THE EMPIRE
On this episode of The Open Road
Nick drive the Lexus LC500 from Matakana to Auckland.
Tech Specs
Engine: 5.0l V8
Power: 471 HP
L/100km: avg 10.4 ( average varies through modes)
Price as tested: $220,000 ( with glass roof)
A few after thoughts.
There is only so much we can cram into a video, a lot of information we shoot won’t make the final video either from bad takes or just an overload of information. As said in the video, there was nothing major that I disliked about this car but, it wasn’t perfect. The water from the wipers comes in through an open window, there a are couple of small areas where the feel is a little less than premium. Plastic trim in a couple of places breaks the feel of being highly premium, the Air conditioning takes its time to really cool down the whole car which on a hot day was noticeable and somewhat of a talking point. An upshot that I hadn’t thought about was the fact that it’s not crazy low, I’m always careful when pulling out of driveways to not scrape the front of the cars we drive but this Lexus didn’t have any issues with that which was nice because its not noticeably high in the front or the middle so you do get the benefit of the style without the worry of scraping the front clip all the time.
The Bluetooth connection for the phone was interesting, it was constantly popping up saying connected and disconnected, and I do mean constantly; every few minutes. This meant it was impossible to make a phone call or receive a phone call even when it was showing as connected, however the music seemed to stream non stop and was picked right up when I got back to the car for a new trip.
The sheer mass of the car was highlighted by the wear on the front tyres, the inner edges had de-laminated this I can only assume is by the bulk of the front end wanting to push the car into an under steer while fighting with stability control to keep it going straight, this was noticeable at low speed tight turns.
But overall, as I say in the video. Good times were had but at the price there is some stiff competition from the likes of BMW and perhaps more interestingly is what you can get 2-3 years old in the 2nd hand market. Park this car next to a 2 year old Aston Martin for the same price and it’l be an interesting battle of the egos.
Also – I realized I mentioned the Knobs but there wasn’t a shot of them, This is the knob to choose between Sport, Sport Plus or down for Comfort then Eco – The same knob on the other side adjusts the levels of traction control
Special thanks to: Ascension Wine Estate, Matakana
Production Team: Scott Patterson, Sam Thiele and Avvy
Edited by Nick Scott
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