Bon voyage, LS460. Hello LS500

[Berto3818]

Cant wait until the LS F comes out. I seen a 4ls today while at the gym... and while it is a very nice car... I just think the 5LS is much much better... I don't see how that 4.6 v8 is better than the 3.5...

 

[Ian Schmidt]

Today's new find: I finally read the manual to figure out how to set up the air suspension. And I gotta say, with it on "high" it's *significantly* easier to get in and out of the car. It's less than a 2 inch raise, and basically imperceptible inside the car, but it effectively makes the door cutouts taller right where they need it. Very clever use of tech to work around styling.

 

[Berto3818]

@Ian Schmidt how do you activate it? Key flob or through the console?

I need to know

 

[Ian Schmidt]

There's a manual up/down button on the center console, but the full configuration is in one of the menus in the speedometer section that you get to with the D-pad on the left side of the steering wheel. You can set it up in the menus to auto-raise when the doors unlock and lower again when the car starts moving, which is probably the most useful setting.

 

[Berto3818]

@Ian Schmidt it says air suspension?

 

[Ian Schmidt]

The manual button has an outline of a car with an up arrow in it, which didn't immediately register to me what it does. In the setup menus there's a specific Setup section (which I think you can only access when the car's in park). Refer to your manual for details when you get one

 

[Berto3818]

Awesome @Ian Schmidt !!! How’s that TTV6?

 

[Berto3818]

@Ian Schmidt time for some new pics my friend!!!!!

 

[Rockville]

My experience with the handling of this car creates the biggest contrast from the LS460/LS460L. I totally concur with Ian.
The LS460L in fact had quite a bit of nose dive on hard braking. It had some squat on hard acceleration too. In hard cornering it had body tilt and the boat moniker applied. Those attributes are gone bye bye and this is a fun car to drive. It maintains a relatively flat posture for a sedan this large. It is an inch larger than the previous long wheelbase model. The driver position gives accurate feedback when cornering. This inspires confidence. No longer a flabby luxobarge but an athletic cruiser looking for a high speed venue to let the ten speed use those gears.

 

[Berto3818]

@Rockville you forgot one thing!! Perfect write up except that the TTV6 crushes the 4.6 v8 in all aspects!! I’m sure @Ian Schmidt would agree.


R,

Markus

 

[Rockville]

@Rockville you forgot one thing!! Perfect write up except that the TTV6 crushes the 4.6 v8 in all aspects!! I’m sure @Ian Schmidt would agree.


R,

Markus

For the sake of brevity I purposely did not mention the power plant change. There is tradition and also there is Kaizen. The latter is incremental improvement that fine tunes the design and over time it becomes the best version. This has been a credo of Lexus design since the beginning. In a lot of instances it is the process that is fine tuned over time by those that perform the manufacturing. The LS430 had the fewest problems in initial quality for about a decade when compared to any other model in the world as measured by JD Power. Remember the pursuit of perfection? Taichi Ono began this philosophy at Toyota in the mid 1950’s and now their lean production methods are used in many industries. There is a statue of Edward Demming at the factory who pioneered these ideas in the 1940’s.

Then there is innovation. This is starting with a blank sheet of paper and designing something completely different and sometimes opposed to the previous standard. Lexus has matured to this point during 3 decades of design. When the LFA prototype was made mostly from aluminum alloy they scrapped it because it was not the lightest material available. Lexus at that point had not manufactured carbon fiber components. They had to experiment and create those large circular weaving machines that eventually would create carbon fiber A Pillars. The LFA powerplant stayed with the normally aspirated but high revving V10 with 5 Liter displacement. The sound of this revving can induce mind altering effects.

Not only are we seeing a trend away from large V8, V10 and V12 powerplants but possibly the end of the combustion engine era. The new twin turbo V6 increases torque and acceleration and reduces fuel consumption. The hybrid powertrain though not as exciting is certainly adequate for driving the roads that the LS500 will be found on. If they would have dropped the new TTV6 into the previous LS long wheelbase it couldn’t have handled the extra power in both cornering and braking. If they decide to make an F version of the LS the new suspension could handle the increase. The established 471 HP 5.0 or possibly a new twin turbo V8 could be employed. I am optimistic that will happen on the LC which could reach supercar velocities.

The backdrop of this time is the ever changing fuel efficiency requirements mandated by the Obama administration. Because Lexus makes so many hybrids it has an enviable fleet average. If you really want to meet the projected fuel and emission standards then you have to use some type of electrical drivetrain. Lexus has developed a hydrogen fuel cell that can be employed in passenger vehicles or freight trucks. The fuel cell does not require long charging downtimes like batteries do.
The only problem is that no hydrogen infrastructure exits where you could find fuel. Hydrogen is usually sourced from methane so the petroleum industry would still be the primary supplier. The trend worldwide is to just plug into the existing power grid and a lot of drivers would have their needs met without a huge infrastructure change. Talk about torque!