Lexus LS460 comes loaded with technology
23/08/07 16:40 Filed in: Road
tests
It's an odd feeling sitting in the
driver's seat doing nothing more than feathering the brake pedal
while the car parks itself. The park assist system is probably the
headline-grabbing technology on the car that has everything... or
at least you can have everything if you pay for the right level of
specification.
That car is the Lexus LS460 SE-L. The latest and most luxurious in this line of Japanese luxury cars. Lexus has taken the USA by storm, but on this side of the Atlantic their numbers are still a pale shadow of the long-established prestige names like Audi, BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz.
Even more than its predecessors, however, the LS460 has presence. It looks the part of a luxury motor car.
But it isn't distinctive, nor is it hugely characterful inside or out. The interior is wonderful, comfortable, cosseting... but just a bit lacking in soul. But that's an irrational reason not to be sold on the LS460.
Analysing it with your head, not your heart, here is a luxury car which is the match in many ways for the established names. In many areas it betters them. It is likely to deliver legendary reliability, thanks to it Toyota genes, and its price is competitive. What more could you want?
My test car was the Lexus LS460 SE-L. That 'L' let's you know that this is the long-wheelbase version and, while the kids might not be queuing up for a ride in one for their next birthday party thrill, the extra 122 mm in its 5.1m total length has been put to good use.
There will be no need for 'horse trading' with the driver to find space to tuck your knees. No, on the LS 460 you can stretch out in the back, recline your seat, switch on the drop-down TV screen, block out the outside world with the electric blinds and hide from the imaginary paparazzi. And with sound coming from a 19-speaker Mark Levison sound system, you might even prefer this to watching movies in your living room!
Sit back, relax and watch a movie... or the GPS route map.
The 4.6-litre engine under the bonnet produces a prodigious 350 bhp and 500 Nm of torque. Looking at the usual 0-62 mph yardstick, it will complete that sprint in just 5.7 seconds. This big car gets up and goes.
As you would expect in such a technological masterpiece, you can choose your gearbox settings and your damper settings to give the car either comfort or a tauter more responsive sporting style. The air suspension does soak up most bumps, but it is only because of the exceptionally high standards of Lexus that I would mention you can feel the occasional tremor from poor surfaces.
Similarly, it is only because it is so quiet and refined, that I noticed an occasional odd puff of wind noise from the front of the driver's door, around the door mirror. But I suppose that is being really picky. But, this car sets such high standards you notice even these little things.
That gearbox, is another bit of surprising technology. Time was when all automatics had a maximum of three gears. Then came the revolution of four speed auto boxes. Now as manufacturers chase ever greater refinement, the number of gears has increased to seven for some cars. Well Lexus has just gone one better. The gearbox in the LS 460 has eight gears.
Not that you are likely to notice. The gearbox is so smooth it is almost impossible to detect most gearchanges. However, in the interests of a proper assessment, I did try the manual gear selection. But I not only found it difficult to keep track of eight gears, it proved very little advantage.
A very civilsed place to be - the cockpit of the Lexus LS 460
There really isn't time to go into all the technology on this car. Suffice to say it has all the comforts that one would expect and some you wouldn't.
I do like adaptive cruise control systems, which I first sampled on a Jaguar. The Lexus system is excellent. To explain - a radar system in the front of the car detects the distance between you and the car immediately in front. The system adjusts your speed automatically.
So, for example, you have the car set for 70 mph on a motorway or dual carriageway. If the car in front slows, so will yours, such that you maintain a safe gap. It will also accelerate slowly back to 70 when the traffic starts clearing. Picking up speed is slow, so I found it best sometimes to use the accelerator to get back to cruising speed - otherwise over-eager following drivers will be all over the boot.
And that leads me on to some of the Lexus's safety tricks. There is radar detection front and rear to sense collisions. If a collision is imminent, the car will start to prepare - tightening seat belts, getting the head-restraints in best position and other safety precautions all within a fraction of a second.
At the front there's a system that detects objects in the path of the vehicle day or night and helps you avoid them, cameras that watch the lanes and warn you if you lose concentration and start to wander, a system that will assist you to steer the right way in the event of a skid and then there's the parking.
You can use this to parallel park or park in a parking bay. You pull just beyond the space. Then, looking in the rear view camera which comes on automatically when you engage reverse, you move a green box to indicate the space you want the Lexus to park in. Then you take your hands off the wheel and, with your foot on the brake, the Lexus slowly reverses into the space. Amazing! It works!
But it does take time to set up the target before you manoeuvre. Whether impatient city drivers will allow you that time is another matter. But it is a good party trick.
So, how much does this technological marvel cost, you must now be thinking. Well the Lexus LS 460 SE-L has a price tag of £71,000. Which is quite competitive with Germany's finest.
