CAR GAZING
Lexus LS designed for perfection
Flagship luxury car impresses with technology, refinement
By Derek Price
Judging from the buttons and switches inside the Lexus LS cabin, you might think it's one of those cars that's all about gadgets.
There's a button to raise and lower the rear sunshade. There's a button to adjust height of the shoulder belt to make sure it comfortably lays across your body. There's even a button to electronically open and close the trunk lid.
But when you actually drive the LS – Lexus' biggest and fanciest sedan – you realize this car isn't about the gizmos at all.
It's about perfection.
You can feel it when you're driving 70 mph on the interstate in near total silence, sitting in a cabin that looks like it was assembled by a Swiss jeweler. You can feel it when you mash the gas pedal and hear a deep but polite roar coming from under the hood. You can even feel it when you step outside and look at the body, which has paint that was polished to perfection by hand.
That's why the LS would be a special car even if it had nothing but crank windows and an old AM radio.
Of course, the technology is a wonderful bonus in a car that already has such great bones. It comes with heated and cooled front seats, heated rear seats, headlights that automatically dim for oncoming traffic, headlamp washers, power door closers and Intuitive Park Assist to help you pull into a parking space.
The basic version of this car is called the LS 460, and it starts at $64,480. If you want more leg room in back – we're talking limo-like space – then you'll want the long-wheelbase version called the LS 460 L, which sells for $70,225.
Finally, if you want the top-of-the line version, you'll actually want to drive the hybrid LS with an alphabet-soup name: the LS 600h L. It uses batteries and electric motors to provide the power and refinement of a big V12 engine but the fuel economy of a V8. The price? It starts at $106,035.
All versions of the LS share one trait, though. They're designed more for highway cruising than aggressive driving, and that's a good thing.
Far too many of today's luxury cars try to be BMWs with firm suspensions and racecar gear shifts. But the LS just floats serenely down the road with grace and poise, something that seems to get rarer with luxury cars each year.
Inside, there's one word to describe the cabin: taste. The LS isn't flashy or overbearing, instead opting for a simple, calming design that relaxes you. It has plenty of wood and ridiculously smooth leather, all of which is available in soothing color palettes.
Still, Lexus throws a bone to the people who want a sporty car in 2010. It's called the Sport Package, and it comes with a firmer air-tuned suspension, Brembo brakes and 19-inch wheels.
As a whole, though, it's hard to beat the heavenly ride of this big Lexus if your goal is comfortable and fine transportation. That's what it's built for, and that's what it does best.
(Derek Price is a newspaper editor and freelance writer living in Texas.)
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