The Lexus LC 500h: A Drive and Review

As I sat down in the driver's seat of the Lexus LC 500h, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement. The car's gentle curves and swooping lines caught my eye, and I was eager to see how it would perform on the road. I started by gently easing out of the parking spot, feeling the softness of the leather seats as I settled in.

The Lexus LC 500h is a luxury sedan that boasts a unique blend of style and comfort. The perforated material in the center of the seat provides a subtle texture, while the leather bolsters offer support and stability. However, after two plus thousand miles on the car, the leather has started to show signs of wear and tear. This is a point to note for potential buyers, as it may indicate that the car has been driven extensively.

As I turned off the engine, I was greeted by the comfort access feature, which raised and tucked the steering wheel into place, providing easier access in and out of the vehicle. However, I noted that there was no lever or mechanism to secure the seatbelt, requiring me to fiddle around a bit to get it adjusted properly.

The rear seats are quite spacious, but they do have one major drawback: they are extremely far back from the front seats. This means that adults may not be able to fit comfortably in the backseat, especially on long distance journeys. I attempted to climb into the backseat to demonstrate its size, but found it difficult to get comfortable due to my head and legs.

The Lexus LC 500h comes equipped with a premium sound system, including a 10-speed automatic transmission that shifts seamlessly through the gears. However, when I shifted down, I felt that the car could be dialed up more in terms of aggression and sportiness at the top end.

One aspect of the car that stood out to me was its carbon roof, which features a unique design element – two silver trim pieces on either side that resemble a Japanese sword. There are also several small details throughout the car that add to its quirky charm.

When it came time to load up the trunk, I found that there was ample space available. However, the boot is not particularly deep, and I had to be mindful of the camera mounted above the Lexus badge, which could have been more seamlessly integrated into the design.

As I drove away from the test drive location, I couldn't help but feel a sense of enjoyment and pleasure behind the wheel. The Lexus LC 500h was a joy to drive, with its gentle curves and smooth acceleration making it perfect for cruising down the highway or taking on winding roads.

A key takeaway from my time with the Lexus LC 500h is that it has taken elements from the higher-end LFA model and made them more accessible to a wider audience. The result is a car that boasts impressive performance, luxurious amenities, and a unique design aesthetic that sets it apart from its competitors.

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with the Lexus LC 500h and would highly recommend it to anyone in the market for a luxury sedan. Its comfort, style, and performance make it an excellent choice for those who want a car that can keep up with their active lifestyle.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi guys i'm smee hello welcome back to the channel and welcome today to gemka lexus in reading where we're going to take a look go for a walk around and then a drive in the lexus lc 500. now the lc 500 is parked up inside the delivery room here in the showroom due to it being rather cold and windy outside we're going to take a full look at it and go for a drive to see what the luxury grand touring coupe is like on the roads so let's get started and head inside here is the sonic white lc 500 now this car is the sport plus configuration so the top model that is available the lc 500 itself has a 5 liter v8 you can also have the lc 500h the h standing for hybrid with a hybrid assisted v6 but in here we've got 477 horsepower 540 newton meters of torque and we'll go over more of the details facts and figures of the engine and performance stats shortly but just firstly to take an overview and a look at the car i think it is a very very pretty machine it launched as the concept known as the lf lc lc luxury coupee but very much has translated into the same looking car in the production specification version this being the very top it comes in at about 88 000 pounds 89 000 pounds and that gives you an upmarket two plus two seating configuration not the most space for the rear passengers i will confess we'll have a look at that shortly engine mounted up front rear wheel drive grand tourer let's take a look around it there's a lot of error at work a lot of very distinct design features a lot of very clever intelligently thought out features and details as well and we'll get through all of those as we go and i think starting around the front we have the very distinct signature lexus spindle grille as it's called at the front with that narrowing shape in the center really giving a statement around there coming through to the headlights much the same and you'll notice this uh intake piece here for airflow coming through the car instinct says that's for the brakes but it's not that actually comes around inside the car for aero and aerodynamic work that's taking place off the back of it and in fact as you come down the side all of the lines and shapes like this for example are for deflecting wind so that rain droplets for example won't be splattered all over the window and in fact the door mirror does exactly the same it catches raindrops and sends them onto the car back there so that it preserves the ability to be able to see more it's just very clever details like that all around the car now the sport plus version has a carbon fiber roof larger wheels it also has rear wheel steering you can have the car in the regular configuration sport or sport plus with those three different options coming on both the lc500 and the lc500h sport plus also gives you the active aero rear wing you can see on the rear deck lid and one thing well maybe we should talk more about the design but one thing i love is the way you open the boot with that button on there you'd never know you'd be fumbling around looking for it around the number plate but opens up there decent amount of storage back there for a grand tourer as it should be we'll come back to more details like that later on let's just catch a glance on the interior so you open it up keyless system of course key is in my pocket and you can see this car has a very nice red alcantara interior this is the key just so you can see what we're looking at and inside here you've got some lovely digital displays the 3d style dashboard this car is built in the same factory as the legendary and iconic lfa which is one of my favorite cars that exists so it's very very hand built created bespoke vehicle all sorts of different materials used although i will concede that it is not the lightest car in the world it's 1 900 kilos just over 1900 which is definitely no feather weight