Is the Lexus LC 500 Luxury Coupe a Japanese Muscle Car?
Lexus Gives NAIAS Something to Get Excited About
There has been a lot of buzz online about the Buick Avista concept revealed at the 2016 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), but the rear-wheel drive coupe worth writing home about at NAIAS is the Lexus LC 500 Coupe. Unlike the Avista, the LC 500 has a V8 power plant. Unlike the Avista, the LC 500 has distinct styling (am I the only one that thinks the Avista looks like a two-door Tesla S?). Unlike the Avista, the LC 500 is actually in production. My disappointment with the Buick Avista concept aside (read more about that here), the LC 500 doesn’t appear to be just another Japanese luxury coupe.
Japanese luxury cars have historically been well-built, technologically advanced machines that offer a good mix of luxury and performance. They have also historically been very forgettable. When’s the last time anyone saw a Lexus or Infiniti poster hanging in a school boy’s room, right? But The Lexus LC 500 is something different and I think Lexus has got something special on their hands this time.
Lexus Has Made a Muscle Car
Lets just start with the styling. To anyone who remembers the Lexus LF-LC concept car that dazzled at NAIAS in 2012, the resemblance is obvious. It’s encouraging to see that this car so closely resembles that concept. All too often the lines of a concept car don’t translate into the lines of its production progeny. But the Lexus LC 500 comes very close to the LF-LC concept from 2012.
And if you’re like me, you have a love for the good old American muscle car. While the term “muscle car” gets thrown around rather liberally these days, real muscle cars followed a simple formula. You drop a big engine in a family sedan, turn it into a coupe and let it loose on the public. While the LC 500 doesn’t exactly fit this definition, neither does anything else being produced today. But this car comes awfully close.
The Lexus LC 500 is a rear-wheel drive, front-engine, V8 performance coupe. Hell, its even got a back seat just like an old Chevelle or Cutlass! Borrowing the V8 from the Lexus RC F and GS F, Lexus has combined it with a newly developed 10-speed-automatic transmission. I prefer a good ol’ stick shift in the center console, but a 10-speed transmission, that is something special in and of itself.
Do You Want One, Too?
With so many cars looking more and more alike these days, it’s refreshing to see a car that genuinely stands out (see image gallery below). The Lexus LC 500 is one of the few cars on the market right now that I look at and think “I want one of those”. Not because of the nameplate, not because of the price, just because it just looks good. What do you think? Do you see yourself behind the wheel of a Lexus?
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