Auto News 5

Miles to date: 17,655 miles
Months in fleet: Six

First-ever IS droptop
Ten years after the first Lexus IS rolled into dealer showrooms, Lexus is finally following its competitors and offering an IS convertible, and it's a hardtop, just like the ones from BMW, Volvo, and Infiniti. The IS350C and IS250C, which hit dealers in late May, "give us an opportunity to compete in an area we've never competed in before," says Mark Templin, group vice president & general manager of the Lexus division. "We get to unleash our darker side with the IS C."

Driving usually isn't much of a challenge, but sometimes we make it one: Attempting to beat our best time for a trip. Trying to perfectly execute a heel-and-toe downshift. Plotting to nab the best possible parking space. Such activities add interest to the routine. What about the challenge of coaxing the most miles out of every gallon of gasoline? For us, that was a new one.

Hey, it's spring, so even though it was cloudy and only 53 degrees this morning, I lowered the G37's fully automatic hard top and drove the six miles to work al fresco. It takes about 20 or 25 seconds to put down the top and about the same to bring it back up, using a well-marked button on the center console. The seat heater worked quickly, and with the two front side windows up, I was quite comfortable. Once I reached town and 35-mph speeds, I lowered all of the windows. I had no problems hearing the Diane Rehm Show, and then I switched to WKAR Classical from Michigan State University, and it was coming through nicely, too, despite the loss of a predictable acoustic environment.

Driving usually isn't much of a challenge, but sometimes we make it one: Attempting to beat our best time for a trip. Trying to perfectly execute a heel-and-toe downshift. Plotting to nab the best possible parking space. Such activities add interest to the routine. What about the challenge of coaxing the most miles out of every gallon of gasoline? For us, that was a new one.

Chopping the top off a car isn't as easy as it sounds, especially when the fixed roof is replaced with a folding one of the steel variety - the panels and system of motors and hinges add significant weight. Worse, in order to get the whole mess to fit in the trunk, a folding hard top often requires a bubbly, arching roofline and an ungainly, long rear deck. If you've had the displeasure of studying a Volkswagen Eos, you know what we're talking about.

Programming guru Sir Charles Antony Richard Hoare talked about a different kind of design, but his comments accurately summed up the Infiniti Essence concept car long before it was conceived: "There are two ways of constructing a design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." For its 2009 Geneva show car, Infiniti's design team chose the latter.