Jules640

I would agree with everything you are saying. I found the LC500h to be gutless due to the 'rubber band' transmission. I also had a number of build quality issues and found the SatNav to be almost unusable with the touchpad and so I sold mine after a year. Eight months on and it still up for sale at a Lexus dealership so there is obviously very little demand for them.

I agree. It is an amazing looking car but unfortunately the technology and performance don't live up to the looks.

I think the prices reflect that there is very little demand for the LC500. I sold mine last December and it is still up for sale now at a Lexus main dealer six months later.

I thought it was a very fair review. The terrible Infotainment system was a major factor in my decision to sell my LC.

I have sold my LC500h but I had the clicking noise from the brake pedal and also the screeching brakes. If you look on the US Lexus sites you will see that the noisy brakes is a very common fault on the LC.

I’m still lurking! My hybrid is up for sale at a Lexus dealer for about £15,000 less than it was new in September 2017. It has done 7,500 miles. Unfortunately I took quite a lot less when I sold it, although I’m sure they won’t get the asking price.

Having replaced my LC500h with a Mercedes E53 AMG, I thought I would make one final post before saying goodbye to the Lexus forum. It has now been nearly 2 weeks since I made the change and I have no regrets at all. I was a bit sorry to see the LC500 go at first but I can now see more clearly just how bad some aspects of it are. I think I bought the LC500 on the basis of the looks, which are amazing and unlike anything else on the road. I have never had a car that turns so many heads. If I did it again I would not go for the hybrid. It just hasn't got the performance that it should have.The gearbox suffers badly from the 'rubber band' feeling that most CVT gearboxes have. At times it was just gutless.The E53's performance just blows it away. It is a lot quicker than the V8 LC500 too. The issues that I had with the LC500 just aren't there with the Mercedes.It has a surround camera, proper interior and ambient lighting and an Infotainment system that works properly and is very easy to use. All of the technology feels as though it is a generation on from the Lexus. Maybe Lexus will address some of these issues with future facelifts but for now they are years behind the opposition. I think they are struggling badly with sales and it would be a shame if they stopped production but I think they need to invest a lot to improve the functionality and technology on the car. At present I think it is very much style over substance. I have enjoyed my time on the forum and I would like to thank everyone that helped me with their comments and advice. I hope that you all continue to enjoy your cars and that you don't have all the problems that I did. One final note, I now have a fuel filler flap that opens!!

Mercedes-AMG E53

After 15 months of ownership I have sold my LC500h. It was as though the car knew it’s time was up in the last few days as the problems just kept on getting worse. The fuel filler flap stopped working completely and just wouldn’t open at all. The high beam assist packed up and the navigation decided that it would no longer accept postcodes that need a space in them. Apart from the looks, it is undoubtedly the worst car that I have ever owned for things not working as they should. Very disappointing and I certainly won’t be buying another Lexus. My new car is leagues ahead in terms of technology. The Lexus feels 20 years out of date. The interior lighting is more basic than a Ford Fiesta and certainly not what I would expect from an £80,000 car. If the interior and the technology on the Lexus could match the premium manufacturers then I’m sure they would sell a lot more of them. As it is, in my opinion, it is a very under developed vehicle. Good luck to all the LC500 owners on here and I hope that you don’t experience all the problems that I did.

You are right that it is expensive to change cars. Especially if you do it often. 360 or surround cameras are brilliant and make parking much easier. This is another strange omission on the LC. I am considering a Mercedes E53 AMG Coupe. The new BMW 8 series is nice but it is way overpriced at the moment as there are no discounts available. It will probably be heavily discounted in a years time like the old 6 series was.

That's a lot of cars in the last couple of years! I had a BMW 640 prior to the LC500 which was a really good car.The interior in the new 8 series is nice. I would agree that the build quality and the interiors of Mercedes are better. I think part of the problem with the LC is that they have put things on it that are new to Lexus (but not other premium brands) and they just don't work properly. An example is the high beam assist. BMW have had this for years and it has always worked really well. In the Lexus it just doesn't work as it should. It puts high beam on when there is oncoming traffic and doesn't always dip the lights when it should. In wet weather it struggles to work at all! I realise that I am very critical of the car now but another example is the reversing camera that is just stuck on the bootlid and again is useless in the wet or when there is condensation on the car.BMW and Mercedes have a hidden camera that opens out when you use it and so it always works. I really think that Lexus have gone for styling over everything else, which for me just isn't enough any more. I know what people are saying about first year production issues but for a car this expensive these things should have been sorted before it even went on sale. With the fuel flap issue, this is ridiculous. I wouldn't expect to have this problem on a Ford Fiesta let alone a 'flagship' model Lexus. If you look at the US forums there are a lot of unhappy customers there too. Maybe Lexus are punching above their weight by trying to build a car that is in a premium sector that they haven't been in before. It is interesting that Infiniti, which is Nissan's premium brand introduced another coupe, the Q60 to the UK market last year and it has now been withdrawn due to poor sales. I can see the LC500 going the same way...

