LC500 V8s back to mid £40k by end of year?

[ThomasLexus94]

On 5/13/2022 at 4:51 PM, rayaans said:

Unlikely - Id say theyll stay around £52-55k 

Commenting on this in March 2023 excluding a 70k mileage example they are close to £60k for the V8

[rayaans]

7 hours ago, ThomasLexus94 said:

Commenting on this in March 2023 excluding a 70k mileage example they are close to £60k for the V8

Its entirely due to the used car market though, not the LC itself

I could still sell one of my cars for the same price I bought it for 2 years ago

[eightk]

The 79k yellow V8 has been for sale a while. I think it has some way to go yet - the vast majority of buyers want low miles. There was another yellow V8 with 44k that went between 2-3 main dealers - lowest on that was 53 I think, then another main dealer got it in, put the price up then it sold. Cheapest I've seen since I've been interested in them was Feb '22 - a silver 30k mile private sale Sport Plus that went down to 50 from 52 then sold immediately. The silver one in Wigan with wrongly refurbed wheels at 60k will be the next to drop - that's been for sale since the dawn of time. Yes I have been following things VERY closely 😄

Agree it's a crazy market. I have a Skoda Citigo we bought for 5k in 2020 that is worth 5.5-6k now, we did 20,000 miles in a Tesla over 2 years and came out up on the deal, and if I'd got my last car's sale timing right it would have cost me nothing for two years... but I was too greedy and missed the boat.

If it wasn't for covid and the lack of parts for new cars I think an early V8 should be 40-45k by now but we're in for a long wait before they get that low. There's a chance the Lexus Relax 10 yr warranty has boosted things too.

[DtoTheM]

Interesting posts! Im also looking for an LC500 V8. I've looked at some of those autotrader adverts in person/specific photos. The yellow with 78k is actually quite interesting, it's condition is really good, better than a host of the lower milage cars but it's obviously very close to the 100,000 mark where it falls out of warranty. It's come down 10k in the 6 months it's advertised and annoyingly it's probably propping up the values of the rest as they're not going to fall while that sits at 50k. I assume the garage with it is loosing money on it and just wants it gone. The yellow that went last week went to someone who trader their RCF, it had an extremely soft and worn bolster though.

 

Which brings me to a point. I've seen enough that the bolster is a real obvious issue, on a 4-5 year old car with 30k on the clock I'm slightly shocked.

 

I bought (at the time) 4 year old 650i gran coupe for 27k 5 years ago, the seats are absolutely mint condition, the list price was the same as the LC the milage was 25k an absolute bargain, there are only 13 of these cars in the UK. So the LC is a mystery, it seems noticeably more expensive and the quality of the seats seems somewhat questionable (the cars I've seen it's not just worn leather it's like the foam inside has collapsed and softened) how are other owners cars?

The other thing I've seen is a lot of pebble dashing on the front, I've got a 350z as a fun hobby car and the front has a similar design which is very flat and seems to absorb a lot of stone chips, is that common? I assume people stick on a lot of front protection?

[eightk]

Welcome! It can be a bit slow in here because there’s so few cars but there’s loads of useful info. You won’t regret going for the LC, it’s an incredible bit of kit.
Mines only done 4500 miles, 4000 of those with Lexus, and there’s a little bit of creasing of the bolster. Every car I’ve seen has at least creases, at worst a definite compression of the foam as you describe. It’s just one of those things - the design of the (utterly amazing) seat means the bolster gets squished no matter how careful you are exiting the car.

Yellow is awesome. My ideal spec would be yellow with black I think. That car does look in very well cared for condition. 20k less miles and it would have sold ages ago. 

I’ve had ppf done on mine as it’s red which uses a tinted clear coat from what I’ve read so matching or blending in new paint could be difficult - just getting the front done would be well worth it I think.

[DtoTheM]

Nice to be here, yeah I think there's 500 odd LC's in the UK? I've never seen one on the streets, I have seen one in Dubai back in 2017. Red with the tan interior, very nice. 