but let's have a look at the engine just quickly leave it under here open that up and come around because we have the five liter naturally aspirated v8 under the bonnet if i can find the catch lift this up not you get to see too much of course but not to 100 kilometers an hour 62 miles per hour 4.4 seconds there's a 10 speed direct shift gearbox 10 speed we'll talk more about that while driving that helps make that possible rear wheel drive of course um top speed 270 kilometers an hour or 168 miles per hour depending which system you are using so plenty of performance available from the car just drop that back down and into place but generally it's very muscular in terms of looks you can see the way all the lines and shapes go around the car you have airflow again through this intake on the side here which i think comes out just back here directing it around the rear wheels again for smoothing its journey through the air through the wind if i just unlock it so you can see the rear lights this is a very nice touch there is a mirror inside so you get that almost infinite view of the reflection of the lights heading deep down in there just smart distinct touches like that so i think it's very futuristic looking and overall give it top points for that but let's jump inside the car and just have a small look around here although we'll go into more detail when we come back i think i should jump in and just start it up though so we can hear what it sounds like first so keyless button right here behind the steering wheel let's fire it up lovely sound and then look at the displays very high quality very clear lots of information the 3d style display here that will flip between different modes you've got the controller just up here for sport mode sport plus mode or go the other way into eco more on that later as well central display which is controlled through the track pad in the middle lots of different uh settings and control you can have through there but it's really nicely integrated across the single glass panel all the way across in front of this trim over to this side the clock in the center and everything looks very distinct smart nice shift paddles lots of controls and buttons accessible from the steering wheel without having to move your hands away i think generally i'm looking forward to talking more about it actually because i think it's a very very nice interior seems good we'll discover more about that on the road and then we'll go into more detail of these displays before we get back but like i said this is the car i've been looking forward to drive looking forward to driving let's see what it's like i shall start with the confession that i am already preemptively biased towards this car i'm a huge fan of the lfa obviously that had a v10 and here we've got the v8 i don't quite know how it's going to sound yet obviously we're going to let it warm up but let's pop it into drive that way and the car will get on the move and actually i expect it to be very smooth calm and gentle when you're driving at basic speed you have a custom driving mode where you can configure the powertrain and the suspension and that side of things make it a little bit more comfortable if you'd like but we get on them on the move this dashboard out in a bit of light now is the end of the day already unfortunately so it's going to get dark on me really rather quickly but it already looks like a very comfortable cruising place and the sound deadening inside is quite remarkable cars driving around on damp roads around in front of me and we're not actually hearing too much of that intruding into the cabin just that v8 in the background already even in regular normal mode so you have a whole series of different driving modes you can use depending which you'd like to be in i'm slightly uh navigating working out where i am while i do this but let's head this way steering with the rear wheel steer light and easy round roundabouts rear wheel steering is pretty magical to be honest what it allows the car to do and how how it can feel even though it's a technology that existed before it's been brought back into the newest generation so the regular model of this and the sport don't have it the sport plus does but obviously adding a small price premium along the way i can feel that the heated steering wheel is turned on which is also very nice we've got heated seats cooled seats heated steering wheel head up display loads of different bits of information obviously we've got a wonderful display for the central navigation system the digital display for the driver view from a functionality point of view it's very very highly equipped the touchpad system is a generation on from where that started and we'll play more with that when we come back we've got good storage arm rest and plenty of cubby holes and places to put things but unfortunately looks like i might have a spot of traffic this afternoon one of the things that i dislike about trying to film in the uk and winter is how early it gets dark and i had a horrendous journey today with snow congestion on the road so much traffic so i've got here quite late which means that the sun is starting to set and in fact it's actually cleared up a little bit in this direction and got quite nice and bright which i did not see coming i thought it was going to be a horrible afternoon however let's talk a little bit more about the car and i'm going to drive it in sport which i presume is the mode that most people want to go to and i've got a graphical display of what gear i'm in i just saw it drop down one as i put it into sports although it's very very discreet you're rather unaware that the car is changing gears in the background it seems to spend a lot of time in the middle area probably down to the way it's geared and there's also a very different gearbox system in the h version of the car it has a four-speed system that connects the 3.5 liter v6 to the hybrid setup so that's rather tricky but today we'll just focus obviously on driving um the lc 500 where it's positioned it's up market it's a luxury it's a flagship premium status style car and it very much feels that in the same way i suppose the other cars do it's that that subconscious feeling you get of premium and luxury so the materials that you're touching the sounds that it makes or maybe even the sounds that it doesn't make due to how quiet it is um the the lack of noise from other vehicles on the road the way it pulls away completely gently the way you're sat in a very comfortable seat loaded with equipment um and the heated steering wheel which is on however one particularly awkward thing if you want to turn the heated steering wheel off and somebody might tell me i'm wrong about this i believe you have to go into the menu go into the climate setting with the touchpad then go to the seat steering you can see why this is a little bit difficult and then you get to the heated steering wheel you can turn it off so that is all quite tedious just to do silly things like that but it does mean it's rather