All told, Lexus brought home an index score of 737, which was high enough to put it atop the luxury brands for the second year in a row. JD Power says Infiniti came in second in that category with a score of 728 and Cadillac rounded out the podium with it's rating of 725. Speaking of Infiniti, that brand saw the single largest jump in sales satisfaction of any brand on the survey, popping up 52 index points over 2011.
Among mass-market brands, Mini ranked highest with a score of 712, followed closely by Buick with 706 and GMC farther down the line with 683. You can check out the full press release below for more information.

Drive like a prince: Join us for a walk through Monaco's car collection

Small, crowded, and a royal pain in the trunk lid to drive into during rush hour, Monaco sounds like an improbable location for a huge car museum. And yet, this tiny city-state has been closely linked to car culture for over a century. It hosts two major racing events every year, many of its residents would qualify for a frequent shopper card if Rolls-Royce issued one, and Prince Rainier III began assembling a collection of cars in the late 1950s. He opened his collection to the public in 1993 and the museum quickly turned into a popular tourist attraction. The collection continued to grow after his death in April 2005; it moved to a new facility located right on Hercules Port in July 2022. Monaco being Monaco, you'd expect to walk into a room full of the latest, shiniest, and most powerful supercars ever to shred a tire. That's not the case: while there is no shortage of high-horsepower machines, the first cars you see after paying ˆ10 (approximately $11) to get in are pre-war models. In that era, the template for the car as we know it in 2023 hadn't been created, so an eclectic assortment of expensive and dauntingly experimental machines roamed whatever roads were available to them. One is the Leyat Helica, which was built in France in 1921 with a 1.2-liter air-cooled flat-twin sourced from the world of aviation. Fittingly, the two-cylinder spun a massive, plane-like propeller. Government vehicles get a special spot in the museum. They range from a Cadillac Series 6700 with an amusing blend of period-correct French-market yellow headlights and massive fins to a 2011 Lexus LS 600h with a custom-made transparent roof panel that was built by Belgian coachbuilder Carat Duchatelet for Prince Albert II's wedding. Here's where it all gets a little weird: you've got a 1952 Austin FX3, a Ghia-bodied 1959 Fiat 500 Jolly, a 1960 BMW Isetta, and a 1971 Lotus Seven. That has to be someone's idea of a perfect four-car garage.  One of the most significant cars in the collection lurks in the far corner of the main hall, which is located a level below the entrance. At first glance, it's a kitted-out Renault 4CV with auxiliary lights, a racing number on the front end, and a period-correct registration number issued in the Bouches-du-Rhone department of France. It doesn't look all that different than the later, unmodified 4CV parked right next to it. Here's what's special about it: this is one of the small handful of Type 1063 models built by Renault for competition.

Lexus resurrecting SC name for big, expensive coupe

Lexus is preparing the SC nomenclature for its third act, after the first bombshell SC coupe from 1991 and the second, Desperate Housewives hardtop convertible evolution from 2001. The brand is aiming again for something that makes a deep mark, with rumored specs pointing to a large, heavy, powerful coupe that will square its spindle grille up against the Mercedes SL and BMW 6 Series. It will be built on the frame of the next-generation LS sedan, and Automobile says internal combustion motivation will come in three flavors. The starter will be a juiced-up version of the company's 5.0-liter, naturally aspirated V8, the one that currently makes 467 horsepower in the RC F. Stepping up from there will be some kind of hybrid powertrain good for around 500 horsepower; last year Motor Trend wrote that the hybrid would be based around a V6 ICE with Toyota's coming "multi-hybrid" system. The top step will be a twin-turbo version of the V8 that could exceed 600 hp. Early reports of dimensions have it at 185 inches long, 75 inches wide, and 53 inches tall. It is expected to use the world's first application of a ten-speed automatic transmission. It'll also get the RC F's torque vectoring mechanism for the rear-wheel-drive setup, though Car and Driver says an all-wheel drive option "might be added later." Aluminum and carbon fiber components will help manage weight. Its design will be inspired by the LF-LC concept, and right now its pricing is as murky as its looks. C/D posits an MSRP from $80,000 to $95,000, Automobile figures it will go "past the $100,000 mark," and MT pegs the situation at $150,000. All agree, however, that it will join the retail pipeline as a 2017 model.