LEXUS LC 500

Lexus aims to enhance both the touring and sporting abilities of its big V8 coupé

- MATT SAUNDERS

TESTED 2.2.23, SURREY ON SALE NOW

The death of the V8-engined GT has been prematurely reported in many quarters. Counting up the total of such Aston Martins, Bentleys, BMWs, Ferraris, Jaguars and Mercedes left is actually still a heartening exercise if you dread the day when a car market of so much variety will be a distant memory.

Yet there's something about the Lexus LC 500 that suggests it will be the very last of its kind, having been one of the very last to arrive. There's something about its ability to cling to its place in Lexus's range, despite its various flaws and annual UK sales that probably barely reach three figures, that suggests it will keep on surviving until the end of days.

There has been a light update to the LC's mechanical specification for the latest model year, although not as much as there was for the 2021 revision. In a bid to enhance both its touring and sporting credentials, Lexus has tweaked its coil-spring rates and recalibrated its AVS adaptive dampers once again.

It has a more "deeply hung" front seat design and a new shift lock for its 10-speed automatic gearbox; and there are now Hokkaido and Black Inspiration special editions, based around colour and material themes.

For the sportiest LC (with four-wheel steering and a limited-slip differential), you want the Sport+, whose main draw, despite all that, remains its atmospheric 5.0-litre V8.