Ppf it is then! Yeah the seats are comfy the fact the bolsters get so soft is a slight concern I've never had a car with soft bolsters. I've had cars where the leather gets worn but the stiffness is always the same, curious why that is.

 

They certainly seem to hold their prices although as people have said that yellow one with 80k miles is no doubt proping the rest up

[DtoTheM]

BTW do the alloys interior surface often get a bit rusty and worn? I've seen a few and I'm used to having the the interiors be painted/clear coated but the Lexus seems to be bare metal?

[eightk]

Wheel inners seem ok so far. I’m planning on removing them and ceramic coating everything. The oldest car I’ve physically seen in person was a 2018 I think and I don’t remember seeing anything terrible on the wheels. There’s no way Lexus would send wheels out without a clear coat for protection.

The only thing against that yellow one is the mileage and the effect it’ll have on the Lexus relax warranty - condition wise it looks great. 

[DtoTheM]

So for example whats going on here on the interior of the alloy? There's rust brown patches and I've seen this on a few used models

[Brian R]

2 hours ago, DtoTheM said:

So for example whats going on here on the interior of the alloy? There's rust brown patches and I've seen this on a few used models

I think you will find that's brake and road dust/grime. Alloy wheels do not "rust".

[DavidCM]

It is probably iron/steel filings from the brakes landing hot from friction on the wheel,sticking to the metal (or it's lacquered surface) and then oxidising/rusting.

[eightk]

Also could be old wheel weight foam. For brake dust and iron deposits I use Dragons Breath to loosen it before jet washing. Whether it’s foam glue or muck an approved used car should have the wheels cleaned properly!

[DtoTheM]

1 hour ago, eightk said:

Also could be old wheel weight foam. For brake dust and iron deposits I use Dragons Breath to loosen it before jet washing. Whether it’s foam glue or muck an approved used car should have the wheels cleaned properly!

You would think things would be cleaned yes but it seems to be an area left on a lot of the cars so I assume it's non trivial to remove. I checked all my current cars all of which have painted wheels but nothing similar so I was curious why it's so obvious on the LC500, the car I saw last week had huge patches of orange/brown all along the inner surface and given it has such (lovely) large wheels the interior is easily viewed when walking past.

[DtoTheM]

Looks like we have a new player ... 51k private seller in white 55 on the clock, certainly a more reasonable price although looks like it's got the soft bolster issue. I assume this is just a lexus thing and you need to budget for it

[malcolmw]

Reference the seat bolster and wheel corrosion issues, I have the diamond cut 20 inch wheels on my LC500 and have none of the corrosion mentioned above. I also have leather (as opposed to Alcantara) seats which are different in design and do not show the bolster sagging.  

[DtoTheM]

1 hour ago, malcolmw said:

Reference the seat bolster and wheel corrosion issues, I have the diamond cut 20 inch wheels on my LC500 and have none of the corrosion mentioned above. I also have leather (as opposed to Alcantara) seats which are different in design and do not show the bolster sagging.  

Interesting so you've got the lowest trim as it were but possibly more robust? I'm mostly looking at the S+ mostly for the wing (very vain) but maybe that's a good point

[eightk]

The non-sport seats may not have such extreme side bolsters, plus it depends on who's sitting there and how much they care about the car. And their, err, body shape/weight!

As above on mine and I suspect a lot of LCs it's brake dust/iron build-up. Anyone who looks after their car will clean the wheel inners and you'd really expect Lexus dealers to do the same, however mine was delivered with a bit of exactly the same discolouration as on the pics above - it does clean off. Whether it'd clean off after five years of zero care and attention is another thing I suppose...

[malcolmw]

3 hours ago, DtoTheM said:

Interesting so you've got the lowest trim as it were but possibly more robust? I'm mostly looking at the S+ mostly for the wing (very vain) but maybe that's a good point

When I purchased my LC (unbelievably, over 5 years ago), I test drove a few variants and went for the "lowest" model. I couldn't tell any real difference on the road with the rear wheel steering on the Sport + and I liked the glass roof more than the carbon fibre one. The wing was another unnecessary option for me as I don't track test the car and at normal road speeds I think it does little.

