The Lexus LC 500 is an important car. It’s neither the fastest nor the sharpest luxury coupe money can buy, but it’s likely the last naturally-aspirated V8 GT car the world will ever see. I think it’s just about perfect, so it’s surprising that Lexus has seen the need to make changes to its suspension for 2023. Here’s what Lexus has to say.
For 2023, the LC 500 embraces Lexus Driving Signature through the vehicle’s dynamic handling characteristics. Front and rear suspension settings have been optimized to enhance ground contact feel, linear steering response, and steering effectiveness in the high cornering G range. With nimbler vehicle handling, Lexus Driving Signature creates a sharper connection between driver and vehicle.
That’s a great bundle of buzzwords, but what does it actually mean? Likely a range of software tweaks, although we’ll wait for official word from Lexus before ruling out any hardware changes. Speaking of software, Lexus is giving LC owners ten full years of telematics, as should be included with any car costing the better part of $100,000.
Otherwise, the LC 500’s updates for 2023 simply consist of minor trim tweaks. Cloudburst Gray joins the options list for people devoid of joy, but a whole raft of good colors return for 2023. Nori Green Pearl, Cadmium Orange, Flare Yellow, and Infrared are all superb and all on offer. Nori Green is particularly lovely because not only does it glimmer like a billion stars in the sunlight, it can be paired with a phenomenal caramel interior. Tick the box on the coupe for the sport package with the glass roof and you’ll now gain 21-inch alloy wheels, a nice perk for knowing the value in a proper helical limited-slip differential. Really, that’s about it for changes.
Still, the Lexus LC 500 doesn’t need a ton of updates to be worth talking about. It’s pretty in an unconventional way, from the high cowl to the daytime running lights like spoiled eyeliner. It’s crafted with incredible love, every stitch is placed perfectly, every leather offers a slightly sweet aroma, the mirrored tail lights are still jaw-dropping, and the powertrain is still absolutely ace.
Lexus says that the 471-horsepower naturally-aspirated five-liter V8 in the LC 500 can propel the coupe variant from zero-to-sixty in 4.4 seconds. While quick, that figure really doesn’t matter. The zero-to-sixty time could be 5.2 or 3.9, it genuinely wouldn’t matter. This is a car that drives by soul rather than calculation, it ebbs and flows and crescendos with a hollow, yearning wail. Drive one, and you’ll live by thwacks of the paddle shifts. Mat the loud pedal and let the 2UR-GSE pour its heart out to 7,300 rpm, then grab the satisfyingly positive right paddle and start the opera all over again.
That’s the beauty of the LC 500. Electric performance cars are much quicker, and some turbocharged rivals are much sharper, but your soul will just want more of this. It’s a shame that naturally-aspirated engines are going the way of the compact disc. Savor this one like the first spoonful of ice cream in summer while you still have the chance.
Lead photo credit: Lexus
“Jaw-Droppingly Beautiful Lexus LC 500 ” Are you sure you refer to the car on the pictures? The front is horrible.
Just like most Lexi, it’s OK from the A pillars back. The spindle grille was a bad idea from the getgo and they’re only making it worse on the newer SUV’s. I could also do without the floating roof BS.
Is lexus also still selling those ten years of telematics and user data and personal information to anyone that hands them a check? cause thats a serious problem.
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The LC is the most gorgeous car for sale today and you can’t change my mind.
Don’t tease us with a description of an awesome color and then NOT post a picture of it!
Great review that captures the spirit of the car.
The obsession with performance numbers has in many ways ruined the car business.
Who cares what the “performance numbers” are if a car doesn’t have a soul? It’s much easier to achieve numerical goals when producing a car than it is to produce a car that just feels right, knows what it is, and performs the task it was made for to a high degree.
The Lexus LC500. It’s as wide and long as a midsized SUV and weighs about as much, at almost two-and-a-half-TONS. And it has that massive ugly predator grille out front. And it’s $100,000. I’m not a fan.
Now the Lexus SC430, THAT is a good looking car, IMO, albeit still too heavy for my tastes. Probably at the bottom of its depreciation curve at this time too, so if I wanted one, now would be the time to snatch one up.
But I already have a Triumph GT6, which is much closer to my dream car. I just need to finish it. I like them light, narrow, manual-transmissioned, and aerodynamically streamlined, and the GT6 checks the first three of those boxes stock, and will have the last one checked when I get done with it. Plus it’s now electric, but converted in such a way that it remains primitive and easy to work on. By the time I finish this car, I will have less money in it than the average used car costs today.
4300 is not 5000. the hybrid is 4500 but still not 5000. thats almost 2 tons not 2.5.
