00:00 Hey guys, Chris here from Car Expert.
00:01 We're back at Queensland Raceway, our test track.
00:04 And today I've got the Lexus LC 500.
00:07 So this is a five litre V8.
00:08 It's quite a big car, 1,900 kilos,
00:11 but it's got 350 kilowatts,
00:12 and that's naturally aspirated
00:13 with 540 newton metres of torque.
00:15 So rear wheel drive, 10 speed transmission.
00:18 So lots of gears there.
00:19 And we'll see how it goes compared to the RC F.
00:22 We've already tested very similar performance wise,
00:24 but a little bit heavier
00:26 and a little bit more comfortable.
00:27 First we'll do the zero to a hundred
00:28 and the braking test,
00:30 then we'll get on the track and try and set a lap time.
00:33 (car engine roaring)
00:36 All right, so initial impressions.
00:50 I love the seats.
00:51 This is a really good example of comfort and support.
00:56 Like most manufacturers just miss it
00:58 either one way or the other,
01:00 but Lexus have done a great job here.
01:01 I'm sitting nice and in the seat, down low,
01:04 but I've got great support as well.
01:06 So it's really comfortable, really supportive,
01:09 and sort of fits with this car.
01:10 So expecting high performance,
01:12 but you still want your luxury.
01:13 So you've got that here.
01:15 Visibility's excellent.
01:17 No issues there.
01:18 I'm sitting nice and low,
01:19 but it doesn't really hurt the visibility at all.
01:23 Steering is good.
01:24 It just initially feels a little light
01:27 because the car's so soft as well.
01:29 It's going to dull some of that feeling you'd expect
01:31 from a more racier car.
01:33 Brakes feel pretty good,
01:37 but you do notice the extra weight of this car.
01:39 It's heavy.
01:40 It's 1,900 kilos, like I said,
01:43 and that's going to hurt you on the track.
01:45 And although there's a lot of good things,
01:47 the weight is always a disadvantage.
01:49 (car engine roaring)
01:52 Engine sounds great.
01:54 It's awesome to have that naturally aspirated sound.
01:57 When it gets high in the rev range,
01:58 it just comes alive.
02:02 Just going to be interesting to see
02:03 whether I can control the car enough
02:05 with that movement on the flying laps
02:07 and see if I can do a good time.
02:09 See if it can match the RCF, actually.
02:10 That was 69.3,
02:12 which I was pretty impressed with that lap time.
02:14 So I've got the engine in power mode
02:17 and the chassis in sport mode, the top spec.
02:19 Traction control off, stability control off.
02:22 All right, let's head into a flying lap.
02:24 Try and get a good exit.
02:25 (car engine roaring)
02:28 (car engine roaring)
02:31 (car engine roaring)
02:34 (car engine roaring)
02:38 (car engine roaring)
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03:04 (car engine roaring)
03:07 (car engine roaring)
03:27 (car engine roaring)
03:30 Well, there you go.
03:36 I got down to a 60.34,
03:38 which is a little bit disappointing.
03:41 I thought I'd cracked the minute mark,
03:42 considering the RCF had already done a 59.3.
03:46 We're in the middle of summer now as well,
03:48 so the track temperatures are higher
03:50 and you're going to lose some grip.
03:51 Let's look at the positives.
03:53 Engine sounds amazing.
03:56 It revs out nicely, super free, really like that.
04:00 Just the fact that you've got so much weight tied to that.
04:03 Hurts a little bit off the corner.
04:05 I just felt like we were a little bit sluggish to get going.
04:08 Once it got up in the revs, then it was no problem at all.
04:10 You can see this is a car built for comfort
04:12 more than the track.
04:13 It sounds great.
04:14 It does a lot of things well,
04:16 but it's just a little bit lazy on the track.
04:18 There's a lot of energy going to different places.
04:20 I couldn't quite get the car to squat
04:22 how I wanted off the corner.
04:24 And the rear just slid that little bit too easily.
04:26 I had a couple of slides there,
04:28 even on the fastest lap on turn two, I lost the rear there.
04:31 And I was just trying to explore the limits,
04:32 but just didn't have the feeling I wanted at the limit
04:36 to really harness the potential of the car.
04:40 I really feel like it could have been much faster than that,
04:42 but I was just held back by basically
04:45 the comfort of this car.
