5th Generation (2018+) Lexus LS 500 & LS 500h Megathread

Madi

Madi

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sl0519 said:

Unfortunately the test car is an AWD model, and that really hammers the result. I recall when straightpipe did a video on the TT LS with AWD configuration, they did mention the AWD system always keeps the leash on you for having any sort of fun or getting out of sort. I'm very curious to see how a RWD model fares on the same test track. The body motion looks totally in control to me, so the cause of the low speed really comes down to heavy understeer (and partially, the weight is to be blamed too). The recent savagegeese video inspects the underbody of the facelifted LS, and he commented on the platform sharing most of its resemblance from LC, except many of these components were made in steel instead of aluminum. I feel like they shouldn't save the cost on a flagship model, as it is currently the heaviest vehicle in its class and the weight penalty does hurt in test result.
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It's quite normal for this segment, The all new S-Class test:


Besides AWD has nothing to do with the vehicle handling, in contrary it contributes toward worst result because of the extra weight, but if you ignore the weight, the AWD system has no effect on handling -this is a very common misunderstanding even among auto journalists-
 
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Mhight

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Man they desperately need to bring a V8 to market for the LS. My dad had a 2018 LS500 F Sport that blew 2 motors within 5k miles. The first went at 21k~ miles. The "fix" that Lexus recommended was a new short block but use the old top end. Long story short, it blew up again 5k miles later. Car was lemon'd shortly after. I really hope they introduce a V8 for the next-gen LX. Imo a LX with a V8 won't fly here. My parents who've owned around 25 or so Lexus cars(the vast majority being LXs) from the late 90s til now refuse to buy a Lexus with that V6TT.
 
Gecko

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Mhight said:
Man they desperately need to bring a V8 to market for the LS. My dad had a 2018 LS500 F Sport that blew 2 motors within 5k miles. The first went at 21k~ miles. The "fix" that Lexus recommended was a new short block but use the old top end. Long story short, it blew up again 5k miles later. Car was lemon'd shortly after. I really hope they introduce a V8 for the next-gen LX. Imo a LX with a V8 won't fly here. My parents who've owned around 25 or so Lexus cars(the vast majority being LXs) from the late 90s til now refuse to buy a Lexus with that V6TT.
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Yikes. Can you elaborate a bit more on all of this?
 
F1 Silver Arrows

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Mhight said:
Man they desperately need to bring a V8 to market for the LS. My dad had a 2018 LS500 F Sport that blew 2 motors within 5k miles. The first went at 21k~ miles. The "fix" that Lexus recommended was a new short block but use the old top end. Long story short, it blew up again 5k miles later. Car was lemon'd shortly after. I really hope they introduce a V8 for the next-gen LX. Imo a LX with a V8 won't fly here. My parents who've owned around 25 or so Lexus cars(the vast majority being LXs) from the late 90s til now refuse to buy a Lexus with that V6TT.
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That's bad. This is the first time I have heard about major reliability issues in a Lexus.
 
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Gecko said:
Yikes. Can you elaborate a bit more on all of this?
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Sure. This occurred around early September 2020. Dad and mom in his DB11 and I was following in his LS500 with rest of the fam. Everything was going smooth until at one light the car seemed like it had a hiccup. It felt like either the motor or trans was caught in no man's land. Car had very slight delay in power. Almost all Lexus cars nowadays have this delay but this felt different. As we got into the parking garage I could here slight tick coming from the motor everytime I lifted off throttle. This was maybe at 5-10 mph. In the evening my dad and I switched cars. 45 min drive home and not even 10 min in, the car had terrible rod knock and within seconds the motor seized on the highway. Barely got the car to the shoulder. I hurried back home to switch cars. LS was towed to dealership. Dealership diagnosed it with rod bearing failure. This occurred maybe a week after coming back from routine service. The dealer tried to get Lexus to order a whole new motor but Lexus insisted that a new long block would suffice. After being babied for 5k miles, again on the highway rod knock started and I barely got it home. Towed again to dealer. Same problem. Dealer was amazing. Dad was going to go to meet them and figured he might get some resistance for lemon law. The dealer actually started the lemon law process before we even asked. Car was lemon'd shortly after that.
 
Gecko

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Mhight said:
Sure. This occurred around early September 2020. Dad and mom in his DB11 and I was following in his LS500 with rest of the fam. Everything was going smooth until at one light the car seemed like it had a hiccup. It felt like either the motor or trans was caught in no man's land. Car had very slight delay in power. Almost all Lexus cars nowadays have this delay but this felt different. As we got into the parking garage I could here slight tick coming from the motor everytime I lifted off throttle. This was maybe at 5-10 mph. In the evening my dad and I switched cars. 45 min drive home and not even 10 min in, the car had terrible rod knock and within seconds the motor seized on the highway. Barely got the car to the shoulder. I hurried back home to switch cars. LS was towed to dealership. Dealership diagnosed it with rod bearing failure. This occurred maybe a week after coming back from routine service. The dealer tried to get Lexus to order a whole new motor but Lexus insisted that a new long block would suffice. After being babied for 5k miles, again on the highway rod knock started and I barely got it home. Towed again to dealer. Same problem. Dealer was amazing. Dad was going to go to meet them and figured he might get some resistance for lemon law. The dealer actually started the lemon law process before we even asked. Car was lemon'd shortly after that.
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What a shame. I am really sorry to hear all of this, but glad the dealer got you guys sorted out.
 
