Now in its second year of production, the Lexus LC 500 returns for the 2019 model year with only minor tweaks – and that’s okay by me. The LC is one of my favorite sports cars under $100,000, a real work of art and a true halo car. It casts a glow on the entire Lexus lineup. I got a chance to spend a week with a 2019 Lexus LC 500 with a starting price of $92,200 and an as-tested price of $96,940, including a $1,000 Convenience Package, a $900 Head-Up Display, a $1,220 Mark Levinson Premium Surround Sound Audio System, $595 worth of Infrared paint and a $1,025 Delivery, Processing and Handling Fee. Comfortably under $100,000, excluding tax and license.
I could wax rhapsodically about the LC’s gorgeous exterior, it’s luxurious, tailored interior, and its lusty V8 engine, but then I’d just sound like another besotted fanboy. What really impresses me about the LC is the way it just works, and how picky you have to be to find flaws. I’m a tactile guy. The way things feel in and on a car is very important to me. Flimsy or cheap materials, rough edges and shoddy craftsmanship turn me off, and make me wonder what kind of corners were cut in places that I can’t readily see or feel. LC is a very rewarding car in that respect. Right from the first encounter, the flush-mounted door handle swings out to greet your hand, and the latch opens with a satisfying click. The supportive sport seat with memory and 10-way power adjustment helps find the perfect driving position. Front legroom stretches to 42.0 inches, several inches more than I need at six feet two inches tall. A roomy dead pedal is right where it should be, keeping me in a comfortable driving position. The beefy steering wheel has power adjustment for reach and angle. The dash is a work of art, really. It is layered, wrapped, and flawlessly crafted. The center console has a substantial, integrated grab handle for the passenger, with a matching handle on the passenger door. Flipping up a lid at the front of the console reveals a single cupholder, while sliding the armrest back unveils another. A touchpad interface for the infotainment system flanks the gear selector lever and parking brake button. A big volume knob stands proud of the touch pad.
The instrument panel cowl has a knob on the top right corner that is used to quickly select drive modes. I loved the location and ease of use of this knob. Many vehicles house this function in a button on the center console, which usually means taking your eyes off the road to locate it. Because the selector was close to my eye line, I felt free to change drive modes more frequently, switching from Normal to Comfort during highway cruises, then back to Sport or Sport Plus when I exited the highway for the back roads. I could feel the difference in steering, throttle response and transmission behavior in the various modes, and I could hear the difference in exhaust notes when the baffles opened up in Sport mode.
That engine deserves some love, too. It is a front-mounted, naturally aspirated (non-turbo) 5.0-liter V8 gasoline engine with direct injection and dual variable valve timing, tuned to produce 471 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque. A 10-speed automatic transmission sends power to the rear wheels. Lexus reports 0-60 mph times of 4.4 seconds, and the EPA estimates fuel economy at 16 mpg city/26 mpg highway/19 mpg combined. You can get more horsepower and torque in other cars in the price range, but I never felt like the LC let me down. The power is so seamless and linear, and throttle and transmission so well-matched, that I was entirely satisfied. And the sound from that big V8 is a delight at any speed.
I mentioned that being picky was necessary to find flaws, so here goes. The controls for seat heating and ventilation are nested in the infotainment system, rather than existing as physical knobs or buttons. Annoying. One passenger bemoaned the absence of an A-pillar grab handle, and noted that the drive mode selector lacked illumination for use in the dark. And even though the LC is technically a four-seater, I wouldn’t want to try to squeeze my creaky body into the second row – and I don’t think Lexus really expects the back seats to be used very often by adults.
I see two direct competitors for the LC 500: The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and the Jaguar F-Type R Coupe. Corvette Z06 can be ordered with a 650-hp supercharged V8 starting at $80,900, which is a pretty compelling argument. But Corvette lacks the elegance and comfort of LC 500. F-Type R Coupe packs a punch with a supercharged 550-hp 5.0-liter V8 starting at $101,800. It rivals the LC for elegance and comfort, but I have more confidence in the Lexus reputation for reliability than I do in Jaguar’s. All three vehicles are so excellent, that it comes down to a matter of taste.
I prefer the 2019 Lexus LC 500.
