2021 Lexus LC Price: A First Drive Review of Lexus’ Luxury Convertible

Technology certainly can change in a half-century. Erecting the convertible top of my 1959 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite begins with retrieving its folded steel tube frame from behind the seats, spreading its finger-like tubes, connecting the ends, and gingerly cantilevering it across the cockpit into vertical slots. Except, everything is misaligned by an inch, requiring wrestling it like an Everglades alligator. This is just the quivering, hair-trigger frame. Any sudden movement will cause it to disassemble. Which would be just as well, as the vinyl top is still needed to make getting into the Healey like wiggling into a pup tent. Instead, I just snap the tonneau cover’s passenger side in place and, if it rains, stare straight ahead when stopped at a light.

You can only imagine, then, my reeling at raising the retracted top of the 2021 Lexus LC 500 Convertible. There’s a tiny, leather-covered lid on the center console that tilts up with the flick of one finger. The whole back of the car erupts in such an elaborate fan dance of swinging panels and pole-vaulting fabric, that it’s worthy of musical accompaniment. The process takes exactly 16 seconds. Even better, this function can be performed at up to 31 mph, which translates, after a 5-second delay, into myriad Instagram postings from your sidewalk audience. This, my friends, is what 61 years of relentless automotive progress since the Bugeye has brought us. Understanding the 2021 Lexus Lc Price starts with appreciating this level of engineering and luxury.

After briefly admiring this beautifully finished, four-layer fabric top up close, I flipped the top’s switch lid and waited the even-quicker 15 seconds to retract the whole contraption. (Beneath the switch lies an ejection-seat trigger reminiscent of James Bond’s DB5. But unlike the Aston Martin, this one philosophically ejects the oppression of sardine-like confinement, removing the ceiling between you and the stars.)

It’s a mild evening, the sun set a half-hour ago, the air is a cooling ocean breeze. A lot of work has gone into making this car a convertible, and I’m not wasting it. Tonight, I’ll be turning right out of MotorTrend HQ onto Rosecrans Avenue, aiming toward Pacific Coast Highway to head home. Not left, not toward the 405 freeway’s lanes of rushing, lurching Amazon trucks. Considering the 2021 lexus lc price, this car is clearly built for a different kind of journey.

Let’s get the big three benchmark specifications out of the way while I crawl through PCH’s stoplights: The LC 500 is 187.4 inches long (midway between a Corolla and a Camry). It weighs about 4,500 pounds (triple that of my Bugeye, no kidding). And as with my old Cannondale, there’s 10 gear ratios in its transmission, fed by a 471-hp, 5.0-liter, four-valve-per-cylinder V-8. Road test editor Chris Walton figures it’ll do 60 mph in about 5 seconds. Rapid, but not rifle-shot. The light turns green. I switch the rotary drive mode selector to Sport + (which should be depicted by an icon of fingers-in-ears).

Its banshee, hounds-of-hell wail will instantly faint everybody in earshot, like the soldiers in Goldfinger when the fake nerve gas was sprayed on Fort Knox. And despite your suspicions that it’s some pre-recorded sham, it’s authentic. Sort of. I quote the manufacturer: “…intake pulses [that] are naturally carried through a diaphragm into a sound pipe that carries the sounds, not the air itself, into the cabin to enhance the V-8’s rumble.” Bookending the intake whoosh are overtones on top of the exhaust note when a valve ahead of the mufflers opens. No electrons up anybody’s sleeve. My Bugeye employs a pipe that runs under the car to the back where it ends.

Gliding south down PCH, the chassis rarely concedes that the upper third of its structure is missing. A slight quake every mile or so—better than most. Actually, the LC 500 Convertible has been noticeably re-architected to counter its lidlessness, with less unsprung weight up front, and its reshaped rear suspension’s towers abetted by new die-casting structures and redialed damping. This careful engineering contributes to the car’s hefty presence and, inevitably, its cost. For those considering the lexus gx 460 price 2021, the LC offers a different kind of Lexus luxury experience focused on style and performance rather than utility.

At the track, the coupe version of the LC 500 was an agile car for its noticeable weight, with a tail that walks around when you pedal the throttle while rarely slipping on the invisible banana peel. But through Manhattan Beach, we’re doing what these cars really do for their livings: cruising.

The steering is accurate but somewhat artificial. The brake pedal is sensitive to tip-in but indistinct during the last few feet of slowdown before the crosswalk stripes. Twisting that drive mode knob livens things up, with a quick growl of a downshift and intensified gauge graphics. But at most, it solidifies the ride from, say, a 6 to a 7, not to a 9. The luxury version of hyundai models may offer comfort, but the LC is in a different league of personal luxury coupe designed for grand touring.

The LC’s element is when it’s just maintaining momentum, giving you time to contemplate, and there’s a lot of material for that. For a car with such a tech vibe, it isn’t the feature-fest you’d expect. There’s the climate control system, which works to keep your desired temperature regardless of the top’s position and includes neck heaters and air targeted at the backs of your hands, when it’s down.

