Cars
It’s a Hawaiian special as the new Lexus LC500 takes to the open road with a mix of power and style
It’s all really a bit unreal. Here I am, driving through the black, lava-encrusted eastern coastline of Hawaii’s Big Island—easily the most desolate landscape I have encountered in my life—in the latest Lexus flagship model, the LC500. It’s almost like being on another planet in a spaceship on hyperdrive.
The invite from Lexus to join the LC500 media experience in Hawaii appeared in my e-mail inbox just barely two weeks before I found myself in the swanky Four Seasons Hualalai Resort on the Big Island. That was most welcome, especially after a 10-hour trans-Pacific flight to Honolulu, followed by an hour’s interisland flight to Kona on the eastern coast of the island. I had always wanted to visit the Big Island and the Lexus invitation gave me the perfect opportunity to knock another destination off my bucket list.
The Big Island, actually named Hawaii, is the largest in the Hawaiian chain of eight islands. Sparsely populated, it is twice the size of all the other seven islands put together. Having the most number of volcanoes, with a total of five on an island measuring a mere 4,000 square miles, the Big Island continues to grow. In fact, one of them, Kilauea, the world’s most active volcano, has not stopped spewing lava to this day, 34 years since it erupted in 1983, adding real estate to the island every day.
The Big Island has two distinct personalities. The eastern Hilo side is wet, mountainous, and tropical with more than 150 inches of rain annually. The western Kona side, famous for its coffee, is dry with less than 10 inches of rainfall, flat in every
direction, covered everywhere in black, hardened lava with sparse vegetation.
In Keeping with The Concept
As for the car I had flown so far to drive, it had first piqued my interest because it was moulded from the LF-LC concept car that debuted in the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit and won the Best Design Award for Concept Cars. I viewed the same LF-LC in the Tokyo Motor Show later in the year.
At that time, no one could say if Lexus would develop it to production. Then, as if in response, Lexus previewed, and I saw the LC (for Luxury Coupe) in the November 2015 Tokyo Motor Show. Two months later, the LC500 was formally unveiled to the world in the January 2016 Detroit Motor Show where it won awards for Best Production Car design and Best Designed Interior. Amazingly, and very unlike the usual transition from concept to production, the LC500 production model was virtually unchanged from its LC-LF concept.
To say that the LC500’s design is striking would be a total understatement. It represents a complete departure from traditional Lexus design and styling and, to my mind, for the better. In the words of Yoshihiro Sawa, EVP of Lexus International, “The Lexus design represents the future of the Lexus brand.” When the first LC500s hit the market by the time you will be reading this, it will be the most eyecatching GT car on the road.
Equally important for the Lexus brand is the all-new platform of the LC500 which it will share with its other flagship mode, the 2018 flagship LS sedan due to debut later in the year, as well as with all future Lexus front-engine, rear wheel-drive models. The engineering objectives for the new LC500 were verbalised by Koji Sato, chief engineer for the LC500, as “Ever Sharper, More Refined.” To Sato-san, sharpness is the extremely precise response of a vehicle to driver inputs regardless of road surface or driving style; while refinement is simply being enjoyable in day-to-day driving. It was his aim to engineer the perfect balance between emotion and comfort in the LC500. And he has succeeded in spectacular fashion.
The Lexus LC500 platform is characterised by strength, lightness, and a low centre of gravity. Its chassis is the stiffest unibody Lexus has produced. Lightweight and high-strength steels have produced a body that is amazingly stiffer than the exotic, carbon fibre-intensive LFA supercar. The exterior of the LC500’s body is constructed almost totally of aluminium, steel
being used only on the rear fenders. The mass of the car is positioned to be mostly between the front and rear wheels, resulting in a 54-46 per cent front-to-rear weight distribution.
The LC500 is powered by the same 5.0-litre V8 engine found in its stablemates, the RC-F and GS-F, but the output has been increased to 471 horsepower and 540 Nm of torque, enabling the LC500 to sprint from 0 to 100kph in 4.7 seconds, all the way to a top speed of 270kph. This car is no slouch! This massive power is managed by an all-new 10-speed automatic transmission.
