2024 Lexus LC Convertible Test Drive Review: The Almost-Perfect GT

We are unabashed fans of the Lexus LC. With its smooth and sonorous 471-horsepower V8 under the hood, concept car come-to-life styling, and luxurious and detailed interior, there’s an argument to be made that it’s the finest grand touring car on the market here in 2024. Particularly as Lexus fixed it’s biggest niggle – the only thing we complained about.

We managed to snag the keys to a V8 Lexus LC Convertible for blue-sky cruising at the perfect time of the year here in California. The key thing to remember before reading on, is that the Lexus LC doesn’t exist as an outright performance car, so a convertible version should take the LC close to perfection as a cruiser. But did it live up to expectations?

Exterior: Looking As Good As With the Roof Up

Some cars need the roof for its overall design to make sense, but the LC has the right proportions and elements to pull off the conversion. Much has been made of how the LC is, effectively, a concept car put into production that still looks fresh seven years after it first went into production – with its long hood and doors, and low, wide stance.

It’s gorgeous and timeless, in our books. The roof has a four-layer soft-top design, with the layers providing sound dampening while the soft material is reasonably compact to store. That’s important as the trunk is already small, and you’ll be using the rear seats for cargo storage anyway. The drop-top LC shares dimensions with its coupe sibling, although it’s a fraction taller thanks to the retractable roof. It weighs around 200 pounds more than the coupe.

The LC Convertible is the type of car that looks good in most paint colors, with Flare Yellow drawing the attention it deserves.However, the Cloudburst Gray of our tester suited it perfectly, adding to the elegant, classy feeling the automaker built into the drop-top.

Interior: Modern Craftsmanship

Technically, the Lexus LC is a four-seater – because you can put four people inside it. But, the complete lack of legroom makes the rear seats just about pointless, except in a pinch, and then you’ll have to make sure someone short is sitting in front of another short person. The best use for those back seats is to make up for the lack of trunk space by dropping your purse or laptop bag there.

The coupe version of the Lexus LC is already tight on rear headroom and legroom, and the convertible has even less. Cargo room also drops fm 5.4 cubic feet to under 3.5 cubes in the convertible, to put the figures down on paper for you.

Space issues aside, the rest of the LC’s interior is luxurious and comfortable. The seats aren’t overpadded or excessively bolstered, and the overall design and materials used are next-level fantastic. The long doors make it easy to climb aboard despite being so low. The ventilation from the seats is strong, and the convertible version includes a vent on the seat to blow warm air and keep your neck warm.

On-Board Tech and Features

The car Lexus sent us is a Bespoke Build; this is a $5,500 upgrade over the regular model, and allows the customer to dig in and specify wheels, spoiler, roof, and exterior, then interior trim and colors. As such, our tester came with a blue and white interior, which adds another $1,900 to the price. It’s a matter of taste, but we prefer the LC’s interior to be subtle in terms of colors, with the style and materials speaking for themselves. We also wouldn’t need a certification of authenticity that we spent $5,500 to pay for other options.

Nonetheless, the LC 500 Convertible comes with the following important tech as standard, covering infotainment:

This is where Lexus fixed the LC’s biggest issue (discounting those useless back seats, which are a necessary evil in this segment). The awkward trackpad in the center console to control the infotainment is gone and replaced with a substantial metal wheel and click system. The 12.3-inch touchscreen is also responsive and quick to use, and the menus aren’t the frustration they were to dig into. If you want to avoid using the wheel or touchscreen, Luxus’s voice control is competent enough to avoid the distraction of taking hands from the wheel to do the basics.

Apple Carplay and Android are, rightfully, standard, and our tester arrived with the Mark Levinson sound system, which we’re still on the fence about as a $1,220 upgrade. If you’re a music lover, you’ll have to hear it to make the call.

Under The Hood: A Jewel In A Crown

Lexus’s 5.0-liter V8 is simply superb. If you’re looking for something very fiery, this isn’t it – but if you’re looking for a wealth of smooth, consistently delivered power and an exhaust note that could inspire poetry, this is it. There’s 471 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque available, and 0-60 mph comes in 4.6 seconds – two-tenths slower than its coupe siblings.

• 2024 Lexus LC Coupe

  Base MSRP

  $98,450

  Engine

  5.0L V8 Gas

  Horsepower

  471 hp

  0-60 MPH

  4.4 seconds

  Top Speed

  168 mph

Let’s be clear here: the LC might not be fiery, but it’s fast, and the active exhausts add an incredibly satisfying throaty soundtrack to an overtaking maneuver. Handling the power is a ten-speed automatic transmission with the option of using paddle shifters to control it. It’s a seamlessly smooth transmission 99.9 percent of the time, with firm, authoritative shifts when in Sport mode. Of course, power goes to rear wheels, and a top speed of 168 mph is possible. Fuel economy isn’t great – but what did you expect from a V8? The EPA rates the Japanese drop-top at 15/25/18 mpg on the city/highway/combined cycles.

On The Road: A Lot Of Wind In Your Hair

We couldn’t discern a difference in interior noise levels between the soft top and the metal roof. There is absolutely no downside when the roof is up on the LC convertible. But folding down the roof brought some disappointment. It became hard to have a conversation due to the noise as the air pushed its way around inside – enough to override the warm air vents in the seats.

Of course, all convertibles are going to have air swirling around, but you can hold a conversation using inside voices and not freeze to death from wind chill in the middle of winter in a Mazda MX-5 with the top down. We’ve been there and done that. Yet, in the LC Convertible, we found ourselves putting the roof up before the sun dropped on a balmy day. Compared to a much more direct rival, the older Mercedes-Benz SL directs air around better when it comes to noise and buffeting – particularly noise.

We concluded that dropping the roof of the LC is for when cruising at lower speeds, as in, around 45 mph and lower. Or when you want to hear that exhaust sing. Like the interior, though, if you can deal with it, because the rest of the experience is superb.

The ride comfort level from the Adaptive Variable Suspension, despite being on 21-inch wheels summer tires the thickness of two rubber bands, defies the physics. Sports car aficionados will continue to complain about a lack of steering feel, but in reality, the steering is quick, direct, and not too light or too heavy, even in Sport mode, where it’s artificially weighted up. It’s relentlessly fast in a straight line, then cruises at any speed you like with a complete lack of effort.

While it’s not an outright sports car – and the LC has some weight on it before adding motors for the folding roof – it is fun to poke around on a back road. Despite the suspension stiffening up in Sport mode, it’s not as agile as a Porsche 911, and the brakes certainly don’t grab as hard, but it’s fun to push through a corner and holds its own through corners.

Conclusion: Hmmmm…

We were expecting a better experience from the convertible with the roof down, but it doesn’t rate quite as high as some rivals we’ve driven. It’s a grand tourer, so you should be comfortable putting the roof down over a long distance without asking your passenger if it bothers them – which isn’t the case here.

If you have $105,950 to spare and want a tourer, not an outright sports car, the LC Convertible is a contender for the best your money can buy. And it is still less expensive than much of its competition unless you start burning money on the Bespoke Build Package. However, you may want to drive the coupe version first – it’s cheaper, offers slightly more cargo space, and doesn’t have the top-down frustrations at higher speeds.

That doesn’t stop us from wanting a LC drop-top, though.

Sources:
Lexus
,
FuelEconomy.gov
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