The 2019 Lexus LC 500. |
Of those objects in the driveway, the Lexus LC 500 tops them all. It is, in my book, the most beautiful new car you can buy today in America. And it sits very nicely on my list of the great car designs of my lifetime, which include the first-generation Jaguar E-Type, the original 1963 Corvette Sting Ray and the 1965 Buick Riviera (yes, the '63 and '64 are the same design, but the hidden headlamps on the '65 seal the deal for me).
2019 Lexus LC 500. |
The power transforms the car. The LC 500 is quicker, thirstier and louder (0-60 in 4.4 vs. 4.7 seconds, 16 city/25 highway vs. 27 city/35 highway and your ears will tell you the rest) than the LC 500h. Where the hybrid plays the part of hushed (and occasionally silent, when in EV mode) tourer, the LC 500 is all about muscle.
2019 Lexus LC 500 interior. |
As well-equipped as a "base" LC 500 is, there are extra-cost options to be had, and our test vehicle had $12,120 of them:
- Convenience Package (intuitive parking assist and blind spot monitor with rear cross-traffic alert): $1,000.
- Upgraded 21-inch forged wheels: $2,650.
- Head up display (projects speed and other information onto the windshield): $900.
- Limited-slip differential: $390.
- Mark Levinson premium surround sound audio system: $1,220.
- Performance Package (Alcantara sport seats with eight-way power adjust, carbon fiber roof, active rear steering, variable gear-ratio steering, speed-activated rear spoiler, Alcantara headliner, carbon fiber door sill): $5,960.
With $1,025 delivery, processing and handling fee, the bottom line on the window sticker read $105,345.
If you were asking "what price beauty?", now you know.
True confessions, part two: If I were playing with my own money, I'd buy the LC 500h hybrid. Every bit as beautiful, very nearly as fast (thanks to the electric motor's rightnow power and considerably friendlier to the earth and your wallet in terms of fuel consumption.
Yes, the base price for the LC 500h is $96,810 to the LC 500's $92,200, but let's go back to the one I drove in the fall of 2017.
The as-tested price was lower because it skipped the $5,960 Performance Package in favor of the $1,790 Touring Package, which includes the Mark Levinson premium surround sound system, so there's another $1,220 off the tab.
Equipped that way, the more-expensive-to-start LC 500h ended up being almost four thousand dollars less expensive than the LC 500 we just drove, at $101,385. There's been a $300 price increase for the 2019 and the delivery, processing and handling fee is $30 higher, so for this year's model, it'd be $101,715.
Ultimately, it's a matter of taste what's under the hood. As for the wrapper---look at that.