Mine is also fitted with Bridgestone Turanza tyres rather than the very harsh Potenzas. I had Potenzas as the OEM fir on my previous Aston DB9 and was amazed at the improvement in ride when I changed to Michelin PS4s.

[DtoTheM]

1 hour ago, malcolmw said:

When I purchased my LC (unbelievably, over 5 years ago), I test drove a few variants and went for the "lowest" model. I couldn't tell any real difference on the road with the rear wheel steering on the Sport + and I liked the glass roof more than the carbon fibre one. The wing was another unnecessary option for me as I don't track test the car and at normal road speeds I think it does little.

Mine is also fitted with Bridgestone Turanza tyres rather than the very harsh Potenzas. I had Potenzas as the OEM fir on my previous Aston DB9 and was amazed at the improvement in ride when I changed to Michelin PS4s.

Indeed, I had a 350z (actually still do) and it came with potenzas as OEM, terrible things! Your right the wing does nothing in practice, just kinda looks cool. The HUD is probably the only feature I "need"

[Brian R]

I'm pretty well in accord with Malcolm in terms of spec.

It's interesting to note the difference in the seat materials and in particular how on the American LC site, many wish they could have had leather seats. Having said that, I don't think I have read any negative comment regarding the bolsters.

I think the biggest cripe is the cleaning of the Alcántara material, and I have to say this is something I experienced on previous cars. Mind you there are very good cleaners out there so not the biggy some would have you believe.

I'll admit leather can be cold initially but on the LC they heat up incredibly quickly and much quicker than on BMW/Jag. Simply leave everything in "auto" and the seats heat/cool in no time. HUD is indeed an extremely worthy feature and in my mind one of the best "options" offered across the range.

Good luck in your car hunt and if you have a spec in mind then stick with it, else you be left wondering what could have been. Having said that, do some thorough research to see whether your aspirations translate to something meaningful or just fanciful.

[eightk]

There’s a red over tan sport plus just come on autotrader - private sale - same price as the white one but less miles and kleeen wheels. Why ads don’t show HUD or ML or not bugs me..

[malcolmw]

Am I right in thinking that all models of the convertible have leather seats?

[talaipwros]

2 hours ago, eightk said:

There’s a red over tan sport plus just come on autotrader - private sale - same price as the white one but less miles and kleeen wheels. Why ads don’t show HUD or ML or not bugs me..

the red one on autotrader has HUD, you can see it on the front pictures

[Linas.P]

Thinking about it... it is ridiculous how LC500 kept it's value... I know the shenanigans with car supply in last couple of years increased the prices of many used car, but LC500 was particularly impacted. I remember looking at one in January 2020 and at the time LC500 was about to break into 30's, I was toying with idea of upgrading RC to LC and the cars on sale at the time were 2-3 years old most with less than 10k miles on the clock, some as little as 1000 miles and one I was interested in particular was 8400 miles maybe and at £42k. At the same time I was as well considering BMW i8 and they were just slightly more expensive, same price more or less ~mid-40s, but with 30-50k miles. Look at it now - i8s are long min-30s and LC500 V8 barely goes below 50k. I mean I still can't believe that 80k miles, 6 years old LC500 cost more now, than 2 years old 8k miles cars did 3 years ago. Perhaps I should have risked it back then and would have made at least 10k on the purchase... although Lexus pretty much valued my RC as worthless at the time and I would have lost same £10k on the PX.

Now whenever we see LCs back at mid-40s this year is hard to guess... seems like most of the supply remains with dealers and that is what propping-up the value. Truth is - if you own LC now it would be unbelievably difficult to sell one in private, the PX with other makes would really hurt, so it is likely that one of the best options to sell it back to Lexus. Not sure if they buy LCs, but I was certainly approached by Lexus in 2021 to sell back my RC at more money then I paid them 2019. If that is the case with LC then I can see the staying where they are. 

