Test drive the most expensive Lexus
What's wrong with the LS interior, how the four-wheel drive works, what you need to know about the new Lexus engine and what does the pickup courses have to do with it
It seems like the Lexus LS is doing everything wrong. It has a flashy appearance, a lurid interior in places and a dozen controversial decisions - is this what a competitor to the Mercedes S-Class should look like? Experiments are not tolerated in the high society of automobiles. Everything should be extremely strict, as in the Audi A8: office salon, straight stampings, rectangular optics and no liberties like extra chrome or a giant radiator grille.
The Japanese looked at all this and decided not to get involved. Why change your own tradition when you can surprise customers and competitors with the most striking executive car in the Galaxy? Three years ago, I was looking at the new LS at the Detroit motor show and could not understand: is it a concept or a production version already? It turned out that neither one nor the other - a pre-production prototype was rolled out to the stand, which, however, almost did not change after leaving the conveyor.
The rear pillars are piled high so that from afar, the LS looks like anything but a sedan. A low silhouette with a huge radiator grill, a cunning squint of optics - it seems that Japanese designers were inspired by the predators of Peter Benchley. The LS feed, by the way, is slightly out of the general canvas - in this sense, the design of the younger ES with its falling trunk lid looks even bolder.
Inside, the LS is also not like the competition, and this is no longer an advantage. Outrageous detail provoked problems with ergonomics. First, the LS has a tiny dashboard by modern standards. The numbers important for the driver are literally stuck one on top of the other here - you don't get used to accuracy right away. It is the world's largest head-up display that saves you: it is really huge and allows you to practically not be distracted from the road.
There are also questions about the proprietary multimedia system (the Mark Levinson acoustics are just a miracle). Yes, there is amazing performance and an extremely simple menu, but the navigation maps already look outdated, and the steering wheel and seat heating settings are sewn up somewhere in the depths of the system so that it is easier to wait until the interior warms up than to search for the desired item through the touchpad. The stabilization system is turned off with a "lamb" above the dashboard - I found this button only after a couple of days.
The workmanship is at the highest level. In a car with a mileage of 40 km (and for a car from the press park it is at least x000), not a single element looked tired: the soft leather on the driver's seat did not wrinkle, the nappa on the steering wheel did not shine, and all the keys and levers retained their original appearance ...
In October 2017, a few months after the LS world premiere, the Japanese showed the LS + concept at the Tokyo Motor Show. This prototype was supposed to demonstrate in which direction the crazy design of the flagship Lexus would move. Even more LEDs, chopped shapes and shocking. Restyling of the most expensive Lexus the world was supposed to see this year, but it seems that the coronavirus has changed plans a lot.
I don’t know about you, but I have always associated Lexus with huge aspirated cars. Spiteful booming at idle, desperate roar during acceleration and fuel consumption under 20 liters - all this is about the previous LS with its mighty V8. The new LS500 is quieter, more delicate and faster. Here, by the standards of the class, a supercharged engine with a volume of 3,4 liters is standard. "Six" with two turbines produces 421 liters. with. and 600 Nm of torque. Decent figures even for a 2,5 ton car.
From a place LS gets under way with laziness, but these are rather the nuances of the settings in the "comfort" mode. To properly fire up a hefty sedan, it is better to immediately turn on the Sport or Sport + mode - in the latter, Lexus completely disables the stabilization system, amplifies the sound of the engine through the speakers (a controversial thing, but it reveals the feeling of a race), and the 10-speed classic “automatic” starts shifting gears with DSG speed.
I did not believe in the passport 4,5 s to 100 km / h exactly until my own measurements. Lexus LS500 confirms the numbers even without manipulating acceleration from two pedals and manual transmission mode. The feeling of outrageous dynamics is concealed by the cool sound insulation. The new LS is really very quiet, regardless of the speed. Lexus also has adaptive air suspension with electronically controlled shock absorbers. Moreover, the range of adjustments is impressive: the difference between "Comfort" and "Sport" is colossal.
In a sense, I was lucky: the LS500 got it exactly on the week when Moscow was covered with snow. All-wheel drive here is a real gift if you like to show sideways. On the LS500, torque is distributed to the axles using a Torsen limited-slip differential. Traction is in a 30:70 ratio, so the rear-wheel drive character is felt, even despite the AWD nameplate. However, on a snowy road, the LS behaves in a monumental and predictable manner, avoiding slipping and even more so skidding. Magic? No, 2,5 tons.
It just so happens that the guys took and told almost everything they could about this LS500. And about the music I love so much in the car, and about the suspension, and even about the exterior with the interior and the cool turbo engine. It seems that I have absolutely nothing left. Although ... I'll just tell you two stories about how completely different people perceive this car.
It seems that about a year and a half ago, one of my friends decided to change the car. He wanted to change his luxury SUV for something radically different. Among the options were the BMW 5-Series, the BMW X7, and the Audi A6, and about a dozen more cars - the budget allowed. There is only one condition: "I want to drive myself, I don't need a car with a driver."
That is why, in fact, my friend did not look categorically at LS. But it so happened that at that moment he was just on a test drive in Autonews. No, this story does not have a classic happy ending. A friend really fell in love with LS after that, signed up for a test drive, traveled by himself. Fell in love even more and did not even stutter that this was a car for the rear passenger. He, as he himself said, enjoyed every minute behind the wheel. And by the way, it was not the "350th", but the LS2,6, which is XNUMX seconds slower. But during the painful choice, everything in the world and in the personal budget has changed so dashingly that the purchase had to be postponed.
Finally, the second and final story. And yes, again about my friend. I am even somewhat proud that over the past few years of hard work I have turned him, if not into a petrolhead, then into a person who is keenly interested in this world. So, in about five years, he formed two favorites. The Range Rover, which he sees as something completely inaccessible, and the hero of our story is the Lexus LS. Despite the fact that the models are similar in price, he refers to the first as a dream, and to the second - just as absolutely ideal for every day. And yes, he is also sure that sitting here is only behind the wheel.
And in general, the approach to the Lexus LS may well become the main thesis of pickup courses (and I'm not talking about cars at all now), which, I think, he will definitely open someday. They will start something like this: “If you want the feeling that the woman in you is interested not only in money, demonstrate your intellect, the ability to think differently and creativity. How? Well, for example, with this car. "
And I probably agree with that.