uncluttered now as we get moving you get a bit of a v8 and it very it reminds me almost of like um e92 m3 that kind of engine um there's a good amount of noise in the background very traditional v8 i'm quite high pitched for a v8 let's just drop down a few gears seven six five four okay that was cool i like i like that's a good sound honestly that's nice it's very very quick shifting very quick yeah okay so we like it a lot from the the noise the ways that it makes that's actually taking me a bit by surprise i wasn't expecting it to be that good um i thought it might be a bit lazier but the shift speed is obviously substantially quicker than i had initially given the car credit for so driving along i'm in sport mode it's not the softest ride you might want to soften and go the other way so we're going to eco and comfort comfort the other way instantly less throttle response gearbox has gone up gears the ride should soften up slightly a touch on that front um but generally i mean these cars are all having such variability in terms of how you can set them up like that right everything is changing very very quickly i'm i'm i'm liking this car you've got a the traction toggle on the right side which has snow mode which would have been very appropriate this morning i suppose if you put it in snow mode no doubt it will stop you or not allow you to use too much of the torque and do anything crazy that might end up spinning the car around still a long wheelbase rear wheel drive car which does mean that it's probably quite fun to misbehave with as well if you're that way inclined so what else do we have head up display very clear rev counter and speedometer information the dashboard is super nice obviously it's the development of what we had on the nfa it's a little bit move forwards to the next generation but sitting in here you could you could potentially have more space the transmission tunnel is is quite large um but then it makes it a comfortable position for your elbows on both sides fits well with the seats obviously heated memory standard full electric seat setup controls and then you have a series of safety and driver assistance systems like you would expect but we drop down oh that was interesting you drop down two okay so we're still in comfort mode we go the other way up into sport plus mode where the dashboard illuminates itself drop some gears and then off we go oh nice shift nice shift okay so in uh sport plus you get a little bit more noise from it you've got a different look to the dashboard we can see more of that later on the rev counter is actually controlled by the temperature of the car so as the car warms up the rev counter actually moves with that and lets you go higher so the moment i can go just over seven uh just over seven thousand round seven thousand three hundred rpm i actually really like having so many gears because you get to do quite so many downshifts oh i think it detected the car going across me there so where can we go to find a nice road to go and drive i think this looks good i love exploring the countryside it's fast enough it's not rocket ship supercar fast but it's plenty fast enough i mean just over four seconds to 62 miles an hour doesn't take genius to work out that's going to be quick rides this road which is particularly bumpy quite decently to be honest this is lovely this is i think my kind of drive you know it's it's quite it's a bit gentlemanly it's a bit doing it with with style over a big bump yep took that nicely and this is in sport plus remember so this is the firmest mode oh that downshift oh no i've got all words comfort we don't want comfort nobody wants comfort sport mode it is thank you sir he's got snow on his windscreen i'll take that okay so back into sport plus so you do feel the weight of it as you turn into these corners you can feel this is a significantly large car the steering feels pretty good to me the wheel is nice it's not that large it's well equipped in terms of functionality the pedals are in a good position um one more row more more corners just get a better feel for the steering the sound is amply good enough if we put the window down yep even more of it it's a very very nicely refined noise there's downshifts brilliant i say obviously it will do the beeps if i've tried to shift earlier than the car is ready to do so but i feel like i'm exploring the countryside in style this i like this i really like but when you do turn into these corners a little bit more aggressively you feel the roll you feel the weight of the car 1935 kilos through the puddles so you can tell it's very much positioned at a slightly softer end for this glass of car in terms of suspension ride and uh roughness and aggression get a little bit slippy but it does drive quite sportily as well i thought before i drove this that there was a decent chance i was going to really enjoy driving it and we come towards a village uh you can just press one on the end and go straight back to comfort normal regular middle mode i thought that i would really like it and i'm very pleased to say that so far i do i think it is a car that would be a brilliant a one car garage type car or his and hers for example one of them might want to might want to have one of these in the garage i would like to play more with the controls and gadgetry in here but we'll do that when we return just to get a better understanding of it all but from a driving perspective it sounds good it feels good it is a bit softer but then oh let's not go that way there's a massive flood um but then i quite like that style i think it fits as a fun character yeah look at that let's not go down there at all oh dear bad weather back onto the countryside roads back into the more aggressive driving modes although this is very tight and narrow and size-wise it does feel quite large the width of the car you're definitely aware of although the mirror shape is quite nice to look at i would definitely argue that there is space to dial it up and make it further and make it more aggressive and i know i said that's you know the character of this car isn't necessarily to do that but perhaps for me that's what i would be wanting a little bit more out of it but don't get me wrong this is awesome fun it's a great car to drive it's nicely controllable likes to get a little bit loose but in a way that lets you play with it oh goodness me countryside rotate like there for example even with traction all in sport glass slightly loose attraction control lets you misbehave ever so slightly but downshifts in second degree you basically don't need to use first the second has pretty much all bases covered and ample torque for getting on the move so where shall we go let's just take a moment to enjoy this symphony foreign it sounds very good going down these countryside lanes oh endless amusement and fun well the light is falling on me very quickly so back into normal we will go for a gentle cruise from here back towards gem collectors where we will be able to take a look in more detail around the inside i've