At $48,999, Is This 2018 Lexus LC 500 Ready To Go On Tour?

The price tag on today’s Nice Price or No Dice LC 500 is about half what it was when the car was new. Such depreciation is common among the upper echelon of automobile-dom, but not so much when it involves a Lexus. Let’s see what might be driving that.

Is The Lexus RC F Still Relevant?

Fiat’s first car was built in 1900, a tiller-steered two-seater known as the 4 HP. When the 1967 Fiat Dino Coupe we looked at yesterday arrived six decades later, Fiat had grown to become Italy’s largest car builder. In the ensuing decades, the company would alternatively buy up or push out of business almost all of the country’s other car makers. Such illustrious history was of little importance in the face of our candidate Dino’s $53,500 price tag. Many of you felt the car needed to be in better condition than presented to meet such a price. As a result, the Fiat fell in an 80 percent No Dice loss.

At the time of the Dino’s reign, Fiat positioned the model as the company’s halo car. In the present day, a similar role at Lexus is played by the LC 500. Like the Dino, it’s a well-appointed two-door with a performance-minded engine and grand touring pretensions.

This 2018 Lexus LC 500 hails from the model’s first year of production. That’s also the first year of the platform upon which it rides: Toyota’s Global Architecture-Luxury (GA-L), which also sees duty under the LS sedan, Toyota Mirai, and the home-market Toyota Crown.

The LC 500 is the sportiest of the bunch, although there’s only so much potential to be had in a car weighing in at well over two tons, not even counting occupants or golf bags. In an attempt to address the LC’s weight issue, Toyota has given the car a sizable corral. The 5.0-liter 2UR-GSE V8 under the hood makes a stout 471 horsepower and 398 lb-ft of torque, with the former hitting its peak at a remarkable 7,100 rpm and the latter coming on at 4,800. Those ponies are routed through a crazy 10-speed “Direct Shift” automatic to a limited-slip rear end.

All this is wrapped in a body that’s both show car quality and immediately identifiable as a Lexus. The company’s iconic and, arguably hokey, Predator grille is present, as are the weird Nike-esque slashes that run into the headlamps. The rest of the bodywork is svelte and without controversy, save for the “floating roof” rear pillar treatment, which feels of the moment and a bit hackneyed.

With just 40,711 miles on the clock, this LC is dealer-offered and, based on a VIN search, seems to have spent its entire existence in the South, bouncing between Florida, Georgia, and now Alabama. The ad doesn’t give any information about what went down with the car over that time and those locales, but the pictures provided do present it as being in as-new condition and respectably clean and tidy. The “Infrared” metallic paint appears to be without flaw, and the chromed factory alloys show no sign of curbing or other issues.

The cabin is upholstered in tan with Aniline Leather seating surfaces and brushed metal trim. As befitting any car in the luxury category, there’s an analog clock in the center of the dash. It’s otherwise as modern as imaginable, although the cabin is burdened with Lexus’ less-than-stellar infotainment system.

This being a Lexus, there’s not much to speak of about potential land mines of ownership. The only real question is what such a car should reasonably cost. This one asks $48,999, which is about half what it went for when new and represents one of the least expensive LC 500s on the market.

What’s your take on this Lexus and that $48,999 price tag? Does that seem like a screaming deal for a luxury coupe? Or is the car just not of the caliber to call for so much cash?

You decide!

Cedar Bluff, Alabama, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Bill Lyons for the hookup!

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