Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
M
I think it's a mistake.
There aren't enough people out there who will be interested.
You are correct. Lexus must get its designs as far away from Toyota as possible.
Imagine spending $65k+ for that? Outrageous!
I'm with you on that one. I think the new 3 is generally a good looking car, (gorgeous compared to styling abominations like the 6) but I still have some issues with certain angles. The 3 coupe on the other hand is quite sexy. It looks much less like the sedan than the old coupe.
It's like night and day, isn't it?
Nice report. Our Taste doesn't come until Oct. 21. How do you compare the LS460 seats to the S550?
Exactly. And it's the first BMW I am trulty excited about in a while.
my bad! :sick:
Pardon my ignorance about the Lotus brand. In fact I dont ever remember seeing a Lotus around here in Toronto?
Lotus cars are a bit too exotic for me. I am just a mainstream guy whose attention is on mainstream marques like BMW and Audi.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
I know the feeling, although I chose to take the 335i sedan instead. Unfortunately in my case I bought the sedan because the middle rear seating of the coupe is like sitting on a elevated park bench (one of my kids will not be too pleased if I bought a coupe).
Not on the examples I drove and believe me the brakes were "tested" throughly. I drove the LS460L only, twice.
M
Yep, darn near. A huge improvement over the sedan. In certain colors it looks a little thick around the mid-section, but a lot of things do in America?
For you to be excited about a new BMW design means it has to be a looker!
M
In that case you made the right decision...the rear only accommodates two passengers (no restraints)
When I saw the IS at the auto show, after its release, I was impressed as well. For a car of that type, I thought it was well executed.
However, I am quite positive that I would end up a BMW buyer if purchasing a car in that segment.
If you were a buyer choosing between the LS460L and the S550 . . . does one car truly stand out, based upon your impressions and tests of both vehicles?
TagMan
The 545 brakes on the other hand are not grabby.
Just impossible to modulate to a nice smooth stop.
Always a jerk at the end (not referring to me) which I find maddening.
The next vehicle I shop will definitely have nice smooth brakes. If it is not a BMW vehicle, so be it.
Looking forward to checking out the LS brakes when I get my "Taste" in November, although I cannot honestly see myself getting involved with this particular vehicle or the GS450h which I will also have the opportunity to drive.
Of all the cars I have test-driven over the last 2 years, the only one that had completely acceptable brakes was the Infiniti M. The worst belonged to the 330i and the GS430.
Money will go to nonprofit organization that helps young girls
You know the old saying: Never ever be on the other side of a transaction when dealing with Warren Buffett.
A price of $73,200 for a used Town Car .
Oh well at least the funds are going to a charity.
Buffett
At Lexus for instance, Mr. Carter concedes that up until now, when wealthy customers considered their choices for premium luxury cars, "we weren't on those shopping lists" next to the segment defining Mercedes S Class and BMW 7 series
SOURCE WALL STREET JOURNAL Sept. 25, 2006
Ofcourse Carter claims the LS460 and the hybrid models will change things. Similar to his predictions that the Lexus GS and IS will be very competitive to the BMW 5 series and 3 series ( a highly debateable prediction at this point of time)
Given all that, I felt it was overpriced as a HELM. I didn't feel there was much value there for the money.
When I test drove the 545 vs the GS430, it wasn't even close:
The GS had a slippery, thin, partially-wooden steering wheel, highly sensitive brakes, wishy-washy adaptive steering, a confining cabin, limited head room, an uncomfortable driver's seat, a ridiculously-placed utility tray containing needed switches and buttons and a very narrow trunk.
What the GS didn't have thankfully, was an iDrive type controller. In its place was a fairly easy to use touch screen.
I leased the driver's car, the awesome, impeccably-styled, 545 (even though the Lexus salesman came down to only a few bucks more than the BMW and people on the GS board were begging me to name the salesman).
Just don't ask me to change from FM to AM in the BMW.
I'm only a chemist, not a rocket scientist.
My idrive solution is to avoid listening to AM.
