Here it is, the second week of 2018, and I'm about to say the smartest thing I'll say all year.
Do you ever fantasize about being able to go back in time and buy an iconic car, fresh off the showroom floor, and tuck it away in a controlled environment garage? Maybe take it out once a month for a Sunday drive?
Not all cars depreciate; some build value, indeed, great value, given proper care and a few decades. Some gain fame for track prowess, some are years ahead of their time, but the most treasured ones combine technological cunning with archetypal styling-they set hew standards while they speak of power and sensuality.
These are the change agents that recast our aesthetics, like Harley Earl's Corvette and the introduction of the tailfin brought forth the notion that cars for the common man should not only have characteristics such as comfort and reliability, but should also be beautiful and speak to our fantasies and dreams,
If in 1965 you had plunked down $6,145 for an AC Cobra, created by that fella out of Pittsburg, Texas, Carol Shelby, today it would be worth $13.75 million.
When we started driving, my dad went down to the local used car dealer and picked up a '64 Ford Galaxie 500 for $1,300. It would be worth $400,000 today. A car I had a chance to buy for $3,000 and turned down, a '72 Toyota 2000GT, sold for more than $14 million at an auction two years ago. Not the car, but you get the idea.
So here's the best advice I'll ever give you. Go buy a 2018 Lexus LC 500 and hide it in a garage.
Right away, you'll have a tough choice: Do you go for a 471 hp, V8-powered LC 500 for $92,000, or the LC 500h with a 3.5L V6 teamed with a pair of electric motors for $96,510?
Tough call. The hybrid's combined output is 354 hp, but the powertrain, which can reach 87 mph on battery power alone, represents the transition from carbon fuel to electric that will mark the state of automotive propulsion in the first quarter of the 21st century.
On the other hand, once you hear the throaty exhaust of the V8-wow.
In either case you're not going buy an LC and put into storage. Nobody ever listens to my advice about cars, not even me, but in this case, the problem will be that once you drive a Lexus LC, you'll be hooked. You'll have to put some miles on it. Lexus has created not only the best Gran Touring coupe of all time, it made it so good, it's as addictive as crack cocaine.
Why will this become a classic? Here's why:
Elegant, yet provocative
The styling seems to touch on how we might like to think about sexuality. It speaks of luxury, of supple strength, of an easygoing flow of feelings and events-a warm kiss to the nape, a firm touch to the back.
Concept cars rarely make it to the factory floor, but most of the Lexus LC-LF concept, which in 2012 turned heads and won awards from Detroit to Geneva, did.
Immediately identifiable as a Lexus because of its trademark spindle grille, the LC is a pastoral symphony of boldly flowing lines. The grille seems to reach out and touch finger tips with compact triple LED headlamps to create a sweeping front lighting signature.
A glass roofline tapers rearward between muscular, sloping fender tops, underscoring the car's wide and stable stance. Chrome-plated moldings along the edges echo the lines of a traditional Japanese sword.
The car has a planted look thanks to flared quarter panels that flow into and back away from the center, where door panels entice the eye inward. Side vents add allure and contribute to aerodynamic stability and cooling.
Everywhere we went with this car, strangers felt compelled to approach us and inform us that it was beautiful. In time, the long speech of how it wasn't really ours, that we just test-drive and write about these things, got shortened to, "thanks."
Sweet chassis
Transforming the concept into a production model while preserving its visual grace forced Lexus to combine design and engineering disciplines at a new level. The result: a new platform, which also forms the foundation for the new 2018 LS sedan and future Lexuses.
The platform was designed with a lower center of gravity to aid high-speed agility and driving. It also enables more low-slung vehicle designs, so the LC is more than a halo car. It's a sign of things to come.
The LC succeeds as a GT because it marries sports car handling with a high degree of ride comfort, which, until now, has been the province of the automotive alchemy. You could have great track-ready handling, or a compliant ride, but the chance of getting both was equal to the odds of turning lead into gold.
Lexus spent heavily in time and treasure to devise a double ball joint front suspension that allows for control of the smallest movements from driver inputs and the road surface, yielding more precise steering response with better initial effort. It goes where you point it.
The LC rides on the stiffest unibody Lexus has ever produced. Lightweight, high-strength steels yield a structure that is more resistant to twisting forces than even the exotic, carbon fiber-intensive LFA supercar. Engineers followed an "inertia spec" to locate as much mass as possible toward the center and lower in the chassis to improve the center of gravity.
The car has the sort of immediate response at initial turn-in that one would expect of Mazda MX-5. Add in a high-performance braking system that employs 6-piston front brake calipers and 4-piston rear calipers and it's one of the sweetest driving production machines on the planet.
Magnificent cabin
Trying to decide which is a better $100,000 sports car, the new Corvette Grand Sport or the Lexus LC, is a debate my friend Mike Quincy, who writes about cars for Consumer Reports, and I have yet to settle.
Despite hard plastics, when one sits in the Corvette at night and takes in its luminous gauges and superb electronics, the car looks like a $100,000 car. Inside, the LC not only looks like it is worth the money, it feels like it.
Workmanship and materials are worthy of Lexus. The vehicle's design places the driver's hip point as close as possible to the car's center of gravity, where feedback from the car is the most communicative.
A low instrument panel position and low hood line provide a commanding view. All driving controls are easy to reach.
Powertrain fusion
Powertrain technology has always been a Toyota/Lexus forte, and the LC lifts things to a new level. Our tester was the V-8 model, which combines a proven, high-performance 5-liter engine with a new 10-speed transmission.
Smaller and lighter than some 8-speed models, the car shifts as smoothly as some dual-clutch versions. Paddle shifters are fun, but in truth the car shifts better when left to its own devices. An advanced electronic control system monitors acceleration, braking, lateral g-forces and chooses the ideal ratio.
A drive mode selection feature allows the power train and suspension to extract the most from the car's capabilities.
Value leader
Pricing is typical for Lexus, which means much more for the money. The option list is short. A touring package, which adds 20-inch forged wheels and Mark Levinson sound system, is $4,000. A sport package with carbon-fiber roof, heated and ventilated seats and heads-up display is $7,000. A performance package, which adds active rear steering, is $10,000. Those same packages on the hybrid run around $1,500 to $2,000 less. Go figure.
There aren't many luxury GT vehicles in the market. A BMW M6, starting around $123,000, or Mercedes AMG SL ($153,000 to $223,000) are strong competitors.
So too is a Porsche 911, which starts for around the same amount as the LC, but lacks many of the same amenities. Trying to price out a similarly equipped 911 is an adventure. If you have a free afternoon, try thumbing through the 911's option list. About the nearest we could determine, a similarly equipped 911 will set you back around $153,000.
Of course, the Porsche, M6 and AMG Merc are all faster than the LC, which weighs in at a hefty 4,280 lbs., another reason it rides so well.
A 911, for example, can cover the quarter mile in 3.6 seconds and has a top speed of 178 mph. One assumes, however, that the LC's 4.6-second quarter and 168-mph top speed are plenty fast for most folks. The German cars are the best of today's technology. The LC represents the future.
Bottom Line: At the end of the day, a Corvette is a Chevrolet, an LC is a Lexus.