04:46 It is so comfortable, the seating position,
04:49 everything's awesome in that respect,
04:51 but it just lacks the feedback that you want
04:54 for outright performance.
04:56 I also struggled a little bit with the brake pedal,
04:58 and I've noticed this with a few cars,
05:00 that they're so clever,
05:01 and Lexus is right up there with a brand
05:04 that does clever stuff with their cars,
05:06 that it actually interferes with the feedback
05:09 and the feeling you need at the limit.
05:10 So I'd get different results from the same force,
05:14 and that's always a challenge to drive to
05:16 when you're looking for a braking point,
05:18 looking for the limit.
05:19 Sometimes I'd have a firm pedal that would go soft later on.
05:22 Other times it would be the other way around,
05:24 and sometimes it would think I was in a panic situation
05:28 and be jumping on the brakes,
05:29 like it would do more than I wanted.
05:30 So I had to be careful not to attack the brakes too hard,
05:33 because then it would accentuate what I was asking for,
05:36 and then you try and balance that out
05:38 through different corners, and it's hard to do that.
05:40 You're sort of guessing what's gonna happen.
05:41 So that's a bit of a challenge.
05:43 The car was actually surprisingly tail-happy as well.
05:45 I tried with both traction control on and off,
05:48 and stability control on and off.
05:50 Ended up with everything off and trying to deal with it.
05:53 And like I said, I even did the quickest lap
05:54 with the car sliding around a bit,
05:56 because I had to attack.
05:57 I had to go over the limit to know where it was.
06:00 So you do have to be a little bit careful in this car
06:02 in terms of the throttle,
06:04 especially when the weight transfers exiting the corner.
06:07 So you have to manage that.
06:09 It's not a piece of cake to drive at the limit,
06:12 and that comes back a lot to the energy that's going around.
06:14 The 1,900 kilos, the softer suspension,
06:18 the final thing is the transmission and differentials.
06:20 I can't say too much about it.
06:22 It was never really an issue,
06:24 but I would have liked something
06:25 a little bit more reactive on the track.
06:27 Just occasionally it wouldn't shift gears when I wanted it,
06:30 but no big issue.
06:32 I felt like there was maybe a little bit too much slip
06:36 occasionally on the rear,
06:37 and that sort of inconsistency from the rear
06:40 caused some of my concerns coming off the corner.
06:42 I couldn't quite nail the exits,
06:44 and I was just a bit cautious.
06:46 I lost the rear a few times,
06:47 and other times then it didn't slide.
06:49 So it was just hard to really drive on the absolute limit.
06:53 But again, this is a car that's not designed
06:57 for driving at the absolute limit.
06:58 It's a performance car that's comfortable,
07:00 but does it all with luxury refinement.
07:03 So there you go, guys, the Lexus LC 500.
07:08 Now this did a pretty good time
07:09 for what is a big luxury car.
07:12 Now it was fun, but also a challenge out there.
07:14 Rear wheel drive, the thing drifts like a weapon.
07:17 So that was good fun.
07:18 A little bit off the pace of the RC F,
07:20 which we've also tested here,
07:22 but you can understand that.
07:24 It's 1,900 kilos and only 350 kilowatts,
07:28 and not a huge amount of torque.
07:30 So it is gonna be limited there,
07:31 but it does sound fantastic out on the track.
07:33 So my three tips for this car,
07:35 firstly, because it is so big and heavy and lazy,
07:37 which is a positive in terms of comfort,
07:39 but a negative on the track,
07:41 you've gotta be really controlled going into the corners.
07:43 You've gotta be managing that weight,
07:44 smooth with your inputs and not over committing.
07:47 Then you wanna be in a position to use the engine.
07:49 The engine loves to rev freely and be in the top end.
07:51 So you've gotta be in the right gear,
07:53 in the right position in the middle of the corner
07:54 to make the most of that off the track.
07:57 And third, you're not gonna sweat too much in this car.
07:59 This is so comfortable and luxurious,
08:02 air conditioning on,
08:03 go out there, do a good time and have some fun.
08:05 Hope you guys enjoyed the video.
08:06 If you did, hit the like button
08:07 and don't forget to subscribe to our channel as well.
08:10 Lots more cool content to come.
08:11 Love to hear your feedback as well.
08:13 What would you like to see on the track?
08:14 And I'll try and do a time for you guys.
08:16 Hope you enjoyed it and see you again next time.
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