The Lexus LS has gotten a bunch of flack from us journalists, mostly because it's so distant and removed that its driver's relationship with the road is no closer than its passengers'. As much as I love drivers' cars (and, oh do I ever), Lexus never pretended that the LS was to appeal to enthusiasts. The LS is supposed to appeal to their antitheses - people who don't want to be bothered with the task of driving at all. I mean, why else would this thing park itself?
Lexus launched the hybrid LS600hL as a competitor to the V-12-powered monsters from BMW and Mercedes. Again, journalists complained, saying that the LS doesn't even come close to matching those cars' performance. And it doesn't - the twin-turbo V-12 Mercedes S600 could probably dust the Lexus with half its cylinders deactivated. At half throttle.
Or not - but the point is: I'm convinced that's not what Lexus meant when they compared the LS600hL's performance to the V-12 cars. They meant that, in that oh-so-smooth Lexus way, the LS would glide around town in the quiet, relaxed way that only twelve-cylinder luxosedans can. And that is a talent the LS possesses in spades.
My first trip in the LS was a thirty-mile drive at rush hour north of San Francisco. Traffic was moving between a crawl and 50 mph, up and down big Marin County hills, and yet not once did the tachometer bother to indicate anything more than 1600 rpm.... Read full article