Did it win me over? At the end of my five days with the LS460 I really, really liked it. But I couldn't say I loved it. That's the difference.
That car is the Lexus LS460 SE-L. The latest and most luxurious in this line of Japanese luxury cars. Lexus has taken the USA by storm, but on this side of the Atlantic their numbers are still a pale shadow of the long-established prestige names like Audi, BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz.
Even more than its predecessors, however, the LS460 has presence. It looks the part of a luxury motor car.
But it isn't distinctive, nor is it hugely characterful inside or out. The interior is wonderful, comfortable, cosseting... but just a bit lacking in soul. But that's an irrational reason not to be sold on the LS460.
Analysing it with your head, not your heart, here is a luxury car which is the match in many ways for the established names. In many areas it betters them. It is likely to deliver legendary reliability, thanks to it Toyota genes, and its price is competitive. What more could you want?
My test car was the Lexus LS460 SE-L. That 'L' let's you know that this is the long-wheelbase version and, while the kids might not be queuing up for a ride in one for their next birthday party thrill, the extra 122 mm in its 5.1m total length has been put to good use.
There will be no need for 'horse trading' with the driver to find space to tuck your knees. No, on the LS 460 you can stretch out in the back, recline your seat, switch on the drop-down TV screen, block out the outside world with the electric blinds and hide from the imaginary paparazzi. And with sound coming from a 19-speaker Mark Levison sound system, you might even prefer this to watching movies in your living room!
Sit back, relax and watch a movie... or the GPS route map.
The 4.6-litre engine under the bonnet produces a prodigious 350 bhp and 500 Nm of torque. Looking at the usual 0-62 mph yardstick, it will complete that sprint in just 5.7 seconds. This big car gets up and goes.
As you would expect in such a technological masterpiece, you can choose your gearbox settings and your damper settings to give the car either comfort or a tauter more responsive sporting style. The air suspension does soak up most bumps, but it is only because of the exceptionally high standards of Lexus that I would mention you can feel the occasional tremor from poor surfaces.
Similarly, it is only because it is so quiet and refined, that I noticed an occasional odd puff of wind noise from the front of the driver's door, around the door mirror. But I suppose that is being really picky. But, this car sets such high standards you notice even these little things.
That gearbox, is another bit of surprising technology. Time was when all automatics had a maximum of three gears. Then came the revolution of four speed auto boxes. Now as manufacturers chase ever greater refinement, the number of gears has increased to seven for some cars. Well Lexus has just gone one better. The gearbox in the LS 460 has eight gears.
Not that you are likely to notice. The gearbox is so smooth it is almost impossible to detect most gearchanges. However, in the interests of a proper assessment, I did try the manual gear selection. But I not only found it difficult to keep track of eight gears, it proved very little advantage.
A very civilsed place to be - the cockpit of the Lexus LS 460
There really isn't time to go into all the technology on this car. Suffice to say it has all the comforts that one would expect and some you wouldn't.
I do like adaptive cruise control systems, which I first sampled on a Jaguar. The Lexus system is excellent. To explain - a radar system in the front of the car detects the distance between you and the car immediately in front. The system adjusts your speed automatically.
So, for example, you have the car set for 70 mph on a motorway or dual carriageway. If the car in front slows, so will yours, such that you maintain a safe gap. It will also accelerate slowly back to 70 when the traffic starts clearing. Picking up speed is slow, so I found it best sometimes to use the accelerator to get back to cruising speed - otherwise over-eager following drivers will be all over the boot.
And that leads me on to some of the Lexus's safety tricks. There is radar detection front and rear to sense collisions. If a collision is imminent, the car will start to prepare - tightening seat belts, getting the head-restraints in best position and other safety precautions all within a fraction of a second.
At the front there's a system that detects objects in the path of the vehicle day or night and helps you avoid them, cameras that watch the lanes and warn you if you lose concentration and start to wander, a system that will assist you to steer the right way in the event of a skid and then there's the parking.
You can use this to parallel park or park in a parking bay. You pull just beyond the space. Then, looking in the rear view camera which comes on automatically when you engage reverse, you move a green box to indicate the space you want the Lexus to park in. Then you take your hands off the wheel and, with your foot on the brake, the Lexus slowly reverses into the space. Amazing! It works!
But it does take time to set up the target before you manoeuvre. Whether impatient city drivers will allow you that time is another matter. But it is a good party trick.
So, how much does this technological marvel cost, you must now be thinking. Well the Lexus LS 460 SE-L has a price tag of £71,000. Which is quite competitive with Germany's finest.
Did it win me over? At the end of my five days with the LS460 I really, really liked it. But I couldn't say I loved it. That's the difference.