Reviews: The Fifth Generation (XF50) Lexus LS

[Tragic Bronson]

 

[maiaramdan]

they did not say that at all... they asked about tt engine and he told them it wasnt ready at the time... It wont get 3.5tt anytime soon too, what would be the point of it?

Yes they didn't say exactly but it was clear reference from the words that the 3.5TT was the original hybrid source and been replaced because of timing

 

[Madi]

The constant droning sound (in sport/sport+) made by the multi-stage hybrid is a terrible engineering oversight. It's downright annoying and shouldn't occur on a flagship sedan (hybrids are supposed to be quiet!). Even the 3GS hybrid wasn't this bad. Whoever signed off the project needs to be sacked.

@ssun30
It's not now about who signed it off, now it's more about how Lexus will fix it

Lexus known to be brave as the recall they did with the first gen. LS in it's first selling year

So we will see how & when they will fix it

Why all of that ? solving the issue is't hard at all

I saw the issue in person, it's the issue of unrefined transmission mapping and solving it is too easy.

1- Develop new mapping
2- Issue the new mapping through an ECM/TCM software update

These updates can change the transmission behavior completely, especially the part of CVT control and the multi stage device control.

From an engineering point of view, this system is a marvel, the efficiency it gave and the fun to drive -If you program it right - are remarkable !

 

[krew]

The constant droning sound (in sport/sport+) made by the multi-stage hybrid is a terrible engineering oversight. It's downright annoying and shouldn't occur on a flagship sedan (hybrids are supposed to be quiet!). Even the 3GS hybrid wasn't this bad. Whoever signed off the project needs to be sacked.

Didn't hear any droning when driving the new LS, but wasn't crazy about the hybrid transmission. Seemed to hold gears (both real and virtual) for too long. Afterwards, I chalked it up to driving in the wrong model and not realizing it.

Regardless, much preferred the TTV6 LS 500.

 

[maiaramdan]

Everyone so far praises the 3.5TT V6 model either transmission, engine or even the stability

I hope they can really fix the h because this will be the main and in some countries the only contender within the EU

 

[spwolf]

Yes they didn't say exactly but it was clear reference from the words that the 3.5TT was the original hybrid source and been replaced because of timing

it is just misinterpentation, just like Aussie and UK media claimed there will be Turbo for GT86 for last 6-7 years.

 

[maiaramdan]

Got your point

 

[ssun30]

Didn't hear any droning when driving the new LS, but wasn't crazy about the hybrid transmission. Seemed to hold gears (both real and virtual) for too long. Afterwards, I chalked it up to driving in the wrong model and not realizing it.

Regardless, much preferred the TTV6 LS 500.

Didn't find the 500h quiet enough when I test drove it, maybe I've driven an EV long enough to set too high expectations for the 500h. The 450h comparison could be because of a change in expectations.

 

[spwolf]

Didn't find the 500h quiet enough when I test drove it, maybe I've driven an EV long enough to set too high expectations for the 500h. The 450h comparison could be because of a change in expectations.

is there actually a difference between LS500h and LC500h implementation of powertrain? I always assumed they purposely built it so you feel and hear it more, like you would a petrol engine in sportier car. Afterall, most of them will not go to USA, only 10% will be hybrids there, they are going to other markets where they are trying to get sporty vibe.

 

[Ian Schmidt]

Took my LS460 in for regular maintenance today and scored a test drive of a regular LS500 (Caviar Mica exterior, Parchment seats, Noble Brown dash), plus the thick magazine-like brochure for it. It was the salesman's first LS500 test drive too; he said he had already sold one to an LS460 owner who traded it in for a 500 sight unseen based solely on the Internet coverage.

My impressions: the car has a real presence in person that doesn't register in photos and videos. The added sparkle effect from the Caviar Mica vs the old plain Caviar adds some nice bling on sunny days.

The interior is every bit as good as you think from the pictures and then some. Everything feels very premium, and the turn signal stalk now has a nice clicky positive detent that feels a bit more solid. The front seats (didn't try the back) feel great, there's more adjustability than before on the temperature (plus the good old Auto setting), and the massage feature is OMG amazing. Seriously, even if you can't or don't want to buy one, go on a test drive and try the massage feature. The map graphics are noticeably upgraded from my 2015 and a bit more readable, and you already know how things are with the touchpad. The steering wheel had a plus and a minus: on the plus side, the heater in it now heats the entire wheel and not just the sides. On the minus side, it's smaller than before and not quite as lux looking.