Characteristic of a torque converter gearbox, shifts are seamless and super smooth while being almost as quick as a dual-clutch. The Drive Mode Select system, which is easily controlled by a knob on the dash, allows the LC500 driver to choose among four drive settings: Eco, Normal, Sport, and Sport+. The exhaust baffles open fully during acceleration in the Sport+ setting, producing the glorious, natural, unamplified roar of a V8 under power, a sound that is unfortunately disappearing as more and more engines are turbocharged. But the LC500 glories in it. Another pleasant aural feature is the engine’s blipping on downshifts. Nice!
The LC500 features superb steering and braking. Although electrically-assisted, as most steering systems are nowadays, the LC500’s steering almost feels hydraulically-assisted. Its road feel is excellent, light at highway speeds while sure, direct, and confidence-inspiring on twisty roads.
Power and Luxury
This was the car I was to drive for three to four hours from the Kona coast to Hilo, through and over the mountains separating the two coastlines. When I asked Sato-san why Lexus chose Hawaii, and in particular the Big Island, as the venue for the LC500 drive, he explained that it has 11 of the world’s 13 climate zones, the only exception being ice and snow; but he promised that I would experience all of them in the time I would be behind the LC500’s wheel. How right he would prove to be!
I left the Four Seasons at 9:30 am, in the driver’s seat of a brilliant red LC500 that seemed to glow ruby-like under the brilliant sun. The first leg ran through featureless lava landscape along the Kohala coast. Then a sharp right turn started the uphill, twisty trek to Waimea, 3,000 feet above sea level. The weather turned crisp and cool at this altitude as I soldiered on to Honokaa where I stopped at a coffee farm for a bracing cup of local brew.
As I was getting back into the car, it started to drizzle, turning into hard, pelting, constant rain as I neared the Umauma waterfalls through a tropical rainforest. It was almost hard to believe that I was on the same island I was in a few hours before. At exactly 1 pm,
I arrived in Hilo to check in at the Lexus rest stop for a bite of lunch.
As it turned out, Hilo was the end of my drive. After lunch, we were to return to Kona by, and being treated to, a helicopter ride for some aerial sightseeing.
First stop was the Volcanoes National Park, dominated by the Mauna Loa volcano, the world’s tallest volcano, rising nearly 30,000 feet from the ocean floor, taller even than Mt Everest. Close by, we flew over Kilauea volcano and over the fiery lava that has been flowing into the sea continuously for the past 34 years. One can only watch in awe as nature displays its power. The chopper continued north along the eastern coastline until landing at Waipi’o Valley right below the spectacular Waipi’o waterfalls. Then it was back to Kona, the Four Seasons, and home, sweet home.
Whilst I was driving the LC500, some impressions stuck in my mind. First was the awesome power of its engine, docile and tractable in normal mode, but a raging bull with a flick of the knob into Sport+, the engine’s roar turning into a bellow as speed builds up. Yet, the power delivery is so smooth, thanks to the wonderful 10-speed transmission. The gearshifts are so smooth as to be undetectable. I finally gave up on manually shifting the car, and eventually just kept it in automatic, as the gearbox was doing a much better job of shifting than I was because with 10 speeds, I found myself constantly shifting.
So impressive as well was the steering— precise, intuitive, quick to adjust to road conditions, and the driver’s demands. The car itself was so comfortable and, thus, easy to drive. The four-hour drive left me with no signs of fatigue or strain.
The front seats cradled their occupants so cosily, yet remained so supportive when the drive turned sporty. The materials used in the cockpit were first-class, tactile, and eye-catching. The instruments and controls were easy to read and discern, and within easy reach. A 12-speaker surround sound system filled the interior with concert hall-quality sound and was almost able to compete with that other glorious music from the V8 engine.
The Lexus LC500 was a superb vehicle for an unforgettable ride in a paradise-like setting. It gave an almost overwhelming experience of power and luxury, the hallmark of Lexus products, in a new, seminal, futuristic machine that will set new and higher standards in automotive design and engineering.