I love it, I think it’s the poor mans LFA
‘Poor man’s’ is pushing it somewhat, less rich man’s LFA perhaps.
The LC500 is a great car, but it is in no way gorgeous on the outside.
The spindle grille, the blobs hanging from the headlights, and purposeless rear wheel vents cut into the side panels all look stupid. It’s an amalgam of nasty oversized do-nothing details.
The fact that it is a Lexus, with all of Toyota’s top-end engineering prowess applied, is almost enough to make me consider buying one. The fact that the interior really is pretty amazing, and one of the best I’ve ever sat inside, is almost enough to inspire a review of my finances.
Almost enough. But not quite. It really is that ugly. I’m a Toyota owner who would absolutely LOVE to move up to a Lexus. But it’s just not happening until they regain their senses. (And yes, I have seen them in person, more than once, both on the road and up close.)
I was at a car show where all the high end stuff was locked up. Surprisingly the Lexus LC 500 was open to the great unwashed masses. Holy smoke! The inside was even better looking than the outside. I don’t think any of the locked up stuff could have impressed me more.
The first time I saw one was on the highway and I went 5 miles out of my way to make sure I got to see it from all angles. The spindle looks properly sexy on this car.
Relatively uninteresting information that I happen to know: The telematics are for 3 years, only the new infotainment system gets the 10 years, which this doesn’t have.
Lexus finally ditched the touchpad crap for a touchscreen in their new system, but the screen is set so far back in the LC that there is no way they could put the new touchscreen based system in it without a full interior redesign.
“The Incredibly, Jaw-Droppingly Beautiful Lexus LC 500 Is Changing For 2023 Even Though It Doesn’t Need To”
I think it’s a nice looking car… but its looks did not cause my jaw to drop the way this picture of Christina Hendricks at the 2010 Emmy Awards does:
https://imabeautygeek.com/.image/ar_1:1%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1200/MTI2NTUxOTM1ODgzOTg2OTU0/christina-hendricks-2010-emmy-awards.jpg
The only problem with the LC is its outdated and awkward infotainment system. It still doesn’t have a touchscreen, which made it outdated even when it debuted in 2017. I’m all for having physical buttons and knobs for things like climate control and audio controls, but for things like navigation, a touchscreen is better. If the infotainment was updated, it would be the perfect luxury sports coupe.
I would live with that.
“The Incredibly, Jaw-Droppingly Beautiful Lexus LC 500…”
IMHO, not so much.
I realize that beauty is subjective, but this is a tough opinion to justify. These things are stunning in person.
I’ve never been a big fan of Lexus styling, but I occasionally see a deep red (not sure the color name) one of these in my neighborhood and it is certainly eye-catching.
Maybe it does make the car better. The 4 wheel steering makes the steering feel artificial, maybe it fixes that on 2023.
That is a very pretty car.
“Front and rear suspension settings have been optimized to enhance ground contact feel,”
So, you’re telling me, that this here Toyota product is, uh, grounded to the ground?
I love everything about these. The stunning interior, the gorgeous colours they come in, the stunning styling, the NA V8.
This is the car I’d go out and buy immediately if I won the lottery while I considered what else to buy.
“This is the car I’d go out and buy immediately if I won the lottery while I considered what else to buy.”
This is my exact take as well. These are absolutely stunning in person and just ooze the correct amount of “I have money, but I’m not flashy” attitude.
A few years back I was at a Lexus dealership for an acquisition and was verifying the new car inventory. When I got to the LC500 and went to check the mileage, I couldn’t help myself from starting it up. Even at idle that engine sounds fantastic.
I finally saw one in person, only for a moment, while leaving the King of Prussia mall, just outside of Philly. It was a deep blue, and it was perfect.
Hear me now. The spindle grill does not and never will work. A gorgeous car with an ugly schnoz?
This is the only Lexus it works on. Hell, this is the only Lexus that works visually full stop. Absolutely stunning car, and one of my favourites currently on sale.
Notice how Thomas didn’t post any front end pics? This may be the Lexus it looks least bad on, but it still doesn’t work. Virtually any designer car could do better. It was a fail from the get-go.
Yeah that’s because of the Lexus cat’s butt grill.
most people don’t show pictures of cat anuses in polite society, the same goes for Lexus grills.
Cat’s butt.
Why?
I hate the trend of this style grill (why did it spread beyond Lexus?). It looks like the car was in a front end collision and the grill was ripped out.
This is the real Supra
This article makes me want to go smack the loud pedal on my 17 year old CTS-V
One of my personal games is “What would I buy the day I got my lottery check?”, and for a long time the top of that list was a 911, but the LC500 is now at the top of the list for all the reasons Thomas covers in the article.