Rich, glossy wood, in burled walnut or new dark Espresso, graces the steering wheel, gear selector, and console and streaks across doors and dash. Wooden flaps conceal the audio unit and navigation system. A leather-padded armrest tops the console; lifting it reveals a handy storage bin. The cupholders work great.
The SC 430's cockpit is commendably simple and well-organized, in spite of its sophisticated electronic gear and power-motivated controls. The driver faces a steering wheel that tilts and telescopes and incorporates handy switches for the cruise control. Immediately ahead are three chrome-ringed binnacles housing round analog gauges, with crisp white-on-black graphics and vivid red needles. The gauges are easy to read except fuel and temperature, which compete with the gear indicators for attention. Switches for windows and door locks dot the padded armrest on the driver's door. At the top of the center stack to the right are audio and climate controls, plus a video screen for the navigation system.
The navigation system was upgraded for 2005 with improved graphics and new functions. The automatic climate system features independent controls for the left and right sides of the cabin. It has its own, separate LED display for temperature and air flow. It's easy to read and operate yet is quite sophisticated: Lap vents deploy automatically when the top is open to compensate for solar heating.
The 240-watt Mark Levinson® stereo delivers amazingly good quality sound. The radio, cassette player, and six-disc, in-dash CD changer brilliantly reproduce music and voice through a seven-channel amplifier and nine speakers, including an eight-inch subwoofer. It maintains full harmonic richness and high audio resolution even when you're at speed with the top down. It's refreshingly easy to operate in spite of its sophistication, so you don't have to study the owner's manual to figure out how to use it.
A button next to the climate system opens the top. Simply press the switch, a trunk flap rises, the roof folds and slips into the trunk, the flap closes and windows go down.
Lurking behind the front seats are a pair of smaller, form-fitting rear bucket seats rigged with integrated headrests and three-point safety belts. But don't mistake the SC 430 for a four-seater. Those back buckets are painfully upright and are generally unsuitable for humans. Better to use them as a relief storage shelf for the diminutive trunk.
Like other sports cars, the SC 430 is not the best car for picking someone up at the airport. Luggage space is lacking with just 8.8 cubic feet of trunk room. Removing the spare tire expands that to 9.4 cubic feet. Dropping the top eliminates the trunk entirely as a serious storage area. However, the Lexus offers considerably more luggage space than you'll find in the Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet or Cadillac XLR, and slightly more than what's provided in the Mercedes-Benz SL 500. Yet it's a bit smaller than the boot in the Jaguar XK8.