returned with a car that i'd be willing to bet is rather dirtier than when we started earlier but we're now back in the delivery bay because it is dark outside and first thing i'm going to do is turn on the reading lights which up here are these lovely touch panels very nice little feature we'll have a look now around the dashboard the displays and the controls that are available to the driver inside here and i think the first place to start would be the driver's display the dashboard which as you can see has that 3d style chrome surround around the rev counter which changes visual appearance depending what mode you're in you have various bits of surrounding information for temperatures and your regular odo details and the like and then all the warning lights off to the side within reach like i said you have your driving mode here where you go up to sport or one further to sport plus you can return it straight back to normal by pressing on the end or you can go down to comfort and eco modes again one press on the end to return or one press to go into the custom mode which you would configure through the central display we can get to that in a moment so back into normal although i think i do prefer that look with the white and red as it was in the lfa it just looks sporty i think it gives a nice presence and statement then on the right hand side you have pressing on the end for your traction control mode so off depending how you want it or down for snow mode or out of snow mode which brings up just that warning there on the right to let you know whether you are in it then what else do you have the control to turn on and off the head up display which you can probably just about see in front of us here um basic information that you get through that to open the boot fuel cap uh your memory seat controls mirrors lights uh folding mirrors and all of the usual you'd expect down there on the steering wheel itself lots of different controls for the different assistants so detection in front of you your lane side of things cruise control cycling through the different modes that you can have on the screen you can have up as you can see audio information or depending really what you've got the main car set to so high fire is a good system i'll turn it down this actually volume dial is a very nice single piece of aluminium it's really really really nicely made um nice touch there so on the left side you can go through your different displays and slide the display which is always fun who doesn't like doing that just like in the nfa you can slide it and it physically moves the bezel around the around the display and then you've got access to all sorts of different gauges and bits of information g4 sensor is a nice thing to be able to see shows you some track uh intent tire pressures rear wing position and the active rear wing that raises at speed for more grip so all that access to information here phone calls slide it back across i could play with that all the time then you have a very large central display which like i said earlier is controlled through the touch pad which sits just in front of a nice sort of palm rest which does work pretty well it is a bit fiddly to get through everything because you have to well it guides you to the right position but you do have to be kind of specific and you can imagine it takes a bit of learning curve to be absolutely on the ball with what you're trying to click and where you're trying to go loads of different settings you can configure for example in vehicle this is your drive mode customization if you want to change the setup of the individual mode and go back and to wi-fi as well so the car has a wi-fi connection should you wish i like the clock that's embedded behind that display and also the trim behind i think is quite nice just to finish that off one other thing i want to talk about also the vents i think they're very well integrated very discreet subtle um but obviously functional that's number one without too much intrusion again from the sound keeping it with that premium feel cup holder stored away under that flap finish with the red leather and the glove box opens very gently that's that's nice seats supportive comfortable mixture of the the perforated material in the center and the leather around the outside the leather bolsters even with two and a half thousand miles or so on the car they are starting to look a little bit worn which i suppose is a a point of note we'll have a glance at the rear but before we do so let us just turn off the engine for now comfort access the steering wheel raises and tucks itself in to give us easier access in and out for the car i'll mention at this point though that there's no sort of lever or thing to give you the seat belt so you are fiddling around a little bit back here to actually get it if you don't have it through that oyster on the seat but that would mean getting in the back is a little bit more awkward i like the door cards the trim around here i think that works quite nicely um come and have a look into the rear and you can tell already from where that seat was it was quite far back you're not gonna fit any legs down the back of that and like i said i did have it quite far back there just for seating it was behind my driving position let's have a quick little look in here in fact i'm gonna try and climb in but i don't think i would be too comfortable on a long distance journey two plus two mark levinson sound system back here okay yeah my head doesn't fit so well um this is two plus two yeah i'm on the glass i even if yeah i can't get comfortable even if my legs did fit down in the footwell which they don't my head doesn't no adults are going anywhere in the back of this car not even a short journey i'm afraid kids only anyway let me try and climb back out without making it complete all of myself okay done carbon side sales those are nice oh we've got lots of dirt and grime as kind of expected here actually always fun to see a bit of how the aero works around cars that panel is clearly really quite clean which means it is pulling everything in through there and sending it down and around the car the wing is in the lower position here like i said earlier that's part of the sport plus version of the car only and down at the bottom you have the diffuser with the chrome exhaust tip surrounds quite a sporty presence from the diffuser piece down there as well so is that more or less everything there is to show you with the lexus lc 500h i think from a driving perspective i have very much enjoyed it i quite like that a little bit more gentle drive the front engine the grand tourist style gt cars i feel like it could be dialed up more you could have more aggression from it it's not say the same as some of the competitors in this category in terms of how sporty it feels at the top end the sound is brilliant the 10 speed box yes you're forever shifting when you're shifting down that sounds awesome when you just split down through all of the gears and it's very very smooth when you choose