Welcome to Critic's Notebook, a quick and off-the-cuff car review consisting of impressions, jottings, and marginalia regarding whatever The Drive writers happen to be driving. Today's edition: the 2018 Lexus LC 500.

It doesn’t make much sense that Lexus spent all the money and time that it did on this car. Not in this day and age, when the market for big, expensive “personal luxury coupes” is pretty much nil. Before Toyota's fancy-pants brand threw its hat into the ring, the category was pretty much relegated to Mercedes-Benz's S-Class Coupe (nee CL-Class) and BMW's 6 Series; nearly every other brand that once trafficked in large coupes at sub-supercar prices had since ditched it for greener—i.e. more profitable—pastures, like $100,000 pickup trucks and leather-lined off-roaders. Such a car, it seems, serves one main purpose in this day and age: to fire up salivary glands and psych the buying public up about the brand, drawing them into showrooms where they'll drop money on a less-expensive, more-profitable vehicle.

But Lexus seemingly hasn't done much to promote the LC as a halo car, either. Plenty of New Yorkers expressed their appreciation for it while I had it - one even had me roll down my window on the FDR to shout his questions and complements at me - but they all seemed surprised to learn of its existence. (One guy thought it was a Tesla until he recognized the style of the tail lamps). Unsurprisingly, the car's sales have reflected that lack of awareness—in June, Lexus moved a mere 161 copies of the swoopy coupe in the United States, roughly one-third as many as it moved a year prior. Porsche, for what it's worth, moved nearly five times as many 911s Stateside in June 2018.

If the LC 500 were simply the beautiful, luxurious car it appears to be at first glance, that alone would be enough to make its under-the-radar presence and lack of sales success a shame. But not only did Lexus build a two-door with an old-fashioned, naturally-aspirated V8 engine and looks that could stop Stevie Wonder...the company made it damn good to drive.