Page 34 - Motor Trend (April 2020)
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The Lexus LFA lives on in the details in
the LC 500h; the drive mode control
is a joke, only working up to about 15 stalk mounted on top of the instrument
cluster (left) is one example.
mph with a feathered throttle.
Open it up on a built-to-thrill road,
and the LC falls apart quicker than my the surging of the e-CVT and the rough chance of keeping up with the NSX or i8
last woodworking project. Ignoring the clunks of the four-speed planetary auto- in front of me.”
shrill soundtrack piped into the cabin matic as you attempt to build up a decent Ultimately the LC, as my dad was
in Sport+ mode, it seems like none of pace on a good road. always fond of saying, is all show and no
the LC’s powerplants or transmissions The Lexus’ chassis and suspension go. The potential for a great sports car
like being paired with one another. The tuning can’t keep up, either. “As soon as is there (the V-8 LC 500 proves it), but
main electric drive motor is underpow- we started charging up the hill, the chassis the LC 500h will never get there with
ered and thus unable to make up for the and driveline fell to pieces,” road test this hybrid system. Although Lexus has
V-6’s complete lack of low-end torque. editor (and very fast man) Chris Walton squandered its early lead in hybrid tech-
The LC’s transmission is also overcom- said. “Understeer in this corner, oversteer nology, it thankfully has lots it can learn
plicated; one senses conflict between in that one. There was absolutely no from our top three finishers.
ENJOY THE BMW i8 WHILE YOU CAN;
DEALERS WILL STOP SELLING IT THIS YEAR.
3rd Place: 2019 BMW i8 Coupe futuristic (though who knew the future is
Weird for Weird’s Sake full of blind spots and high-silled carbon
It’s hard to believe, but BMW deserves tub and sitting-in-the-bathtub seats?).
the lion’s share of the credit for estab- Underneath the carbon butterfly doors
lishing this segment. Its i8, when it and Formula 1–inspired aerodynamics
launched in 2014, was the first car that sits a mid-mounted 1.5-liter turbo-
answered the question of what a perfor- charged I-3 (exactly half of BMW’s classic
mance hybrid would (or should) look like. straight-six) bolted to an electric motor
Space age, it turns out. Even five years and a six-speed automatic transaxle
after its debut, the carbon-fiber-bodied responsible for driving the rear wheels.
i8 looks simultaneously modern and Up front sits one more electric motor,
34 MOTORTREND.COM APRIL 2020
