The Vegas Crawler: Lexus LC500
If you have ever been to Sin City itself, you damn well know that if you plan to reach a particular place on time here, you just can’t rely on cabs! Many of our readers might not be aware of the fact that hailing a cab on Las Vegas streets is a tricky affair as you can only hail cabs in designated taxi zones that sometimes have long queues which let’s be honest aren’t the most efficient things in the world.
The simplest solution for us car nerds then is to grab a nice set of wheels and get ready to light up the Boulevard! But wait a min…Which car would you take? You wouldn’t want to roll in a vehicle that just doesn’t turn it up a notch now would you? A Ferrari then? A Lamborghini? A Porsche? You would not want to take on the town in a Lexus now, would you?
Or Would You? Allow me to introduce you to our very own wet dream-The Lexus LC500. A vehicle designed to make one understand that excellent products are much bigger than a brand itself.
What even is the Lexus LC500?
Do you remember walking into a movie theatre to enjoy the Black Panther in 2018 and Marvel just casually throwing a badass looking whip in your face? Yup! That was indeed the Lexus LC500 and even we had to pick up our jaws from the floor after admiring how sensational this hunk of metal looked.
The Marvel Universe facilitated the debut of this flagship Lexus sports car to the world and it did create quite a splash, especially in terms of it’s design when it launched in 2018. The LC500 was drop-dead gorgeous when it launched, and it manages to make us skip a beat every time we lay our eyes on this beauty. If we are being absolutely transparent, the Lexus LFA’s design was a tough act to follow, but Lexus has managed to create a silhouette that we would put right up there with the all-time greats.
You wouldn’t want to roll around in a sad-looking ride and the sculpted Lexus is destined to keep an aura of awesomeness floating right around you especially when you decide to take a short spin from the Bellagio to the MGM Grand and a couple of paparazzi decide to click some cover-worthy clicks.
Why pick it over the Italians and Germans?
The more vanilla choices such as a run of the mill Ferrari or a Porsche might be a little more flashy than the LC 500, but we certainly believe that the Lexus manages to appeal to the dapper side in us. The Lexus inspires confidence in you that is like a coat of armor that not only makes you shine but also distinguishes you from the 20 other Italians parked next to you in a casino. The moment you decide to step on the throttle, the 5.0 Litre Naturally Aspirated V8 roars to life and the 10-speed Automatic Transmission sees you whiz past obstacles in no time flat. The 471 Bhp power output might not be the highest amongst its peers, but since we’d be on the Vegas Strip and not the Nürburgring, Emotions Awakened trump Brute power. The LC 500 manages to sing a melody so sweet, that it would be blasphemous to even turn on the stereo and we can certainly guarantee that you wouldn’t be able to keep a count of the number of heads that the car turns for your cause.
The LC although manages a 4.2-second dig to 60 time which is plenty quick for everyday use, it still loses out to most of its competition when it comes to outright acceleration as the majority are half a second quicker. This might be very relevant on the track, but out on the Vegas Streets, it is the dual nature of the transmission that can be extremely smooth and quiet and low speeds and lightning-quick and visceral when going balls out that just makes us opt for the Lexus over its counterparts.
Most of the LC’s rivals have reached a certain level of staleness as they aim to become clinically sharper and faster which has come at a heavy cost to their feel of driving and character. The LC is a very important breath of fresh air in this segment that reinstates our faith in vehicles that are made to evoke emotions and not just crush track records. The LC is not a tracking tool as it feels much softer around the turns due to its heavy bias on being a Grand Tourer rather than being a scalpel in the guise of a sports car. The Revised Suspension and Active Cornering Assist for the 2021 MY have made the Lexus even more competent but the LC still manages to appeal to the more laid back driver inside us.
How does this car look from the inside?
The cabin on the 2021 Lexus LC 500 is something of an art exhibit to say the least as Lexus has proudly utilized Japanese design elements with some supremely high-quality materials to create a cabin that is magnanimous. Everything you touch and feel appears to be of a very high grade and it is tough to falter the design inspiration behind the gorgeous interior. The seats on offer are one of the most comfortable in the segment and manage to blend comfort and support seamlessly. The rear bench is a definitive afterthought as it is more or less useless, but this is a sacrifice of the segment itself.
The visibility from the inside is surprisingly great for a vehicle that has such a swept-back design. One would assume the blind spots to be utterly unmanageable but the overall decent visibility coupled with the blind spot monitoring system tends to make the LC 500 a relatively easy vehicle to maneuver.
The 8 Inch Digital Adaptive Gauge Cluster and the Heads Up Display send you straight into an Iron Man armor which gives you an idea as to why Marvel was such a big fan of this vehicle. For 2021, Lexus has also finally bestowed the LC 500 with a 10.3 Inch Infotainment Display that is a touch screen which means that we can bid adieu to the only terrible interior feature on the LC’s of the past which was the clunky input touchpad. The infotainment system also comes with Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, and Amazon Alexa which brings the overall experience to the 21st century. The Mark Levinson Audio System on offer can also drown out the hustle and bustle of the city if the need ever arises and help keep even the most nosy audiophiles happy.
Should you Gamble with the LC500?
The LC 500 is a very emotive vehicle in a sea of similar feeling vehicles that don’t awaken you from within. On paper, the Lexus doesn’t have a lot going for it as it slowly, handles vaguely, drinks more fuel and has arguably lesser street cred when compared to its rivals such as the Porsche 911 and the Jaguar F-Type but it is much more comfortable, relaxed, easier to drive, more economical to maintain, and arguably also has a more premium interior while being rarer than your more generic and widespread options.
The Lexus LC 500 is not a vehicle for everybody as the ones who want a race car for the road are thoroughly going to disappointed but if you have upwards of $90,000 burning a hole in your pocket and you need the best Las Vegas cruiser that even Lucifer would drool over, then my friends, Lexus have just the right automobile for you!