The driving experience is great. All worries about the TTV6 evaporated the first time I smacked the gas pedal from a full stop and the car leapt off the line in a way the LS460 simply is incapable of. Power delivery was authoritative and silky smooth all the way up to 90 MPH (hopefully no police are reading this ). The extra length didn't make itself known in the driving experience, including parking, and the experience was overall more sporty. Ride quality was a little less smooth than the 4LS, but not by much, and once I turned on the massage I didn't care.

Bottom line: hell yes I'm getting one as soon as I'm able to.

 

[mikeavelli]

Took my LS460 in for regular maintenance today and scored a test drive of a regular LS500 (Caviar Mica exterior, Parchment seats, Noble Brown dash), plus the thick magazine-like brochure for it. It was the salesman's first LS500 test drive too; he said he had already sold one to an LS460 owner who traded it in for a 500 sight unseen based solely on the Internet coverage.

My impressions: the car has a real presence in person that doesn't register in photos and videos. The added sparkle effect from the Caviar Mica vs the old plain Caviar adds some nice bling on sunny days.

The interior is every bit as good as you think from the pictures and then some. Everything feels very premium, and the turn signal stalk now has a nice clicky positive detent that feels a bit more solid. The front seats (didn't try the back) feel great, there's more adjustability than before on the temperature (plus the good old Auto setting), and the massage feature is OMG amazing. Seriously, even if you can't or don't want to buy one, go on a test drive and try the massage feature. The map graphics are noticeably upgraded from my 2015 and a bit more readable, and you already know how things are with the touchpad. The steering wheel had a plus and a minus: on the plus side, the heater in it now heats the entire wheel and not just the sides. On the minus side, it's smaller than before and not quite as lux looking.

The driving experience is great. All worries about the TTV6 evaporated the first time I smacked the gas pedal from a full stop and the car leapt off the line in a way the LS460 simply is incapable of. Power delivery was authoritative and silky smooth all the way up to 90 MPH (hopefully no police are reading this ). The extra length didn't make itself known in the driving experience, including parking, and the experience was overall more sporty. Ride quality was a little less smooth than the 4LS, but not by much, and once I turned on the massage I didn't care.

Bottom line: hell yes I'm getting one as soon as I'm able to.

I like that last sentence!!

 

[Tragic Bronson]

Flamboyant Lexus LS 500 lives large

In 1989, “The Simpsons” debuted on television, the Tigers were mired in a rebuilding year and the fall of the Berlin Wall promised the end of the Cold War. Thirty years later, and the Simpsons are still America’s family, the Tigers are again reinventing themselves and Russian relations are colder than a Michigan spring.

But before you think we’re in a “Groundhog Day” movie loop, gaze upon the all-new Lexus LS 500 sedan. This is not your father’s LS.

The year 1989 was also notable, of course, for the debut of the LS 500 — at the Detroit auto show — as Lexus’ flagship. True to Japanese stereotype, the LS was a cheaper knock-off of the luxury segment’s state-of-the-art Mercedes S-Class. Same upright grille with rectangular, encased headlights. Same long, slab sides. Same gray rocker panels, same rectangular taillights, same leather-wrapped interior.

Toyota’s premium brand built its reputation on bulletproof reliability, slavish customer service and wallet-friendly pricing. Design was an afterthought.

Not anymore.

Once again using Motown’s show as its backdrop, Lexus’ all-new, fifth-gen LS hit the stage in January like Bette Midler belting out “Hello, Dolly!” This Lexus had brass, sass and a personality all its own. And like any Broadway diva, the result is a polarizing talent that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

My 2018 tester arrived in the driveway with a cowcatcher grille bigger than a steam locomotive.

The spindle grille has become Lexus signature. It graces everything from the enormous mask on the RDX ute (a face only Darth Vader could love) to the artful sculpture on the racy Lexus LC 500 sports coupe. The LS’s sci-fi grille is somewhere in between — neither pretty nor hideous. Flanked by “Z” headlights, it is a galaxy away from the Mercedes’ classic facial bone structure.

“It’s a handsome car except for the grille,” said a friend. “The grille’s ugly, but the back is nice,” another friend said of the derriere’s bold, horizontal lines interrupted only by a chrome drip (another Lexus signature) at the corner taillights.

Indeed, the Lexus is a bit of a split personality, like Tommy Lee in a tuxedo. Elegantly radical.

In between its “ugly” face and “nice” tush are a coupe-roofed, rear-wheel-drive-proportioned sedan draped over a 123-inch (a foot longer than the 1989 model) wheelbase. In contrast with the RDX which demands an opinion from every angle, the rocker panels and door handles are conservatively conventional.

