Even though I’m not in the market for a new car right now, I’ve come across two recently that have made me wish I was.

Uncrate has a recent post about the Volkswagen CC, which looks amazing and packs a bunch of features I always wanted, like a (panoramic) sunroof and headlights that turn with the car. It starts at $27,000, though I suspect it’d be closer to $35,000 with those options.

Probably about a decade ago, two of my uncles each bought a Lexus. At the time, I thought they were the most amazing cars ever made, if only because my point of comparison was to a Mercury Sable station wagon. The Lexus sedans were essentially just Camry sedans with much nicer fittings, which means that they inherited the incredible reliability you’d expect: one of the two was just recently traded in with well over 200,000 miles on it.

Of course, I drive an SUV, and have a 100-mile-a-day commute, so gas mileage is important to me. A few American hyribds have been made, though every single one has been an SUV. The new Escalade hybrid gets worse gas mileage than my non-hybrid gas-guzzling SUV.

It’s apparently only a concept car at this point, but Lexus has begun talking about the Lexus HS 250h, a car the LA Times says will be “between the IS and ES,” the two cheapest models the company makes. It’s expected to get something like 35/40+ MPG, and yet remain unmistakably a Lexus. LA Times says it well: “The luxury features are impressive. Ten-way power seats, moonroof, premium audio, lane departure alert, multifunctional navigation (you can send mapping information to the car from your computer) and Safety Connect (which is Toyota’s version of OnStar).”

Actually, another source suggests that the car will likely be based on the Camry Hybrid, while yet another suggests that it will just sample some elements of the Camry Hybrid, but put them into a smaller, lighter car. Popular Mechanics has perhaps the best article. The car won’t be out until 2010. Hopefully they can make it look a little better before then.