There’s featured Android Auto and integrated Apple CarPlay, as well as the Lexus-Alexa app for infotainment. The Lexus Safety System+ includes lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, rear cross-traffic alert, and PreCollision that detects pedestrians. A clear wind blocker discourages passing air from backtracking and blowing your hair straight forward.

The 2021 Lexus LC 500 Convertible parked elegantly, showcasing its sleek profile.

That’s not a 4th of July show of feature fireworks—though it does have a few actual pyrotechnics, such as a hood that explosively pops up to cushion phone-zombies wandering into your path, and detonating roll-over posts in the rear seats in case you flip your lid.

But the window into the LC’s soul is its slot for inserting CDs. I couldn’t believe that a car still came equipped with such a 1990s feature until I dug out an old Chet Baker disc, the slot sucked it from my fingertips, and the Mark Levinson sound system began playing Baker’s wispy vocals on “My Funny Valentine.” This blend of modern tech and nostalgic features adds to the unique character of the LC and contributes to understanding where its 2021 Lexus Lc Price originates.

I know this car. My dad—who drove a 1956 Thunderbird and a Lincoln Mark V and preferred flashy “personal luxury cars”—loved this kind of thing, a two-door meant more for boulevard cruising than tail-out tracking. It groups better with Cadillac’s old XLR than a Jaguar F-Type. Through Redondo Beach, I got shoutouts from some young guys in Camaros yelling, “Cool ride!” (appreciating their punctuating it with “dude” instead of “sir”). The LC 500 is a showboat that swivels more heads than a chiropractic clinic. It represents Lexus’s strong position among most expensive car brands logos.

I’d seriously challenge you to come up with an interior that’s as complex, detailed, and well-finished as this Lexus’. It’s an explosion of Nike swooshes and ruler-straight lines, with door panels and seats with more pleats than Mick Jagger’s cheeks. Everything draws your face closer to examine it. But the cockpit’s overriding goal seems to be exhibiting craftsmanship, with design a close second. Its buttons may be in curious places, but the leather and its spiderweb of stitching is simply terrific. Do the accommodations work? The rear seat’s legroom won’t fit kids, but the trunk is big enough for a golf bag. So, apparently yes. The exquisite interior detail is a significant factor justifying the 2021 lexus lc price.

Detailed view of the luxurious and intricately designed interior of the 2021 Lexus LC 500 Convertible.

From any perspective, the bodywork has an angle for you, and all of them spew from the grandest, Steven Tyler grille in the business (though it has a competitor in the BMW 7 Series’ pair of jumbo kidneys). With the Coupe’s roof removed, the Convertible has been visually rebalanced with a kicked-up tail and a widened spoiler. But the main optic feature is the crazy-long hood that I stare down, as I burble along the oceanfront through Huntington Beach—the waft of the sand-pit bonfires entering the cabin. This is the moment I most love in open cars. For those seeking the best luxury 7 seater suv 2022, the LC offers a completely different, two-door luxury experience focused on driving pleasure and style.

Side profile of the 2021 Lexus LC 500 Convertible highlighting its long hood and dynamic lines.

Many years ago, I walked into a friend’s business, R. Straman Co, as Richard (he’s the R) was circular-sawing the roof off of a Ferrari Daytona Coupe. I watched as the blade’s teeth hungrily chewed through the roof’s base. If Hannibal Lecter were a car buff, there’d have been a glass of Chianti on the workbench. But in the world of convertible conversions, Richard was the diamond cutter you’d take the Hope to. The Daytona was reborn from sparks as a very sensual and valuable Spyder. And like diamond-cutting, everything depends on where you place the cut.

Staring at the LC, I wondered if Richard would have separated the roof quite where Lexus has. The amputated base of the Coupe’s B-pillar has a visual purpose when the top is up, but when it’s down it resembles a low tree stump that subtly trips the eye. Maybe it’s a necessary pivot location required for the sophisticated top mechanism. This minor visual quirk is perhaps one of the few compromises in a car designed to near perfection, contributing to the overall package that dictates the 2021 lexus lc price.

Rear view of the 2021 Lexus LC 500 Convertible showcasing its distinct taillights and wide stance.

Before I bought the Bugeye (for the second time … long story), I asked Richard for his opinion. “Have you driven a car that old lately?” he asked, tilting his head. “Modern cars are just so much easier to live with.” The LC 500 Convertible’s one-finger, 16-second top-raise at 31 mph certainly makes his point. With a base 2021 lexus lc price of $102,025, it represents the pinnacle of modern luxury and convenience, a far cry from the manual struggles of a classic.

Despite the birthdate on my driver’s license, I’m not quite ready for my dad’s car—even if I have a Chet Baker CD close at hand. The 2021 Lexus LC 500 Convertible, with its blend of sophisticated engineering, luxurious interior, and eye-catching design, offers a compelling package for its price, embodying effortless modern grand touring.