$50,000 DIFFERENCE? 2026 Lexus LC500 vs Lexus IS500

I'm Yuri. I'm Jacob. And both these cars have V8s. We got the 2026 LC500 Inspiration Series. And I've got the Lexus IS500 Ultimate Edition, both equipped with a five liter naturally aspirated V8. I guess we're going to find out what difference it makes when the manufacturers build a completely different car around the same engine. Let's start with the horsepower and torque. The LC500 that you're driving has 471 horsepower and 398 pound feet of torque. And the IS500 has one horsepower more at 472 and three torque less at 395. Oh, hell yeah. I guess we should find out if they sound different from the outside. It turns out the LC500 sounds infinitely better with the same engine. Yeah, yeah. From the rear. From the front, they kind of sound exactly the same to me. They can both bang off the limiter, which is nice, but I think the LC500 does it a little bit nicer. It's a really nice symphony of both five liter V8s and we're basically just celebrating this old school-ness because I don't know if it's been announced yet, but I think the IS500 will be coming to an end this year or next year. And the LC is probably very shortly thereafter. But I do want to mention that the intake on this IS500 can also be changed with this ASC slider over here. So I can actually turn it up or down depending on what I want. And the LC500, you can't vary anything. We just have it, I guess, the way it is. That's because the LC500 has like an intake sound pipe that pumps it right into the cabin, the most authentic version of the intake sound. Okay. And then we got really nice sounds for downshifts and like way crispier downshifts in the LC500. Oh, and that's another big difference is that IS500 has a 10-speed auto. This IS has an eight-speed auto. I'm going to downshift. Not as crispy. Upshifts also not as satisfying. But another similarity between both of these, they are rear wheel drive with LSDs. They do both have adaptive suspension and they are both very, very comfortable. We are on the way to cliche corner, but one of them's on winter tires. One of them's on summer tires. So we can't assess the handling too much, but I will say the LC just feels way more put together. And even if you have an S-box car and it's rusting, just like my brother's GTI, you should still have a good set of Continental winter tires on there so you are ready for winter. Click the link below, find your Continental recommended tire. And it just so happens that this IS500 is equipped with the Conti Winter Contact TS830P. Jacob, pull up next to me. I got an idea. Yes, Siri. The true way to find out if it's all motor or just different stuff in the car. Put your car in automatic. Yes. Turn your lane keep on, close your eyes and let's floor it. Yeah, right, buddy. I think Toyota's PR department just had a heart attack. Okay, yeah. I'm going to squint my eyes a little bit and see. I'm squinting my eyes and I gave it a little bit of gas and I'll do that again in the IS500 to see if it's similar. You know, I've always had the idea if I could throw somebody into a car wearing like horse blinder glasses where they could only look forward and they had gloves on so they couldn't feel the steering wheel, would they know what car they were ripping it in? Interesting psychotic thoughts. That's not psychotic. How else would you blind test somebody driving in a car? Let me know in the comments if that's psychotic or not. That is not psychotic. Okay, should we talk about looks for a second since they both have the same paint? That's interesting. And then they are both special editions. Mine is 2 of 550 in the LC500. And mine is 9 of 500 and that is for North America. They are way more limited in Canada with the IS500 only limited to 40 units for Canada and 29 for the LC500 Inspiration Series Intervertible. And you did gloss over the primer gray paint because it's got this really nice pearl to it in the right sun conditions, but it's definitely like a primer gray and it is a special color for both of these. It's called wind and I also wore my wind stray pipe sweatshirt. So there's that. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Like that orange one we had before, the green one we had before, everything looked cooler in the LC500 and it definitely looked cooler before we had these canards on the bumper. Do not care for those at all. Okay. Yeah. Those are special for that special edition and I also don't really like them. But when we look at both cars side by side, you can definitely see the shared DNA. And it is interesting because there's a lot of different motors in the IS. There's a lot of different motors in the LC, well, two different motors in the LC, right? Because it was a hybrid. That's right. So it's like they can literally make everything fit in everything. And it's awesome to see that there was a perfect overlap. The front ends are very similar, but the back ends really differ. Like those LC500 taillights are still one of the best from any company. Yeah. And then you know what? The IS500, four exhaust tips, right? Yes. That's right. Look at my, look at my rear right now. Okay. And then, you know, those are kind of two real ones at the bottom and two fake ones at the top. Kind of also four. Yes. You do have four actual pipes, but two large gaping holes for the pipes. And then when we pop both hoods, we can see that both engines look similar, but a little different. The IS500 kind of looks cooler and they both have dipsticks. Yes. The Total Energy's recommended oil would be the Quartz 9000 Future FGC 5W30. Always follow your manufacturer's recommended guidelines. And now it's time for some cliche corner and then we'll switch it up. Yeah. And it is funny to note that the RC F also comes with this engine with the same horsepower, but that is a true