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F1 Silver Arrows

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Mhight said:
Sure. This occurred around early September 2020. Dad and mom in his DB11 and I was following in his LS500 with rest of the fam. Everything was going smooth until at one light the car seemed like it had a hiccup. It felt like either the motor or trans was caught in no man's land. Car had very slight delay in power. Almost all Lexus cars nowadays have this delay but this felt different. As we got into the parking garage I could here slight tick coming from the motor everytime I lifted off throttle. This was maybe at 5-10 mph. In the evening my dad and I switched cars. 45 min drive home and not even 10 min in, the car had terrible rod knock and within seconds the motor seized on the highway. Barely got the car to the shoulder. I hurried back home to switch cars. LS was towed to dealership. Dealership diagnosed it with rod bearing failure. This occurred maybe a week after coming back from routine service. The dealer tried to get Lexus to order a whole new motor but Lexus insisted that a new long block would suffice. After being babied for 5k miles, again on the highway rod knock started and I barely got it home. Towed again to dealer. Same problem. Dealer was amazing. Dad was going to go to meet them and figured he might get some resistance for lemon law. The dealer actually started the lemon law process before we even asked. Car was lemon'd shortly after that.
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God I love Lexus dealers. They're world class. I'm so proud that they immediately went through the Lemon Law because they wanted to hold themselves accountable. This is how they build ever better cars.

Basically all LS500's I know of have 0 reliability issues so it's genuinely shocking to see this. Sorry what you guys had to go through.
 
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sl0519

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Berto3818 said:
What is the typically refresh cycle of the LS? Maybe I should have asked it this way.
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Judging by the facelift, I'm guessing it should be 2024 model year? You never know, it might get another "extended" facelift, or even go on a hiatus. After all, this is lexus we are speaking of lol.
Imo, the current LS stands no chance against the S class. Not that the LS is a bad choice by any means, but its competitors are improving at a very fast pace, to the point where the LS is struggling to catch up.
If they were ever to bring a new LS, it has to be cutting edge at every aspect. More powertrain (possibly V8 or twin turbo hybrid?), better ride / handling and NVH, heavy weight reduction, and class leading technologies.
 
Ian Schmidt

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Mhight said:
After being babied for 5k miles, again on the highway rod knock started and I barely got it home. Towed again to dealer. Same problem. Dealer was amazing. Dad was going to go to meet them and figured he might get some resistance for lemon law. The dealer actually started the lemon law process before we even asked. Car was lemon'd shortly after that.
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That's surprising and disappointing to hear. My '18 LS500 has been rock solid, to the extent that I'll be custom-ordering a '22 when they become available. I'm glad the dealer took care of it, although I'd start to wonder with that kind of story if the dealer had contaminated oil going into cars or something. You don't normally see rod bearings go unless there's an oiling issue.
 
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those that know Toyota hybrid know it is one of the best systems, and if one can afford a Toyota/Lexus hybrid as a daily, it is the best choice. obviously for specific cases (heavy duty, performance) diesels and V8s can be a better choice, but even this is changing.

with coming ICEV/HEV restrictions/bans coming (totally irrational decision making by politicians), BEVs/PHEVs will be very important. we now see that TMC will have two first BEVs for Toyota and Lexus. but for now BEVs have quite some inconveniences depending on various factors.

in order to have the long travel distance freedon of ICEVs/HEVs, but also the political/urban freedom of BEVs, PHEVs will have quite some advantages during the +10 year BEV transition, and having HEV+BEV will also not always be the most practical and financially economic solution.
[a BEV for running local errands is fine, but the price is not low for most and really limited. a second car, a HEV is also limited if at you far destination you need a BEV, because you HEV is banned].

so while some might want an LS with TTV8 instead of TTV6, because they yet have the freedom for it, and for enthusiasts the car will still be no track weapon as for example RCF can be, a PHEV might be the most important LS version for Lexus to have.

the BEV market will be covered by the LFZ/RX for the time being, and while HEVs truly reduce emissions compared to pure ICEVs, the pseudo-environmentalists to not take that into consideration and will not give HEVs any advantage. a PHEV LS will enable under these circumstances to have quite an advantage, that is of course in condition the owner can charge at home, but a BEVs does not fit some travel criteria.

but maybe I am mistaken, and the LS should not be that car, the ES must be that car, a PHEV with advantage of ICEV and BEV (because of urban ban).


PS: why the pessimism? because politicians (backed by whom?) are really capable of doing the biggest nonsense, because of citizens' compliance and acceptance of anything.
 
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Tragic Bronson

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F1 Silver Arrows said:
God I love Lexus dealers. They're world class. I'm so proud that they immediately went through the Lemon Law because they wanted to hold themselves accountable. This is how they build ever better cars.
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Eh, there a few dealers that fall through the cracks. I recall a fiasco at a dealer in Phoenix as one member from that other L website went through some drama with them over his LS, and Lexus corporate had to get involved.
 
mikeavelli

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We knew the automated LS was coming, it was tested for years. I think that’s going to be it this gen. I assume it will be full steam ahead for the next gen and offering PHEV, etc and maybe stage 3 by then.

I gotta post my teammate stuff, it was impressive. Made me feel just get a hybrid instead of a F Sport.
 
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