Buy/Drive/Burn: Three Luxury Coupes to Deplete the Wallet

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Last week we introduced a new series to TTAC called Buy/Drive/Burn. A rather comprehensive set of instructions (and an example) was given in order to prepare you for the upcoming entries into our new game. If you haven’t read that primer, go do so now. This week is the first real entry for Buy/Drive/Burn and, like the example post, we’re sticking with luxury.

Your three options to purchase, borrow, and set on fire are all luxury coupes costing over $100,000.

The genesis of today’s topic was Chris Tonn’s review of the new line-topping coupe from Lexus, the LC 500. While it attracted much attention from the locals at the 7-11, there are a couple other competitors in the same price bracket which might rouse your luxury desires — or perhaps send you into a rage of arson. Let’s get going.

Lexus LC 500

The first V8 coupe from Lexus since the long-departed SC400 in the early 2000s, the LC 500 is a love-or-hate proposition in the styling department. For an as-tested price of $100,720, the buyer gets an eye-catching body, a 5.0-liter V8 engine with 471 horsepower, 10-speed automatic, and rear-wheel drive. Though it’s large and in charge, and the right wheels have the power, traditional is one thing the LC isn’t. Does it go too far, to the point where you reach for your Zippo?

Mercedes-Benz S550 Coupe

In a new offering from Mercedes-Benz, the S-Class Coupe comes back into the fold after a considerable departure. Replacing the unpopular CL, the S-Coupe trades on the more familiar and long running premium nameplate from the three-point star. Standard power is provided by a 4.7-liter biturbo V8 pumping out 449 horsepower. All-wheel drive in 4MATIC guise is standard. At nearly 16.5 feet in length, it bests the LC by a couple of inches. It’s also a pillarless coupe, which is something not many (any?) other cars can claim today. Starting price is $123,475, and having Swarovski crystals in the headlamps is an optional extra.

BMW M6

Easily the most sporty option of our large coupe trio, BMW’s M6 model is available as coupe, Gran Coupe, or convertible, and with an automatic or (no-cost) manual transmission. Props to BMW for bringing choices here. At a base price of $113,700, the M6 is motivated by the familiar BMW 4.4-liter V8, and has a whopping 560 horsepower surging to the rear wheels. At just 193 inches long, it’s the smallest coupe of our group, which should lend itself to the aggressive, driver’s car image BMW has traded on for so long. Worth noting, it seems the M6 coupe goes away after 2017, and for 2018 the Gran Coupe and Convertible soldier on alone.

Which of these is your keeper, which one do you just borrow, and which burns to the ground?

[Images: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Chris Tonn/TTAC]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • Blackcloud_9 Blackcloud_9 on Jan 25, 2018

    Wow, this is a tough one. Buy, is easy: The Mercedes 550. Easily fits my bill for an opulent cruiser. It is Burn and Borrow that is hard. I want to borrow the Lexus and burn the BMW...however... Borrow the Lexus because I love the aggressive styling. The best use of the "Spindle" grill so far. Burn the BMW just because of my general dislike for BMWs and every poser in the world seems to have one - like my neighbor. BUT... I think I would have a hard time fitting into the Lexus and the M6 form is probably one of the finer examples of BMW. OK Borrow BMW Burn Lexus

  • Vulpine Vulpine on Apr 03, 2018

    None of them. I'd be happier with a properly coupe-styled Buick than one of these.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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