to drive it gently so all in all a very pleasant and enjoyable car to drive for sure i could see myself driving one that's definitely my takeaway from today part of the components you can tell have come from lfa into this as a more attainable model than being right up there at the very top so it's a big thanks from me to gem collects us here in reading the opportunity to come today take the lc 500 for a drive i've been before to drive the rcf when it was launched um right here too we found some nice roads to have a good bit of fun with this car and you know what one other thing while we're here the carbon roof either side of that are these silver trim pieces which is supposed to represent a japanese sword over the top of a car i think there are a lot of small details that are just fun and quirky about this thing actually i also promised i would show you the boot ball just so we could have a proper look at how much space there is in here camera right above the lexus badge that's not nicely integrated though i think that could be a little bit clearer but there's a decent amount of space back here um it's not particularly deep but you could definitely fit a few bits of luggage um and the like anyway i think i have waffled on amply long enough a big thanks again to jeff alexis a big thanks as always to you guys for watching the video i hope you've enjoyed this look at the lc 500h sport plus i have definitely enjoyed driving it but that's it for this time make sure you're subscribed click the bell for instant notifications on future videos and i will catch up with you guys again next time cheers youhi guys i'm smee hello welcome back to the channel and welcome today to gemka lexus in reading where we're going to take a look go for a walk around and then a drive in the lexus lc 500. now the lc 500 is parked up inside the delivery room here in the showroom due to it being rather cold and windy outside we're going to take a full look at it and go for a drive to see what the luxury grand touring coupe is like on the roads so let's get started and head inside here is the sonic white lc 500 now this car is the sport plus configuration so the top model that is available the lc 500 itself has a 5 liter v8 you can also have the lc 500h the h standing for hybrid with a hybrid assisted v6 but in here we've got 477 horsepower 540 newton meters of torque and we'll go over more of the details facts and figures of the engine and performance stats shortly but just firstly to take an overview and a look at the car i think it is a very very pretty machine it launched as the concept known as the lf lc lc luxury coupee but very much has translated into the same looking car in the production specification version this being the very top it comes in at about 88 000 pounds 89 000 pounds and that gives you an upmarket two plus two seating configuration not the most space for the rear passengers i will confess we'll have a look at that shortly engine mounted up front rear wheel drive grand tourer let's take a look around it there's a lot of error at work a lot of very distinct design features a lot of very clever intelligently thought out features and details as well and we'll get through all of those as we go and i think starting around the front we have the very distinct signature lexus spindle grille as it's called at the front with that narrowing shape in the center really giving a statement around there coming through to the headlights much the same and you'll notice this uh intake piece here for airflow coming through the car instinct says that's for the brakes but it's not that actually comes around inside the car for aero and aerodynamic work that's taking place off the back of it and in fact as you come down the side all of the lines and shapes like this for example are for deflecting wind so that rain droplets for example won't be splattered all over the window and in fact the door mirror does exactly the same it catches raindrops and sends them onto the car back there so that it preserves the ability to be able to see more it's just very clever details like that all around the car now the sport plus version has a carbon fiber roof larger wheels it also has rear wheel steering you can have the car in the regular configuration sport or sport plus with those three different options coming on both the lc500 and the lc500h sport plus also gives you the active aero rear wing you can see on the rear deck lid and one thing well maybe we should talk more about the design but one thing i love is the way you open the boot with that button on there you'd never know you'd be fumbling around looking for it around the number plate but opens up there decent amount of storage back there for a grand tourer as it should be we'll come back to more details like that later on let's just catch a glance on the interior so you open it up keyless system of course key is in my pocket and you can see this car has a very nice red alcantara interior this is the key just so you can see what we're looking at and inside here you've got some lovely digital displays the 3d style dashboard this car is built in the same factory as the legendary and iconic lfa which is one of my favorite cars that exists so it's very very hand built created bespoke vehicle all sorts of different materials used although i will concede that it is not the lightest car in the world it's 1 900 kilos just over 1900 which is definitely no feather weight but let's have a look at the engine just quickly leave it under here open that up and come around because we have the five liter naturally aspirated v8 under the bonnet if i can find the catch lift this up not you get to see too much of course but not to 100 kilometers an hour 62 miles per hour 4.4 seconds there's a 10 speed direct shift gearbox 10 speed we'll talk more about that while driving that helps make that possible rear wheel drive of course um top speed 270 kilometers an hour or 168 miles per hour depending which system you are using so plenty of performance available from the car just drop that back down and into place but generally it's very muscular in terms of looks you can see the way all the lines and shapes go around the car you have airflow again through this intake on the side here which i think comes out just back here directing it around the rear wheels again for smoothing its journey through the air through the wind if i just unlock it so you can see the rear lights this is a very nice touch there is a mirror inside so you get that almost infinite view of the reflection of the lights heading deep down in there just smart distinct touches like that so i think it's very futuristic looking and overall give it top points for that but let's jump inside the car and just have a small look around here although we'll go into more detail when we come back i think i should jump in and just start it up though so we can hear what it sounds like first so keyless button right here behind the steering wheel let's fire it up lovely sound and then look at the displays very high quality very