Pat Devereux at Top Gear Magazine has put together a Chevy Corvette Grand Sport, a Maserati GranTurismo Sport, and the Lexus LC 500 for a very enjoyable comparison test:
There’s the distinctively gruff four-trumpet blare of the Corvette curling into a snarl as it heads towards the rev-limiter. The swirling, operatic tenor of the Maserati V8 filling in the middle and high notes. And then there’s a different, but equally mesmerising, V8 voice. It’s slightly buzzier, more controlled, smoother, zapping up through the gears. That must be the Lexus.
As the cars heave into view and crunch into the gravel-strewn car park, you’d be forgiven for wondering exactly what kind of test we are doing here. They are all two-door V8 coupes with around 455bhp, but that’s where the outward similarities end.
The description of the LC 500 driving experience is spot-on:
[The LC 500 has] a proper soul, which no one was expecting. It rustles into life quietly but then you stab the throttle and, hello, it wakes up and wants to play with you. Even being mated to a 10-speed transmission doesn’t mute or emasculate it. You change gear as much for fun as need for speed and can genuinely revel in its distinctive roar in the upper reaches. I mean, it even pops and burbles on the overrun like a proper V8 should.
Perhaps the biggest compliment you can give the engine is that it makes you want to outdrive the rest of the car. A couple of times, I was having so much fun screaming through the gears I had to have a word with myself that this is a 1935kg car riding on 245/21 fronts and 275/21 rears. I had to tell myself not to expect it to handle and stop like the racecar I’m imagining I’m in thanks to the engine. Think of it as a Japanese muscle car and drive it accordingly, and you won’t go far wrong.
Discussion