It was fully equipped with the best of the technology of the time

The third generation Toyota Soarer, which appeared in 1991, was developed as a coupe to be sold by Lexus, with the previously five-numbered body being converted to all three numbers. The exterior was one of the most talked-about vehicles, as it renewed the Soarer’s image with a rounded, gentle style, whereas the previous generation had adopted an angular design.

The first passenger car to adopt a hydro-pneumatic suspension

The Toyota Soarer was introduced in 1981 as the first generation model, and was a popular luxury personal coupe that featured the best of Toyota’s technology at the time. The highest grade was priced higher than even the most expensive grade of the “Crown” at the time, but it was still a model many users admired.

The third generation of the Soarer was launched in 1991, and from this generation onwards it was developed as a coupe to be sold under the Lexus luxury brand, which had already been developed in North America. It was also designed by California-based CALTY, and has been sold in the North American region as the Lexus SC since June 1991.

Although the “2.5GT” series equipped with the famous 1JZ-GTE engine and available with a five-speed manual transmission is popular today, the “4.0GT” series equipped with the V8 4L 1UZ-FE engine, which was also used in the “Celsior” as a luxury coupe at the time, was the main model. The top grade “4.0GT Limited” was also equipped with many features that were the cream of the technology of the time.

A typical example is the ‘electronically controlled air suspension’, which automatically controls the spring coefficient, damping force, and ride height according to driving conditions.

In addition, the Active Suspension Specification model, available on the 4.0 GT Limited, is the first mass-produced passenger car equipped with a hydro-pneumatic active control suspension that does not use coil springs. In addition to a vehicle speed sensor and steering angle sensor, the active 4WS rear-wheel automatic steering system was the first in the world to use a yaw-rate sensor to instantly detect sudden vehicle deflections, allowing the driver to experience the joy of driving with a sense of ease at a high level.

However, when the third-generation Soarer was launched, it was already just after the bursting of the bubble economy, and sales of the expensive 4L model were sluggish. Hence, the 4L model disappeared from the line-up when a minor change was carried out in January 1994. Instead, the “3.0GT” series with an in-line 6-cylinder 3L 2JZ-GE engine was added.

In addition, the North American version of the Lexus SC was sold only as the SC400 with a 4L engine when it debuted, and the SC300 with a 3L engine was added in July 1992. The 2.5-liter model, which was available in the Japanese version, was not included in the line-up, and sales continued with these two engine types until the fourth generation was fully remodeled.

translated by DeepL