clear lots of information the 3d style display here that will flip between different modes you've got the controller just up here for sport mode sport plus mode or go the other way into eco more on that later as well central display which is controlled through the track pad in the middle lots of different uh settings and control you can have through there but it's really nicely integrated across the single glass panel all the way across in front of this trim over to this side the clock in the center and everything looks very distinct smart nice shift paddles lots of controls and buttons accessible from the steering wheel without having to move your hands away i think generally i'm looking forward to talking more about it actually because i think it's a very very nice interior seems good we'll discover more about that on the road and then we'll go into more detail of these displays before we get back but like i said this is the car i've been looking forward to drive looking forward to driving let's see what it's like i shall start with the confession that i am already preemptively biased towards this car i'm a huge fan of the lfa obviously that had a v10 and here we've got the v8 i don't quite know how it's going to sound yet obviously we're going to let it warm up but let's pop it into drive that way and the car will get on the move and actually i expect it to be very smooth calm and gentle when you're driving at basic speed you have a custom driving mode where you can configure the powertrain and the suspension and that side of things make it a little bit more comfortable if you'd like but we get on them on the move this dashboard out in a bit of light now is the end of the day already unfortunately so it's going to get dark on me really rather quickly but it already looks like a very comfortable cruising place and the sound deadening inside is quite remarkable cars driving around on damp roads around in front of me and we're not actually hearing too much of that intruding into the cabin just that v8 in the background already even in regular normal mode so you have a whole series of different driving modes you can use depending which you'd like to be in i'm slightly uh navigating working out where i am while i do this but let's head this way steering with the rear wheel steer light and easy round roundabouts rear wheel steering is pretty magical to be honest what it allows the car to do and how how it can feel even though it's a technology that existed before it's been brought back into the newest generation so the regular model of this and the sport don't have it the sport plus does but obviously adding a small price premium along the way i can feel that the heated steering wheel is turned on which is also very nice we've got heated seats cooled seats heated steering wheel head up display loads of different bits of information obviously we've got a wonderful display for the central navigation system the digital display for the driver view from a functionality point of view it's very very highly equipped the touchpad system is a generation on from where that started and we'll play more with that when we come back we've got good storage arm rest and plenty of cubby holes and places to put things but unfortunately looks like i might have a spot of traffic this afternoon one of the things that i dislike about trying to film in the uk and winter is how early it gets dark and i had a horrendous journey today with snow congestion on the road so much traffic so i've got here quite late which means that the sun is starting to set and in fact it's actually cleared up a little bit in this direction and got quite nice and bright which i did not see coming i thought it was going to be a horrible afternoon however let's talk a little bit more about the car and i'm going to drive it in sport which i presume is the mode that most people want to go to and i've got a graphical display of what gear i'm in i just saw it drop down one as i put it into sports although it's very very discreet you're rather unaware that the car is changing gears in the background it seems to spend a lot of time in the middle area probably down to the way it's geared and there's also a very different gearbox system in the h version of the car it has a four-speed system that connects the 3.5 liter v6 to the hybrid setup so that's rather tricky but today we'll just focus obviously on driving um the lc 500 where it's positioned it's up market it's a luxury it's a flagship premium status style car and it very much feels that in the same way i suppose the other cars do it's that that subconscious feeling you get of premium and luxury so the materials that you're touching the sounds that it makes or maybe even the sounds that it doesn't make due to how quiet it is um the the lack of noise from other vehicles on the road the way it pulls away completely gently the way you're sat in a very comfortable seat loaded with equipment um and the heated steering wheel which is on however one particularly awkward thing if you want to turn the heated steering wheel off and somebody might tell me i'm wrong about this i believe you have to go into the menu go into the climate setting with the touchpad then go to the seat steering you can see why this is a little bit difficult and then you get to the heated steering wheel you can turn it off so that is all quite tedious just to do silly things like that but it does mean it's rather uncluttered now as we get moving you get a bit of a v8 and it very it reminds me almost of like um e92 m3 that kind of engine um there's a good amount of noise in the background very traditional v8 i'm quite high pitched for a v8 let's just drop down a few gears seven six five four okay that was cool i like i like that's a good sound honestly that's nice it's very very quick shifting very quick yeah okay so we like it a lot from the the noise the ways that it makes that's actually taking me a bit by surprise i wasn't expecting it to be that good um i thought it might be a bit lazier but the shift speed is obviously substantially quicker than i had initially given the car credit for so driving along i'm in sport mode it's not the softest ride you might want to soften and go the other way so we're going to eco and comfort comfort the other way instantly less throttle response gearbox has gone up gears the ride should soften up slightly a touch on that front um but generally i mean these cars are all having such variability in terms of how you can set them up like that right everything is changing very very quickly i'm i'm i'm liking this car you've got a the traction toggle on the right side which has snow mode which would have been very appropriate this morning i suppose if you put it in snow mode no doubt it will stop you or not allow you to use too much of the torque and do anything crazy that might end up spinning the car around still a long wheelbase rear wheel drive car which does mean that it's probably quite fun to misbehave with as well if you're that way inclined so what else do we have head