Review: Lexus LC500

Car makers are constantly inventing new types of vehicle but there’s one model that remains a constant: the two-plus-two luxury GT coupe, with an engine in the front and drive sent to the back. For decades, this has been the classy car chosen by those with impeccable taste; even those that abandon the sector eventually return to it.

Ferrari, Porsche and BMW all have classic examples of such cars in either their back catalogue or their current model range. And now, another luxury brand is joining the fray: Lexus, whose ambition is clearly evidenced by just what a piece of engineering the new LC is.

This is, basically, a concept car that has been put into production. We first saw it in 2012, when it was called LF-LC; now it’s just LC, but little else has changed, and all the crowd-pulling allure is still very much in evidence.

There’s more beneath the surface – an all-new platform that Lexus will also use in its new LS luxury car. Made from steel, aluminium and carbonfibre-reinforced plastic, it’s a technological masterpiece that can be combined with a 3.5-litre petrol-electric hybrid engine, or a far more becoming 5.0-litre V8 producing a tasty 471bhp.

This is an incredible engine. It’s little short of feral between 4500rpm and its 7100rpm redline, making an amazing noise that is pure drama. Mind you, it needs to be revved like this, as it’s conspicuously short on torque and its two-tonne kerbweight is also hardly bantamweight. A somewhat humdrum 0-62mph time of 4.4 seconds is something you have to show real commitment to achieve; on the road, it seems as if the 10-speed automatic is constantly downshifting in order to release power.

This chips away at its effortlessness, and its sporting purity also takes a hit due to our test car’s active steering, that was flawed largely because of its absence of precision. Saying that, despite being so big and wide, it’s still an engaging car to drive, even if the ride isn’t as cosseting as we’d perhaps like.

The interior is brilliant, though. From a low-slung driving position, you survey a wonderfully complex example of dashboard sculpture, a quite remarkable feat of engineering that includes such treats as a dual-TFT instrument pack with stacked dials just like those on the LFA supercar. It didn’t have to be this complex and, presumably, expensive to produce, but Lexus did it all the same.