Hello all, I have been admiring the LC since it came out. There are no cars to look at or drive in my area of nm. I assume I will love it. I currently drive a 2024 NX350 and recently sold my 2020 supra that I put 36k miles on. The car I'm looking at is a 2018 base. It will be a fly in drive home car from a dealership. I noticed several of you owned or own a supra. Am I crazy to commit to this car? I sold the supra because it was difficult to stay within reasonable speeds. I assume the LC will be a little easier to go reasonable speeds and maybe more comfortable?

 

You’ll love it.

 

Yeah, you will love it. But soon you will realize that car becomes alive only after 45. So be careful

 

The 'reasonable speed' thing may be a bit hard to come by.
You'll love it.
Money well wasted.

 

I've gone from a modified 2019 Supra to a 24 LC

The LC is substantially slower which I wanted & generally much nicer to drive but beware the ZF 8 speed in the Supra is light years ahead of the LC's 10 speed

The LC trans really shows its age & heritage, it can stumble, hesitate, lurch & generally misbehave for a vehicle of its price & hype especially compared to the Supra, clumsy is a good adjective for it

The exhaust etc makes up for it but it still irritates me, I'm sure I will get used to it but not looking forward to driving my Supra again before its sold

Having said that I certainly don't regret getting the LC it is beyond special

 

The LC is slower but it's so smooth that I find it hard to stay under near-triple digit speeds on the highway anyway. 100 in this car feels like 70 in any other vehicle to me. I'm not tempted to go 120 sure, but I don't know that I would be doing so in a supra either.

 

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. Normally I wouldn't consider doing something like this, But everyone has such high praise for this car!

 

Are you sure you have driven an LC500??? You say the Supra is "substantially faster. . ." 2019 Supras are 3.7 to 4.3 0-60. The LC500 is 4.4 Unless your are tracking your LC500, that is certainly not "substantially." You say the ZF transition is "light years ahead" of the LC500s. Um, no. The ZF8, and its iterations have been around for years and years. (Not to mention it is absolutely a common transmission used in many pedestrian/bland cars and trucks. Don't get me wrong, I loved my ZFs in my cars, but your comment is not correct.) The 10-speed in the LC500, at least the one I know in my 24', is a marvel and advances the art of automatics in its design, light weight, etc. You say " . . .it can stumble, hesitate, lurch & generally misbehave. . ." And you say "clumsy is a good adjective for it " Huh? Mine has never done any of these things, ever. Exactly the opposite. Initially, in the 2018, the transmission was tuned too "real" and in the grand tourer, LC500, customers wanted it tamed down a bit, which has been done. The way you described it, there must be something very wrong with the one you drove.

Then you end your advice with: "The exhaust etc makes up for it but it still irritates me, I'm sure I will get used to it" There you have it. We found the one. The one and only person on the planet that doesn't like the exhaust on the LC500. "It irritates" you? Dude, exactly every single person on the planet loves it so much, they specifically call this one thing out all the time as making the car soo special. And you like the sound of your turbocharge six cylinder better???

 

Interesting comments about the transmission. Overwhelmingly reviewers and owners have cited the 10 speed transmission as a definitive strength along with NVH, ride composure and built quality/ fit and finish. I know that Lexus has done tweaking refinements of the transmission and suspension over several years. I’ve seen more complaints regarding lack of seat massage option than transmission issues.

 

go to a Volkswagen Bug you'll notice a big difference.

 

I think @KiwiGreg is saying the exhaust note mostly makes up for the subpar transmission feel he experiences, not that the exhaust itself is irritating.

 

The transmission in the supra was perfect, I have not tried the LC yet. I have a friend who lives twenty minutes away and he checked it out for me. First thing he said was it was not as fast as my supra! He absolutely loved it though. Let's say the dealer is asking 60k Should I offer 57? Car is pristine in and out.

 

The LC is definitely slower, but it's also a different car with a different purpose and a different feel. I have a neighbor with a b58 m340 (same engine as supra) and my LC cannot keep up, but I'd rather have the LC any day of the week.

 

Exactly

 

If you want to drive one first, quickly in a track environment :-) you should consider attending the Lexus Performance Driving School: https://lexusperformancedrivingschool.com/#/home

(this will be my 4th year attending, it's a lot of fun)

The differences that you'll notice from the Supra to the LC500: the LC500 has a good bit more room, is about a thousand pounds heavier, sounds a good bit better stock, but is ultimately slower (due to the weight). If you attend the LPDS you'll also see that it handles this weight well in stopping and corners, but the weight is definitely there.

There are minor suspension tweaks every year for the LC500, with the biggest supposed change coming from 2019 to 2020. The 2018 and 2019 cars have a bit of a rougher ride compared to the 2020+ cars.