Lexus LC500 vs BMW M8

What's the difference?

Being a true Jack of all trades in the car world is rare. 

Generally speaking, a vehicle is either capable or comfortable. Attractive or aerodynamic. Practical or performance orientated. And problems arise when cars try to do all those things well, all at the same time.

Which make the Lexus LC 500 Convertible such an interesting proposition. Because it is, without doubt, stylish, and lavishly equipped. It’s also rather large and rather heavy. All of which is perfect for cruising the Bondi foreshore.

But it’s also equipped with a thumping V8 engine and a throaty exhaust that sounds like bricks in a blender on the overrun. It’s stiffer than the LFA supercar, and plenty powerful, which should deliver one of Lexus’ sportiest-ever drives. 

So can the LC 500 really do it all? Let’s find out. 

The right lane on Aussie freeways is occasionally referred to as the ‘fast lane’, which is laughable because the highest legal speed in the entire country is 130km/h (81mph). And that’s only on a few stretches in the Top End. Other than that, 110km/h (68mph) is all you’re getting.

Sure, a 'buck thirty' isn’t hanging around, but the subject of this review is a 460kW (625hp) four-door missile, capable of accelerating from 0-100 km/h in 3.2 seconds, and on to a maximum velocity somewhat in excess of our legal limit. 

Fact is, the BMW M8 Competition Gran Coupe is born and bred in Germany, where the autobahn’s left lane is serious territory, with open speed sections, and the car itself the only thing holding you back. In this case, to no less than 305km/h (190mph)!

Which begs the question, isn’t steering this machine onto an Aussie highway like cracking a walnut with a twin-turbo, V8-powered sledgehammer?

Well, yes, But by that logic a whole bunch of high-end, ultra high-performance cars would instantly become surplus to requirements here. Yet they continue to sell, in healthy numbers.  

So, there’s got to be more to it. Time to investigate.