I recently started having real needs for second row comfort and none of our cars fit the job. How does LS500 do as a chauffeur car? LS with luxury/executive package are almost non-existent in US so there are only normal 5-seat versions available. LS500 depreciate surprisingly fast so most 2021-2023 cars are very cheap. I've thought of getting a GX460. Would the extra space and SUV seating position make up for its unsophisticated chassis (compared to the LS of course)? I plan to keep it long term so I won't be getting a S-class or 7 series.
If you want something quantifiable… it’s hard to put numbers to comfort, but compared to a GS the difference is very obvious. On rough roads, the LS basically cuts down the harshness by like 20–30%.
In daily driving terms:
- On a GS, you still feel the little road chatter.
- On an LS, those tiny vibrations pretty much disappear.
- A big bump that would feel like a real “thud” in the GS turns into just a normal soft “dong” in the LS.
Body roll is more noticeable than the GS, for sure, but that’s just part of how the LS is tuned. These are just the differences I consistently feel between the two.
But that said - if you’re expecting that super-floaty “couch on wheels / land yacht” softness like old-school American luxury cars… this generation LS is not like that (SG’s comment about it being a Lincoln Town Car felt a bit exaggerated, but not entirely wrong), and honestly will never be that. It’s more of a supportive softness, not a marshmallow. But definitely softer than GS for sure.
For context, I’m comparing a GS with AVS to an LS (post 2021) with the air-suspension AVS setup.
