BMW M8 vs. AMG GT 53 vs. Lexus LC 500: The GT Duel

At the moment a used-market shopper crosses roughly the $60,000 price threshold looking for something more than a fast sedan, three cars almost always end up on the same shortlist: the BMW M8, the Mercedes-AMG GT 53 four-door, and the Lexus LC 500. All three are grand tourers in the truest sense — big engines, luxury interiors, real long-distance capability, and design that turns heads at every stoplight. And yet, driving them back to back, they could not be more different.

We stock all three at various times on our Arlington Heights lot. Here is the honest comparison our own team draws when a customer asks which one to buy.

The Cars At a Glance

BMW M8 Coupe / Gran Coupe / Convertible

• Engine: S63 4.4L twin-turbo V8, 600 hp (Competition: 617 hp).
• 0–60 mph: 3.0 seconds (Competition).
• Character: A luxury GT with an absurd V8. Big, comfortable, dramatically fast.
• Used price range: $60,000–$85,000 depending on year and trim.

Mercedes-AMG GT 53 Four-Door Coupe

• Engine: M256 3.0L turbo inline-six with EQ Boost mild hybrid, 429 hp.
• 0–60 mph: 4.4 seconds.
• Character: Elegant, sophisticated, and — critically — actually usable as a four-door. The most livable of the three.
• Used price range: $55,000–$75,000 depending on year and equipment.

Lexus LC 500

• Engine: 2UR-GSE 5.0L naturally-aspirated V8, 471 hp.
• 0–60 mph: 4.4 seconds.
• Character: Rolling art. Ten-speed automatic. One of the last naturally-aspirated V8 grand tourers ever built.
• Used price range: $55,000–$78,000 depending on year and trim.

Driving Character: Three Different Answers to the Same Question

The M8 Is a Missile

Push the throttle in an M8 Competition and the world blurs. Six hundred horsepower from a V8 that sounds like it belongs in a race car, an eight-speed ZF automatic that fires shifts fast enough to feel violent, all-wheel drive that puts everything down. The M8 is not subtle. It is not a scalpel. It is a large-caliber weapon dressed in a suit.

The M8 does two things better than anything else on this list — long-distance highway comfort at unreasonable speeds, and instant, savage acceleration whenever you request it. It is the choice for the driver who wants performance to feel like power. Not delicacy. Power. And for the buyer who cares about pure straight-line pace, nothing on this list even comes close.

The AMG GT 53 Is the Grown-Up

The GT 53 is the four-door AMG GT. It looks like a shrunken AMG GT R and it drives like a grown-up version of a hot AMG sedan. The engine is smooth, refined, unremarkable when you are just cruising. The chassis is composed. The interior is the best of the three by a wide margin — richer materials, better ergonomics, a sense of occasion that neither the BMW nor the Lexus fully match.

The GT 53 is the one you buy when you want to drive from Chicago to Nashville without stopping and arrive as relaxed as when you left, then take your family out to dinner. It is the grand tourer answer, and it is the only one of the three that seats four adults in real comfort. The M8 Gran Coupe seats four. The LC 500 does not.

The Lexus LC 500 Is the Soul

The LC 500 is the car for the driver who wants character, not compromises. Naturally aspirated 5.0L V8 that revs to 7,300 rpm and sounds like nothing else on the road — no turbo whistle, no forced induction, just linear power and a genuine V8 sound. Ten-speed automatic that shifts with mechanical precision. Interior design that Lexus has never matched before or since. Reliability that will humiliate every European competitor over ten years of ownership.

The LC 500 does not have the M8's raw pace. It does not have the GT 53's practicality. What it has is the driving character no one else on this list can match — an old-school, high-revving, naturally-aspirated V8 grand tourer in an era where nearly no one builds them anymore. It is the choice for the driver who wants a car they will love in twenty years, not just this year.

The Reliability Story

M8

The S63 engine is BMW's most powerful V8. It is not their most reliable. Watch for turbo oil supply issues, oil consumption, valve stem seal wear, and the standard oil leaks that plague every N-generation BMW engine. The ZF 8HP automatic transmission is bulletproof if the fluid is serviced (never leave it as "lifetime fill"). Expect $1,500–$2,500 per year in preventive maintenance to keep an M8 right — meaningfully cheaper at an independent BMW specialist than at the dealership.

AMG GT 53

The M256 3.0L inline-six with mild hybrid is a relatively new engine and has held up well. The main reliability concerns are software drift on the 48V mild hybrid system and the standard Mercedes electronics quirks. Rear self-leveling suspension components have shown some wear on higher-mileage examples. Expect $1,200–$1,800 per year.

LC 500

Lexus reliability meets grand tourer. The 2UR-GSE 5.0L V8 is a naturally-aspirated design shared with the RC F and GS F — proven to well past 150,000 miles. The ten-speed automatic is robust. Interior electronics are Lexus-conservative in the best sense. Expect $700–$1,200 per year. The LC 500 is by a comfortable margin the least expensive to own of the three.

Cost of Ownership Reality (5-Year Estimate)

Assuming 8,000 miles per year and appropriate service:

• BMW M8: approximately $10,000–$14,000 in maintenance and repairs over five years, plus significant tire cost ($2,000–$2,500 per set of four).
• AMG GT 53: approximately $7,000–$10,000, plus tires ($1,600–$2,200 per set).
• Lexus LC 500: approximately $4,500–$7,000, plus tires ($1,400–$1,800 per set).

The LC 500 is meaningfully cheaper to own long-term. The M8 is the most expensive by a significant margin, largely because the S63 V8 is a complex, hard-worked engine and because BMW's aggressive tire specs mean sets go quickly.

Which One Should You Buy?

Each of these three cars wins in its own lane. There is no wrong answer.

Buy the M8 if: You want the fastest, most powerful, most theatrical option and the widest gap between "commuting" and "grand touring." The M8 is the choice for the buyer who wants everyone at the stoplight to know what just pulled up. Nothing else on this list is as fast, and nothing else on this list feels quite as important.

Buy the AMG GT 53 if: You want the best-appointed interior, the most usable four-door body style, and long-distance grand touring comfort as the primary requirement. The GT 53 is the tourist's grand tourer. Elegant, unhurried, capable — and the one you can genuinely use as a four-passenger daily driver.

Buy the LC 500 if: You want the most special-feeling car for the money, one of the last great naturally-aspirated V8 grand tourers ever built, and the lowest cost of ownership of the three. The LC 500 also carries the strongest reliability record of any car on this list by a significant margin.

A Note on Used Pricing Realities

Used pricing on all three cars has softened in the last eighteen months as the broader luxury market has cooled. That has made this specific comparison more accessible than at any point in the past three years.

• A well-maintained 2020 M8 Competition Gran Coupe that stickered near $150,000 new now trades in the low $80s.
• A 2020 AMG GT 53 that stickered near $105,000 now trades in the mid $60s.
• A 2020 LC 500 that stickered near $95,000 now trades in the mid $60s.

All three represent stronger used-market value than they did in 2022. All three are within $10,000–$15,000 of each other in current pricing. And all three have unique character no other segment competitor delivers.

Buy Your Grand Tourer at Autos of Chicago

We stock BMW M8, Mercedes-AMG GT 53, and Lexus LC 500 examples regularly. Every performance car we sell has been inspected in our service department with a full manufacturer diagnostic scan.

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Or call (224) 858-4007. 1555 E Rand Rd, Arlington Heights, IL 60004.