Hopefully I will be able to master some functions of idrvie before I sell my car. So at least by then I can show the new owner how to handle the radio
There is absolutely no reason to switch to AM, which in my neck of the woods is all sports all the time. :sick:
iDrive is okay, Dewey (aside from radio band switching) once you program your initial settings. You set it and forget it.
There are the usual buttons and knobs on the wheel and dash that you will use after you customize the iDrive.
One possible problem: I dread taking my vehicle in for service because I fear the dealer will disconnect the computer and I will have to input the settings all over again. Hope it has stored memory!
Sooo..when you get your twin-turbo beauty, how about we go 10 laps around the Air Canada Centre?
If you were a buyer choosing between the LS460L and the S550 . . . does one car truly stand out, based upon your impressions and tests of both vehicles?
Both vehicles are very impressive, but I like the sturdier feel and more buttoned down nature of the S550 more than the lightness of the LS460L. Though unlike the LS430 I can see the appeal behind the LS460L, it is a very comfortable, extremely capable car. It is so much improved over the insipid LS430 it isn't even funny.
M
This from a guy who for the most part puts styling towards the bottom of the list.
Their is defiantly some lag but some of this could be the automatic factor, no manuals available to spool up rpm's on launch. When it does kick in it is noticeable, but smooth. It under steers a bit, but I'm sure that's a little bit of a set up thing for safety. They had G35's to compare directly against. These under steered like a [insert comment] I should have checked the tires to see if they were unevenly matched but I forgot to look.
Anyway, BMW seems to do the "look how awesome our cars are"
Where Audi is saying, "look how classy our company is" some of that is marketing I'm sure. The Q7 is for families and the 335 coupe is for single guys. None the less, two different days, both entertaining.
I will be at the Lexus "taste" next month and will post
Well this goes back to what I and others have said for years here, going just by the price and look of the old car it wasn't a true helm. It regularly sold for V8 E-Class/5-Series prices or a little above them, not S-Class or 7-Series prices, but that couldn't ever be accepted by the faithful. Well since things have changed here you won't get the usual go-behind and reinforcement of everything a Lexus official says, especially not this.
M
Sorry, didn't see this question before. I'd say the LS460's seats are about the same from what I can remember, I do know they aren't the same flat chairs of the LS430. They both seem to have a ton of adjustments.
M
Only when Toronto's traffic control officers go on strike.
My first 335i test drive was with a manual and I had difficulty noticing any turbo lag. My second test drive was with a automatic and the lag I felt was very subtle (hardly noticeable).
Surprisingly I was even impressed with the automatic 335i. Not as impressive as the DSG tranny in the Audi A3, but good enough.
That may very well be the case. But apparently most Lexus fans here felt their SWB LS was comparable or even superior to the S and 7. Carter, the head spin-doctor of Lexus thinks otherwise.
And when a Lexus official says the IS is a 3-series competitor, you can't wait to ignore that?
Can you make the line any squigglier?
DrFill
The autorags tended to do comparos that lumped the LS430 into the same class as the S and 7. Wouldn't that make the LS430 a HELM in their eyes?
If the LS430 wasnt't a HELM, was the S320/350 also not a HELM?
I am just quoting Carter himself.
Carter hyped the IS, GS and the upcoming SWB/LWB/hybrid LS. There is nothing here to squiggle or to straighten here.
He is paid to hype. His views on older LS models are more sincere since he is not paid to hype older LS models.
Based on his previous press conferences on the introductions of the IS and GS ,I have learned to take his words about the upcoming LS with a grain of salt.
you should send your letter to the top guy at Lexus!
Carter himself thinks 7 and S shoppers have paid little attention to the LS. Carter and German Car Fans seem to share the same opinion. Is that mere coincidence? I dont think so.
Reality Bites!
Good point, but those features are now fairly common. Consider that even a Honda Civic can now do the same thing.
The original iDrive's complexity has been well-known and apparently will be addressed with the next version. We'll see, and keep our fingers crossed.
TagMan
I just want to switch from FM to AM one way without having to audit a graduate computer science course.
