The Lexus LC is the Last, Great Naturally Aspirated GT Car
The Lexus LC is one of the all-time great GT cars with its mix of style, performance, and one of the best naturally aspirated V8s of all time.
I love grand touring cars. While slightly less capable on the track they are exponentially better to drive everywhere else. Road trip, daily commute, date night, or a quick errand, it doesn’t matter. A good GT car makes any drive more enjoyable. And a great GT car makes every drive memorable.
The key ingredients for a great GT are a car that can rapidly cover vast distances in comfort with room for two people and luggage. James Bond likes his martinis shaken but his drives stirring which is why he prefers an Aston Martin. Jaguar’s E-Type and XJ-S were Sir William Lyons’ ultimate expression of “grace, pace, and space” for the later part of the 20th Century. I’m admittedly biased towards Mercedes-Benz and anything with two doors and an AMG badge. But deep down in places I don’t talk about at parties, I’ve come to realize the Lexus LC is the best GT car you can buy today and one of the best of all time.
Timeless Looks
Not everybody loves the looks of the Lexus LC, but it’s distinctive. It’s far more cohesive than the Chris Bangle era BMW 6 Series which is starting to look good to me. The design is an extension of the LFA but updated. It’s a timeless design and even the spindle grille ties in so it’s not jarring or out of place.
Better still, the car is unquestionably Japanese. While cars like the original Datsun 240Z and Toyota 2000GT look European, or like a Japanese take on European, the LC doesn’t try to look like anything other than what it is. It’s a Japanese grand tourer and makes no apologies for that.
Epic V8 Soundtrack
Grand touring cars aren’t required to sound amazing, but they are all the better for it. It’s one thing to waft along in a cloud of quiet solitude. Sometimes you need that. However, sometimes you also need to hear a car just come alive with a rousing symphony of internal combustion. Few cars do that as well as the Lexus LC. The 5.0 liter naturally aspirated V8 is one of the best sounding engines ever.
If you don’t believe me, go to YouTube and search on “Lexus LC Exhaust”. Some people might say it’s an angry baritone, but I think it sounds happy to be alive. It’s almost like an adrenaline junkie that shouts while skydiving or jumping off a cliff. If you had the last gallon of gas in the world, no one would fault you for using it in this car. A sunset canyon run would be a perfect way to burn the last hydrocarbon molecule. And when the engine quits you could watch the sunset as the echo fades.
Lexus Quality
A little over 30 years ago Lexus upset the German’s apple cart with a car that outclassed the Mercedes-Benz S Class. It set new standards in quality and reliability topping owner satisfaction surveys everywhere. Much has been said about Matt Farah’s Million Mile Lexus, but it’s not uncommon for an LS or SC to cover 300,000 miles. More importantly, those cars routinely cover that distance with a minimum of fuss. Routine maintenance goes a long way in preventing repair bills from adding up but so does the quality which has become Lexus’ forte.
There’s no reason to expect that to change with the LC. If anything, Lexus kicked things up a notch with their flagship coupe. The interior has the bespoke luxury of the finest materials. It’s one of the few cars that seem completely styled and tailored, where the inside is as good as the outside. Too many cars seem as though the designers spent all of their time on the exterior before phoning in on the interior. Not the LC.
A Modern Classic
I realized recently that the Lexus LC has been around since 2017. Five years is a full lifecycle for many cars. Yet the LC still looks fresh. Seeing one on the road is still a surprise that makes people do a double-take. The best cars do that. Somehow they look contemporary while reminding you of who you were when you first saw them.
I won’t disparage old men in their hemi-powered drones. Youth is often wasted on the young and those of us on the wrong side of 40 appreciate how life is fleeting. If a 1971 Plymouth Road Runner or 1994 Toyota Supra takes you back to a time you felt wild and free, good for you. We all want to reclaim and keep a part of our younger selves and cars are a doorway to that past.
At some point, the world will move on from gas-powered cars. But I like to think we’ll still drive them. In that time, I like to think people will still debate cars like we do today. And if the topic of the last, great GT car comes up, I’ll have the answer.
It’s the Lexus LC.
Photos: Lexus
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