Until now, there have been only three big dogs in the practical, daily driver, luxury four-door world: the V-8 versions of the BMW 7-series, the Mercedes-Benz S-class, and the Audi A8. Sure, the latest Jaguar XJ8, the Maserati Quattroporte, and the Bentley Continental Flying Spur are all superb sedans in their own manners, but the German troika define the genre. The previous Lexus LS430 is an astonishingly good car, superior in many ways, but it is just not quite in the class of the Germans when you talk about driving dynamics.
That all changes for 2007. The new LS460 is not just the peer of the leading trio, it provides a new benchmark for the category. The first all-new V-8 engine since Lexus began its inexorable rise to the pinnacle seventeen years ago is coupled to an eight-speed automatic transmission that is so totally unobtrusive that you forget about it. If your foot demands more thrust, the gearbox will select the right ratio and you'll rocket forward, unaware of any mechanical activity under the floorpan. What you do get with your foot firmly planted is a wonderfully subdued but distinct V-8 rumble, stripped of all extraneous elements. For most Americans born after March 9, 1932, when Henry Ford introduced the option of a V-8 engine, for $50, that sound is almost genetically imprinted as the symbol of power.... Read full article