I agree totally about the looks. That was what attracted me to the car in the first place. Unfortunately the interior, performance and technology don't live up to the exterior. At the end of the day, you cant see the car when you are driving it and for me the whole driving experience is just not up there with the likes of the German manufacturers.

Is it really acceptable to have to stick pieces of rubber onto an £80,000 car so that the fuel flap will open? I have come to the conclusion that the whole car is seriously under developed in a number of areas and so I have taken the decision to sell mine. I feel that the Lexus marketing about the car being built by Japanese master craftsmen is a bit of a joke.

It’s strange that several of us are having this issue. I wonder if it is connected to the colder weather, although I don’t recall having this problem last winter.

A bit off topic but I went to a BMW launch event last week for the new 8 series which is a direct competitor to the LC500. As well as looking great, it drives well too and the technology is in another league compared to the LC. I am sure this will take sales away from Lexus making the LC500 an even rarer car.

At least I know its not just me! This isn't really acceptable on an £80,000 car. My car also seems gutless since having the ECU recall done. This along with all the other faults that I put in my earlier thread means that I am seriously looking at a change. I think the LC500 is very much a case of style over substance. Stunning to look at but under the skin it is just a Toyota and not a very good one!

I don’t know if anyone else has had this issue but I have been having problems opening the fuel filler cap. The last couple of times I have filled up the switch to open the flap has failed to work. I finally got it to open by banging it a few times and almost prising it open. This is the latest in a growing list of problems that I am having with the car. I have not had a Lexus before and I am very disappointed with the build quality and the technology on the car that doesn’t work properly.

I haven't heard of one. It is the one of the things that I miss the most, having had it on other vehicles.

Malcolm, thanks for your comments.It is nice to know that it isn't just me with some of these things. I had auto high beam in a BMW 640 and it worked very well. I know the interior lights is a fairly minor thing but other cars at this level do it much better.The interior lighting in the Ford Focus is better than the LC! I have had a test drive in a Mercedes E53 AMG coupe which is a ' mild hybrid'. I realise that it doesn't have the looks of the LC but the technology is in an altogether different league. Interestingly the Mercedes has very small trackpads on the steering wheel which are really easy to use. I have only ever heard of criticism of the Lexus system. It is dangerous to try and use it on the move. The performance was also far superior to the LC, in either the hybrid or the V8 form. I think Lexus have concentrated too much on the looks and design. I also think it is stupid that you can't have leather seats on the Sport and Sport plus. They are much nicer then the alcantara.

After just over a year of ownership, I am beginning to wonder if the LC500 is just too flawed to live with on a daily basis and whether it is time to move on. Looks wise it is an amazing car and is a real head turner but I'm not sure if this is enough. I would be interested to hear other owners comments on the following: There are places that the LC500 just can't go as it is too wide. UK Roads are not designed for a car that is this wide. The lack of a surround view camera which should be standard on a car like this just makes it worse.I went to a car park with a 2m width restriction yesterday and there was just no way I would risk trying to get in. On narrow roads you have to be really careful too. The whole Infotainment system is poor. I am getting a lot of crashes where it just switches itself off and then comes back on again. It seems to forget what mode you were in and switches the split screen off.The SatNav sometimes shows the car in completely the wrong place. Stopping the car and restarting it seems to be the only way to fix this. The trackpad is very difficult to use when stationary and is all but unusable while driving. The lack of any heated seats switches is really annoying. I know that you can set this to automatic but this means that they don't necessarily come on when you want them to and they never seem to get that hot. My car is a Sport and so this maybe due to the alcantara, perhaps the leather seats do get hotter. The interior lighting is very poor. The ambient lighting all but switches itself off once you select Drive and now that the darker evenings are here, the courtesy lights are so small and dim that they do almost nothing to illuminate the interior when you open the doors.There is also no illumination of the heater and aircon controls making using these very difficult to use at night. The auto high beam often does not work well, either dipping very late or switching the high beam on in a built up area. The day/night sensors are also far too sensitive. Finally, I have a really annoying rattle from the front passenger seat which cannot be identified. I may be tempted back to a German car, as while they may not have the looks, they do all of this stuff so much better. Are these flaws common to Lexus vehicles in general or is just the LC?

I had the work done yesterday.They had the car for just over half a day. No problems as far as I know. The car doesn't feel any different.

Similar to what I was told. It is rather worrying that dealers don't seem to know much about this. I can see the potential for further problems if they don't know what they are doing or mess it up completely.

It is only the hybrid.

I have had a letter from Lexus advising me that there is a safety recall for the LC500h due to an improperly programmed ECU. I have spoken to a dealer about this and they knew about the recall but said that they have never done one and seemed very unsure as to what is involved to fix it or how long it will take. Has anyone else had this letter or booked their car in for the work to be done?

There is a software update available which fixes a number of issues with the Sat Nav. This may fix the problem as I don't have this issue with mine.