BMW has to change this. There has been a unanimous collective cry from everybody who has reviewed the 5 and 7 series to the many unhappy consumers enduring this major blemish on these otherwise very fine vehicles.
At the very least, iDrive and the radio should be made mutually exclusive.
BY COMPARISON, is the point. The new LS460 is so much better than the LS430 (from the perspective of Lexus), that the LS430 is paled by comparison. Only in that spirit, does it (the LS430) become less of a HELM.
Before the LS460 became a reality, the LS430 was still a reasonable achievement by Lexus. It's just that the LS460 is so much better. The point (with the LS460) is "now we've arrived".
The LS430 has certainly qualified to be a HELM, and any suggestion otherwise is BS, or else such a suggestion can only have merit as a rhetorical means to illuminate the greatness of the LS460 by comparison (not by my opinion, mind you).
TagMan
I have driven the 2005 LS430 and have been disappointed.
I will drive the LS460 in November at one of the "Taste" events.
I remember quite vividly what turned me off about the 2005 LS430 and I will definitely be able to tell if the new one is better.
I look forward to the experience and I sincerely hope the LS460 is a better vehicle.
(I do hope they got rid of that annoying lag when stepping on the accelerator).
Sorry, but I don't find it hard to say at this point that the LS460 is probably better, based upon all the feedback so far.
I'm certainly not forming any major "in-stone" personal opinions about the vehicle yet, because I am reserving my final opinions until I have put the car through the paces. But, I'll pretty much bet the ranch that this LS460 is an improvement over the outgoing LS430. At the same token, I am not expecting it to be giant leaps beyond the previous car.
The point I made earlier was that the Lexus engineers and executives certainly without hesitation think the vehicle is much, much better, and it was in that spirit of comparison between the new and improved LS460L and the outgoing LS430, that the statement was made to suggest that the LS430 was not up to snuff. Only by comparison.
BTW, did I misunderstand merc's post, or did he indicate that the LS460L is an improved car compared to the LS430, in his opinion, of course, which was based upon test driving, which you say none of us has done? :P
TagMan
Nope, just saying that it backs up what I've said about LS430 all along, it played in the HELM space in size, but not in price (or styling) which is why all that sales nonsense we've had to hear about all these years was just that nonsense. You should be asking your fellow Lexus fans why they aren't here to shout and give amens to what a Lexus official says, they do any other time.
And when a Lexus official says the IS is a 3-series competitor, you can't wait to ignore that?
Not my issue, talk to guys on the ELLPS board, they'll tell you that the IS isn't even close to the 3-Series. I'm not as hardcore as those guys, how could I be when I'm a Benz fan, the land of very few manuals!
I think the IS is definitely a competitor to the 3-Series, but until they get the suspension tunning right and give it that manual to please the shifting crowd it won't be seen as one to those guys, but me personally I like the IS350, but I wouldn't try to go over there and float the idea of it being superior to a G35 or 335i as a sports sedan.
Please don't talk to me about squiggly lines, that is the official practice of your camp! They switch allegiances every month depending on what type of review a Lexus gets!
I can't help it if Lexus' folks are starting to become like GM's people by making comments about their upcoming models that don't hold water, i.e. the GS vs. 5-Series.
M
M
Well I've driven the LS460L and I can tell you it is way better than the LS430. It doesn't exactly keel over in corners like the LS430 did, it has better seats, it even looks much better in LWB form. It has a gang more features, accelerates like it is powered by hydraulics, and is roomier. It is a stunning improvement over the previous car, there I said it. Bias, what bias?
However if you're expecting it to drive like a BMW then you're going to be letdown, it is luxury cruiser first and it really doesn't pretend to be anything else IMO.
M
Some of us appreciate these things.
TagMan
M
C&D says 0-60 in 4.8 seconds with the stick!
Heck with any child seats . . . better get helmets for the rest of the family.
link title
Congratulations again.
TagMan
M
The regular 3 is now truly awesome.
I believe the next M3 will pack a V-8, yes?
TagMan