up display very clear rev counter and speedometer information the dashboard is super nice obviously it's the development of what we had on the nfa it's a little bit move forwards to the next generation but sitting in here you could you could potentially have more space the transmission tunnel is is quite large um but then it makes it a comfortable position for your elbows on both sides fits well with the seats obviously heated memory standard full electric seat setup controls and then you have a series of safety and driver assistance systems like you would expect but we drop down oh that was interesting you drop down two okay so we're still in comfort mode we go the other way up into sport plus mode where the dashboard illuminates itself drop some gears and then off we go oh nice shift nice shift okay so in uh sport plus you get a little bit more noise from it you've got a different look to the dashboard we can see more of that later on the rev counter is actually controlled by the temperature of the car so as the car warms up the rev counter actually moves with that and lets you go higher so the moment i can go just over seven uh just over seven thousand round seven thousand three hundred rpm i actually really like having so many gears because you get to do quite so many downshifts oh i think it detected the car going across me there so where can we go to find a nice road to go and drive i think this looks good i love exploring the countryside it's fast enough it's not rocket ship supercar fast but it's plenty fast enough i mean just over four seconds to 62 miles an hour doesn't take genius to work out that's going to be quick rides this road which is particularly bumpy quite decently to be honest this is lovely this is i think my kind of drive you know it's it's quite it's a bit gentlemanly it's a bit doing it with with style over a big bump yep took that nicely and this is in sport plus remember so this is the firmest mode oh that downshift oh no i've got all words comfort we don't want comfort nobody wants comfort sport mode it is thank you sir he's got snow on his windscreen i'll take that okay so back into sport plus so you do feel the weight of it as you turn into these corners you can feel this is a significantly large car the steering feels pretty good to me the wheel is nice it's not that large it's well equipped in terms of functionality the pedals are in a good position um one more row more more corners just get a better feel for the steering the sound is amply good enough if we put the window down yep even more of it it's a very very nicely refined noise there's downshifts brilliant i say obviously it will do the beeps if i've tried to shift earlier than the car is ready to do so but i feel like i'm exploring the countryside in style this i like this i really like but when you do turn into these corners a little bit more aggressively you feel the roll you feel the weight of the car 1935 kilos through the puddles so you can tell it's very much positioned at a slightly softer end for this glass of car in terms of suspension ride and uh roughness and aggression get a little bit slippy but it does drive quite sportily as well i thought before i drove this that there was a decent chance i was going to really enjoy driving it and we come towards a village uh you can just press one on the end and go straight back to comfort normal regular middle mode i thought that i would really like it and i'm very pleased to say that so far i do i think it is a car that would be a brilliant a one car garage type car or his and hers for example one of them might want to might want to have one of these in the garage i would like to play more with the controls and gadgetry in here but we'll do that when we return just to get a better understanding of it all but from a driving perspective it sounds good it feels good it is a bit softer but then oh let's not go that way there's a massive flood um but then i quite like that style i think it fits as a fun character yeah look at that let's not go down there at all oh dear bad weather back onto the countryside roads back into the more aggressive driving modes although this is very tight and narrow and size-wise it does feel quite large the width of the car you're definitely aware of although the mirror shape is quite nice to look at i would definitely argue that there is space to dial it up and make it further and make it more aggressive and i know i said that's you know the character of this car isn't necessarily to do that but perhaps for me that's what i would be wanting a little bit more out of it but don't get me wrong this is awesome fun it's a great car to drive it's nicely controllable likes to get a little bit loose but in a way that lets you play with it oh goodness me countryside rotate like there for example even with traction all in sport glass slightly loose attraction control lets you misbehave ever so slightly but downshifts in second degree you basically don't need to use first the second has pretty much all bases covered and ample torque for getting on the move so where shall we go let's just take a moment to enjoy this symphony foreign it sounds very good going down these countryside lanes oh endless amusement and fun well the light is falling on me very quickly so back into normal we will go for a gentle cruise from here back towards gem collectors where we will be able to take a look in more detail around the inside i've returned with a car that i'd be willing to bet is rather dirtier than when we started earlier but we're now back in the delivery bay because it is dark outside and first thing i'm going to do is turn on the reading lights which up here are these lovely touch panels very nice little feature we'll have a look now around the dashboard the displays and the controls that are available to the driver inside here and i think the first place to start would be the driver's display the dashboard which as you can see has that 3d style chrome surround around the rev counter which changes visual appearance depending what mode you're in you have various bits of surrounding information for temperatures and your regular odo details and the like and then all the warning lights off to the side within reach like i said you have your driving mode here where you go up to sport or one further to sport plus you can return it straight back to normal by pressing on the end or you can go down to comfort and eco modes again one press on the end to return or one press to go into the custom mode which you would configure through the central display we can get to that in a moment so back into normal although i think i do prefer that look with the white and red as it was in the lfa it just looks sporty i think it gives a nice presence and statement then on the right hand side you have pressing on the end for your traction control mode so off depending how you want it or down for snow mode or out of snow mode which brings up just that warning there on the right to let you know whether you are in it then what else do you have