2022 LEXUS LC500 - The Best Car In The World

Is the Lexus LC500 the most unique driving experience under $120,000?

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to me it IS the best car I’ve driven since I’ve started doing Downshift 4 years ago

And since then I’ve driven over 500 new cars from Hyundais to McLarens and Ferraris

And this LC week is still the week I look forward to most each year

The biggest and main reason I love this LC so much is right under the hood. The 5 liter V8 from Lexus is a phenomenal engine. It makes 471 HP and 398lbft. But it also makes something more important than numbers…

I mean the tone you get from this engine and exhaust is the best sound to come off a modern car

And then the stutter sound at redline and the cracks you get on upshifts

And THEN the sharpness on downshift

It’s just so intoxicating

The LC gets a lot of love from a select few and if you’re one of them, you’re a big-brain. However, since it ONLY makes 471hp and LESS than 400 lbft and ONLY gets to 60 in 4 and a half seconds it doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves

But those people are looking at it all wrong, this isn’t a sportscar

This is a GT car

And this one, more specifically, is a convertible - so Lexus isn’t trying to pass it off as a sports car

Personally, I’d have mine in the coupe body style, but the convertible top is good for one thing…not getting in the way of the music

The LC is a quintessential GT car. It’s big. It’s comfortable. It’s luxurious. It’s got plenty of power. It’s got a great soundtrack. And it looks the part. It’s made for distance cruising, not lap times..but does that mean it can’t drive hard?

While this is a big GT car and therefor limit handling isnt the point, you can still ahvea lot of fun with this thing

The chassis is really good, and you can even see the carbon fiber on the door sill and the door jamb

You’ve got bigger brakes here

You’ve got a torsen rear LSD

You’ve got an adaptive damper set with a Yamaha performance rear damper

So with traction off, you can really whip this thing around!

But Matt, if you want a performance Lexus surely you’d get the RCF, right? Well if I’m honest, no. And it’s for 10 reasons, and every single one of them is in the gearbox

We’ve driven the RCF, the GSF, the IS500, and every single time I’m left thinking to myself

“If only this had the 10 speed from the LC”

The transmission really does make a difference to me

There’s just more crispness and more drama

And what is this car about if not Drama!

But let’s slow down for a second and talk about the cruising capability of this car , after all it is a GT car

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this yet or not, but this is the convertible

That means it’s more money and I did notice a couple squeaks from the a-pillar when i went over a bump in a corner

That’s not something I noticed in the red convertible from last year so maybe that’s just a one-off thing

However, aside from that, the driving experience can be as civilized as you want it to be

With the top up it’s whisper quiet
With the top down you can put the wind blocker up and it’ll be quiet and comfy as well

The damping softens up really nicely
The steering gets really light
And the shifts fade away

Plus just sitting in here I feel special….but apparently not special enough to get a wave from the lady in the red LC convertible I passed near my house this week