A Lexus LC Convertible has been put into the deep freeze in order to test how it performs under extreme weather conditions.
Your freezer might just be filled with batches of homemade chili, a pizza or two, and a tub of two-year-old ice cream that you’ve forgotten about, but when Lexus got its hands on an industrial freezer, the luxury car brand popped a Lexus LC Convertible inside and left it there for 12 hours.
The #LexusLC Convertible was put into a deep freeze for more than 12 hours… Did it survive? pic.twitter.com/zSI0B1zB4O
— Lexus UK (@LexusUK) May 28, 2021
This wacky idea was undertaken in order to prove the worth of Lexus’ Climate Concierge system, which seemed to hold up excellently from what we’ve seen.
The experiment involved placing a Lexus LC Convertible into an industrial size freezer set to -18C at Millbrook Proving Ground, with the four-layer soft top wound down so that the leather interior was also exposed to the icy conditions.
After 12 hours at that unforgiving temperature – cold enough that rubber would freeze – the keys were handed over to British stunt driver Paul Swift to take it for a spin. He said, “I am asked to do a lot of crazy things in my job and this was one of them. I wasn’t really nervous about it until I turned up and then I saw the car sitting in the chamber looking through the window and it looked really cold and I thought ‘am I going to have to sit in that?’ Thankfully it was great, I was really impressed.”
The V8 engine started up first time and the displays and gauges showed no signs of damage, while the Climate Concierge set about restoring the temperature straight away. Swift noted “I could feel the steering wheel and the base of my back warming up and the vents in the head rest behind my neck. It was actually quite pleasant, considering it was minus 18, I felt quite comfortable in the car right away”.
After three or four minutes the windshield was clear of ice, and the car was then driven around Millbrook’s winding hill course, a test which it seems to have passed with flying colours.
The results are clear: if you are living in a most remote wintry region of Siberia, but would nonetheless would like a luxury convertible to drive around the frozen steppes, you’d better get on the phone to a Lexus dealership (if you have a spare £90,000 in the bank, that is).
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