F model. And this one's like an F Sport and that one's not even an F anything. Yeah. They're really flexible with the F-ness of their brand. I'm okay with all of that. F everything that isn't a V8, in my opinion. LFA. There we go. LFR is apparently coming. Okay. Downshift. I can hear that yours is way crispier than mine. It's got a little bit of oversteer, but yeah, this still feels great. This is also upgraded because it's got Brembo six piston front calipers now, which we'll get to with some trunk space later. This feels awesome and normal, nothing weird. Just nice, normal V8 rear wheel drive car. Dude, if they had manual transmissions in these cars, they could probably keep selling these for the next 10 years and make a ton of money. Nobody would be mad. Toyota, Lexus, free idea. Manual transmission, the same cars, keep them alive for 10 years. Just make free money. I'm going to slow myself down. I've got to do something. I've got to put me first. Yeah. Well, I can do that too, Yuri. You know what? We're going to try it on the other cars because I think the LC500 is unstoppable. First of all, shout out to the team at Savage Geese, Mark and Jack, for discovering that and making it popular. And then we're stealing that gimmick and using it as many times as we can. Push your camera button while you're in park because the I.S. Egg mode. It's got egg. You still got egg mode there? Oh, yeah. I do have egg mode. All right. Egg mode. Yeah. The infotainments are actually drastically different from each other. And different from the new RAV4 one and Tacoma and all that stuff. All right. So, because of the conditions in the tires, I'm just going to roll and floor it. Oh, yeah. That's real good. It does feel faster than the I.S. 500. I think it's the gearing. Because 10 speed versus 8 speed. I'm going to close my eyes and see if it feels the same. Close enough. For legal purposes, he squinted his eyes. Holy crap. This pumped in audio. Can I dial it down with the ASC button? Yeah. Yes, you can. That's more livable. All right. I'm going to roll and notify. Turn it back up. Is it ASC? I think so. Still can do it. LC 500 sounds better banging it off the limiter. It definitely sounds really good and authentic in here. And I can't really tell the exhaust difference right now. But it's just like the whole thing in combination just sounds better in here. I know I have the top up right now. But we did film it earlier, obviously, with all the rolling shots that the top was down at. It definitely sounded better. It makes sense for a more luxurious, more expensive car to have slightly better things. Okay. Suspension over here. Oh, yeah. So comfortable in both. I can already tell. Super soft. And they are adaptive, but I feel like not adapting it at all. Oh, yeah. A little bit more oversteer in this one because the tires, I think, but they feel great. Yeah. This still also feels nice, normal rear wheel drive. The eight car, I would be happy if they just kept making this for another 20 years. Stop advancing technology. Totally agree. Tone it down a notch. We don't need AI. We need less I. Yes. You know, how about LI? When everyone was just like getting filled with lead and becoming dumber, I think cars became more fun, right? More V8. Those are the two letters and numbers you need. Oh, fun thing about the LC500 that the IS500 doesn't have. Pull down your visor. Yes. You see that cool see-through part in the white visor? I see that. It kind of looks cheap to me. Visor test fail in the IS. And fail in the LC as well. Yeah, but you got that cool little flexible part. So that kind of is a gimmick pass. But it does feel very high quality. This whole interior, holy crap, it feels like that's what you're getting in the price difference. Yeah. You've got a forged carbon trunk, forged carbon doors. And you've got like the nicest, whitest, lightest materials all around. That is unbeatable. When you get in there, you feel like a million bucks. But in that IS, you have really nice suede. It does feel really good. My favorite feeling part was where you put your hand to open the door, that like super suede-y feel. Oh man, that was nice. And the red and all the leathers and everything feel great. It's like they're using materials that were luxurious 15 years ago instead of like whatever they're using now and like passing for luxury. Okay, but the red, I'm going to say is a little cheese, especially on the steering wheel. It's like, eh, it's a little aftermarket-y. This is not cheese at all. And you can see it pop hard, like from your view, this is probably so bright. I can see the red for sure. It's a little cheese. On the count of three, make your gate cluster move to the side. One, two, three. Done. Ah! Yeah, we can both do it, regardless of the price point. And then I think, personally, all of the hard buttons you can use in the IS500 are much better than all of the buttons in the LC500 because that got upgraded to like some newer touchscreen thing or whatever. Like you barely have a tuning slider, which feels like somebody gummed it up with jam. Your climate control heated steering wheel button, you see that below you? Touch that. That's real peanut butter. Yeah, I see what you mean. It looks nicer and it looks like it would be more functional, but it's actually kind of not. But it does have the better, more updated infotainment system, so there's that. But I don't think it's better. But also, you know what's hard? Find your climate. Find a way to direct where your air goes. Uh, let's see here. Oh, no. Yuri, I'm going to use the climate concierge in this, which is what it has, to have neck scarves and things. You know what? I'm just going to leave my butler to do that in this car. Yeah, yeah. You literally can't even find it while driving. I have no idea right now. You have to click vehicle on the left and then climb. You need like two buttons to get to where you direct your air. Oh, God. I took my eyes off the road. Yeah, yeah. Climate, front, options. Yeah, there's a lot going on. You know what? Climate concierge. Goodbye, me. Now, something we glossed over, literally, the wheels, okay? They need to be addressed. These wheels on this LC500 are amazing. They're like a black chrome, really nice design. They pop, they shine. Everything is perfect with them. However- Who would have thought? Black chrome? IS500, matte black wheels? Come on! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Four matte black wheels, one silver alloy in the trunk, bro. So I did want to get to that. Now, because that has Brembo six-piston front brake calipers now, which is an obvious big upgrade for the IS500, kind of makes it closer to a real F, they did have to put a full-size spare in the trunk, and you lose so much trunk space because it like juts up. It's massive. It looks insane that they actually left this little factory like that. Hey, you know what? One of the last years, do whatever you want. You know what? Would you be mad? No. Just run no spare. Just run no spare, bro. Who cares? Just call CAA, like who cares? Whatever, bro. Okay. We all have the same sport modes and all that stuff. Sport S plus, pretty sick. Yeah. Although the way that we get into those modes is very different. I've got like these like horns up on my dash, which honestly is kind of weird, like stretching forward to get them, but it is kind of cool. Yo, two cup holders right here fits my small just fine in the 500, I guess they're both in the 500s, in the IS. Yeah. I've got a front cup holder over here and then kind of a pseudo, not really cup holder, but a cup can be placed over here. Okay. Some beef with the interior. You can't put a forward facing car seat in the front seat of that LC 500 because there's no rear tether. You can, I think put one in the back, but there's no room, so I don't think it would actually fit. So Jake, you know, I was driving the Z4 before. I could put my kid in the front seat there next to me. It was cool. The airbag automatically turned off. You can do that in Lamborghinis as well. But Jacob's like, well, this isn't the target demographic, but you know what grandpas in their LC 500s taking their kids out for the day. I feel like that is a real demographic, right? Yeah. Which as a grandpa later I could because I would just take my normal car seat with a booster seat and just put it back in the back and it would be totally fine. But it's not nearly as cool as having a convertible or a cool two-door with your kid sitting next to you, bro. That is correct. I hope, I hope my kids trust me when I'm old and senile and 80 to drive them around in like a 40-year-old, drive the kids, grandkids around in a 40-year-old thing. They're like, no dad, I literally watched your whole YouTube channel with Jacob. You're out to lunch. You are not driving baby Yuri Jr. Jr. around. Yeah, exactly. But I do have to give another special mention to Lexus for this interior spec. This is unreal because they kind of allow for bespoke kind of versions of this car. And whoever picked this, 10 out of 10. I never expected to see brown with white and it works so well. Yeah, yeah. It looks great. But I got to give them a special mention again. It's that good. Oh, and to put the top down, we have this little switch over here. You can do it up to 50 kilometers per hour, but I'm not going to do it because it's freezing cold outside. And then we both have Apple CarPlay and wired wireless. Wireless is an option only on this one, but wired 100% only on the IS. Oh, BMW turn signals, eh, V8. I'll take it. I did notice the BMW, like actually old BMW, like turn signals on that car, but this one doesn't have them in the LC. So I guess that's a premium feature now. So I think that's everything. What is the price difference for two cars that are drastically different, but they share the same motor? The IS500 is $85,000 Canadian. And this LC500 is $134,835. So that's a 50,000 K difference. Yeah, 50 grand difference. And I think it went to a lot of places that you can actually notice that difference. Of everything that Lexus offers for a motor or Toyota, there is nothing else I would rather have in that LC500. And I feel like with the looks of that car, even still, it's worth that price. And fun fact, these are both made in Japan, but if you control F on the press release and search for Japan, only the LC500 says Japan three times and that one says zero times. I think what we actually came to the conclusion of, correct me if I'm wrong, the IS500 is a bargain. Yeah, it really is. Because you get a lot of what you get in here. You don't get that special feeling, but you get the best part, which is the engine. And then the car you really want to buy on tsp.truecar.com, the goddamn GSF. The GSF! As soon as I drove that IS500, I started looking for GSFs everywhere because I love that car so much. Imagine this with a little bit more room and a ball to your hood, bro. Bro! Perfect! Like a real F model with the big brakes, the orange calipers, the red interior, the blue paint. God, we missed out! We missed out again! Man, was that a perfect car, but thank you Toyota Lexus for continuing this five liter as long as you did. These companies should be rewarded for that, just please buy these so that there's used models for everyone to buy later. Thanks for watching, thanks for subscribing, and happy holidays! Go buy a V8! I'm Yuri! I'm Jacob! And we just went for a drive! Watch this dump truck review! Yeah, that's right! We drove a dump truck! A real one! Watch it! Please! You can do that? Bro! My shoulder! And I'm seeing stars! What the? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I thought!