the control to turn on and off the head up display which you can probably just about see in front of us here um basic information that you get through that to open the boot fuel cap uh your memory seat controls mirrors lights uh folding mirrors and all of the usual you'd expect down there on the steering wheel itself lots of different controls for the different assistants so detection in front of you your lane side of things cruise control cycling through the different modes that you can have on the screen you can have up as you can see audio information or depending really what you've got the main car set to so high fire is a good system i'll turn it down this actually volume dial is a very nice single piece of aluminium it's really really really nicely made um nice touch there so on the left side you can go through your different displays and slide the display which is always fun who doesn't like doing that just like in the nfa you can slide it and it physically moves the bezel around the around the display and then you've got access to all sorts of different gauges and bits of information g4 sensor is a nice thing to be able to see shows you some track uh intent tire pressures rear wing position and the active rear wing that raises at speed for more grip so all that access to information here phone calls slide it back across i could play with that all the time then you have a very large central display which like i said earlier is controlled through the touch pad which sits just in front of a nice sort of palm rest which does work pretty well it is a bit fiddly to get through everything because you have to well it guides you to the right position but you do have to be kind of specific and you can imagine it takes a bit of learning curve to be absolutely on the ball with what you're trying to click and where you're trying to go loads of different settings you can configure for example in vehicle this is your drive mode customization if you want to change the setup of the individual mode and go back and to wi-fi as well so the car has a wi-fi connection should you wish i like the clock that's embedded behind that display and also the trim behind i think is quite nice just to finish that off one other thing i want to talk about also the vents i think they're very well integrated very discreet subtle um but obviously functional that's number one without too much intrusion again from the sound keeping it with that premium feel cup holder stored away under that flap finish with the red leather and the glove box opens very gently that's that's nice seats supportive comfortable mixture of the the perforated material in the center and the leather around the outside the leather bolsters even with two and a half thousand miles or so on the car they are starting to look a little bit worn which i suppose is a a point of note we'll have a glance at the rear but before we do so let us just turn off the engine for now comfort access the steering wheel raises and tucks itself in to give us easier access in and out for the car i'll mention at this point though that there's no sort of lever or thing to give you the seat belt so you are fiddling around a little bit back here to actually get it if you don't have it through that oyster on the seat but that would mean getting in the back is a little bit more awkward i like the door cards the trim around here i think that works quite nicely um come and have a look into the rear and you can tell already from where that seat was it was quite far back you're not gonna fit any legs down the back of that and like i said i did have it quite far back there just for seating it was behind my driving position let's have a quick little look in here in fact i'm gonna try and climb in but i don't think i would be too comfortable on a long distance journey two plus two mark levinson sound system back here okay yeah my head doesn't fit so well um this is two plus two yeah i'm on the glass i even if yeah i can't get comfortable even if my legs did fit down in the footwell which they don't my head doesn't no adults are going anywhere in the back of this car not even a short journey i'm afraid kids only anyway let me try and climb back out without making it complete all of myself okay done carbon side sales those are nice oh we've got lots of dirt and grime as kind of expected here actually always fun to see a bit of how the aero works around cars that panel is clearly really quite clean which means it is pulling everything in through there and sending it down and around the car the wing is in the lower position here like i said earlier that's part of the sport plus version of the car only and down at the bottom you have the diffuser with the chrome exhaust tip surrounds quite a sporty presence from the diffuser piece down there as well so is that more or less everything there is to show you with the lexus lc 500h i think from a driving perspective i have very much enjoyed it i quite like that a little bit more gentle drive the front engine the grand tourist style gt cars i feel like it could be dialed up more you could have more aggression from it it's not say the same as some of the competitors in this category in terms of how sporty it feels at the top end the sound is brilliant the 10 speed box yes you're forever shifting when you're shifting down that sounds awesome when you just split down through all of the gears and it's very very smooth when you choose to drive it gently so all in all a very pleasant and enjoyable car to drive for sure i could see myself driving one that's definitely my takeaway from today part of the components you can tell have come from lfa into this as a more attainable model than being right up there at the very top so it's a big thanks from me to gem collects us here in reading the opportunity to come today take the lc 500 for a drive i've been before to drive the rcf when it was launched um right here too we found some nice roads to have a good bit of fun with this car and you know what one other thing while we're here the carbon roof either side of that are these silver trim pieces which is supposed to represent a japanese sword over the top of a car i think there are a lot of small details that are just fun and quirky about this thing actually i also promised i would show you the boot ball just so we could have a proper look at how much space there is in here camera right above the lexus badge that's not nicely integrated though i think that could be a little bit clearer but there's a decent amount of space back here um it's not particularly deep but you could definitely fit a few bits of luggage um and the like anyway i think i have waffled on amply long enough a big thanks again to jeff alexis a big thanks as always to you guys for watching the video i hope you've enjoyed this look at the lc 500h sport plus i have definitely enjoyed driving it but that's it for this time make sure you're subscribed click the bell for instant notifications on future videos and i will catch up with you guys again next time cheers you\n"