On other hand if Lexus does not take LC as PX (and frankly there is very few cars they can offer on PX, unless somebody maybe wants to go into more practical RX or maybe niche LS) then we see more of these cars traded to other makes like Porsches, BMWs, MBs etc... and see them going down in price as other dealers are not so much interested in keeping LC values as high as they are now. As well LCs being mid-40s would represent 10% YoY depreciation, which is kind unlikely considering LC is already 6 years old, because large drops in value are rare for cars over 5 years old, most of cars see double-digit depreciation only in first 3 years.

In other hand if economy continues to worsen, then used luxury car values are usually the first thing on the chopping board (anyone remembers £25k Lamborghini Murcielago in 2009?), followed by classic cars values. In which case it can even go lower - all in all if the LC price drops it will be mostly external factors and little to do with the cars themselves. I would guess - 50/50 if we can see them back in mid-40s.

[DtoTheM]

6 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Thinking about it... it is ridiculous how LC500 kept it's value... I know the shenanigans with car supply in last couple of years increased the prices of many used car, but LC500 was particularly impacted. I remember looking at one in January 2020 and at the time LC500 was about to break into 30's, I was toying with idea of upgrading RC to LC and the cars on sale at the time were 2-3 years old most with less than 10k miles on the clock, some as little as 1000 miles and one I was interested in particular was 8400 miles maybe and at £42k. At the same time I was as well considering BMW i8 and they were just slightly more expensive, same price more or less ~mid-40s, but with 30-50k miles. Look at it now - i8s are long min-30s and LC500 V8 barely goes below 50k. I mean I still can't believe that 80k miles, 6 years old LC500 cost more now, than 2 years old 8k miles cars did 3 years ago. Perhaps I should have risked it back then and would have made at least 10k on the purchase... although Lexus pretty much valued my RC as worthless at the time and I would have lost same £10k on the PX.

Now whenever we see LCs back at mid-40s this year is hard to guess... seems like most of the supply remains with dealers and that is what propping-up the value. Truth is - if you own LC now it would be unbelievably difficult to sell one in private, the PX with other makes would really hurt, so it is likely that one of the best options to sell it back to Lexus. Not sure if they buy LCs, but I was certainly approached by Lexus in 2021 to sell back my RC at more money then I paid them 2019. If that is the case with LC then I can see the staying where they are. 

On other hand if Lexus does not take LC as PX (and frankly there is very few cars they can offer on PX, unless somebody maybe wants to go into more practical RX or maybe niche LS) then we see more of these cars traded to other makes like Porsches, BMWs, MBs etc... and see them going down in price as other dealers are not so much interested in keeping LC values as high as they are now. As well LCs being mid-40s would represent 10% YoY depreciation, which is kind unlikely considering LC is already 6 years old, because large drops in value are rare for cars over 5 years old, most of cars see double-digit depreciation only in first 3 years.

In other hand if economy continues to worsen, then used luxury car values are usually the first thing on the chopping board (anyone remembers £25k Lamborghini Murcielago in 2009?), followed by classic cars values. In which case it can even go lower - all in all if the LC price drops it will be mostly external factors and little to do with the cars themselves. I would guess - 50/50 if we can see them back in mid-40s.

Exactly this, I'm relatively new to watching the LC500 prices but it seems bonkers Vs what I paid for my 650i GC 5 years ago, that had a list price of 89k and I picked up a 4 year old one for 27,000! And it was mint, absolutely mint you could barely deliver anyone had driven the thing. Now if I want an LC I'm looking at realistically twice the amount for a car with higher milage and worse wear and tear. I'm really really wanting an LC500 but seriously, it's hard. 

That overpriced yellow one is really propping up the market, it really needs to go. These two new private sellers are hopefully going to be applying some pressure. I'd seriously offer 40-42 on that yellow one if I felt they'd entertain it but they've already knocked 10k off the asking price judging by the sticker in the window