The dual personality continues inside. From the get-go the LS was a tech geek, sporting breakthroughs in 1989 like an automatic tilt-and-telescope steering wheel and vibration-insulating rubber mounts. My loaded, all-wheel drive $103,635 tester checked every box on the car geek’s wish-list including kick-open rear trunk, world’s-largest heads-up display, drive modes, air suspension, 28-way massaging seats and flux capacitor (just kidding about that last one, “Back to the Future” fans).

But then Lexus goes too far with a touch-pad operated infotainment screen that will drive you bonkers. Mrs. Payne nearly took a tire iron to the mouse-controlled display of the Lexus GS on a recent journey to West Virginia so, naturally, Lexus made the LS controls even more diabolical.

Trying to navigate the haptic touchpad while traveling is like moving target practice. To make matters worse, Lexus buries features in the screen like heated seats that most automakers locate on the console. The LS console is a sleek piece of uncluttered art — at least until frustrated passengers start gouging it with blunt objects.

My wife tried adjusting her heated seats with the touch pad while I drove and soon threw her hands up in frustration. Naturally, the Lexus features an advanced safety system — no doubt to help drivers distracted by the maddening touchpad — that has its own issues. Like other Level 2 systems, “Safety System Plus” triangulates adaptive cruise-control, lane-keep assist and blind-spot assist to create a cocoon of self-driving comfort on freeways. Until it doesn’t.

Like Tesla’s Autopilot, SS+ will simply stop working when it can’t make out road lines or center itself in the lane. That means you have to be alert, lest the system takes a coffee break. It’s a toy, not a tool.

Happily, there is the back seat for when the front gets too stressful. In fact, I would recommend going everywhere with two couples to gain the full LS experience. Touchpad driving you batty? Time to switch with the rear passengers!

Equip your LS with the $12,270 luxury package and you won’t regret it. In addition to the aforementioned, 28-way front thrones, you get reclining, 18-way heated rear sofa chairs with power window shades, a seven-inch touchscreen controller (Hooray, no touchpad!) and Ultrasuede liner.

My chocolate Ultrasuede door liner looked like it had been applied with a cake knife, its sugary material shaped with scalloped swirls. I gained 10 pounds just looking at it.

The touchscreen controller not only heats and reclines your own seat, but moves the front passenger seat forward for extra space (oops, still got room up there?) and controls the front radio (“CNN? I’ll switch to Fox News, thank you very much!”). Opt for the $1,000 panoramic roof and you can also control how much sun you get. Aaaah, that’s the life.

The Adaptive Variable Suspension also makes for a carpeted ride back there, electronically adapting to Detroit’s worst roads. On a double date, our chauffeured friends paused from licking the chocolate suede to notice how uncommonly smooth was the drive down the pothole-pocked Lodge service drive.

Naturally, the Lexus also has split driving personalities.

Determined to match its hair-raising design with goosebump-raising performance, the all-new architecture is lower, lighter and more nimble. Give the big bull’s right horn (sprouting from the cockpit cowl) a twist and you are in Sport Plus mode: springs-stiffened, 10-speed tranny optimized, growling 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 at the ready.

Open the throttle gates and the 4,938-pound heifer is on the loose, its 442 pound-feet of V-6 torque stampeding across the landscape.

It’s not a the V-8 roar of old — hey, its’ not 1989 anymore. But it has personality, just like the rest of this big, ugly, handsome, relaxing, maddening Japanese land yacht. The new Lexus is still cheaper than a Mercedes, still leads five-year cost-of-ownership lists and still speaks geek. But it’s never boring.

Report card

Highs: Unique design; palatial back seat

Lows: Maddening remote touch-pad screen controller; clunky auto downshifts at low speed

Overall:★★★

Grading scale Excellent ★★★★ Good ★★★ Fair ★★ Poor ★

 

[meth.ix]

^ lol they said the LS 500 was debuted in 1989

 

[Ian Schmidt]

They also called the RX the RDX. Twice!

I do like the review overall though. The 5LS is many things, and "boring" is none of them.

 

[Tragic Bronson]

 

[Tragic Bronson]

Pretty critical review from Motor Trend (no longer on Youtube LOL)
http://www.motortrend.com/cars/lexus/ls/2018/2018-lexus-ls-500-f-sport-awd-review/

CNET:
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/auto/2018-lexus-ls-500/review/

 

[meth.ix]

Don't get why MT compared the LS F-Sport with the S63...

 

[mikeavelli]

Don't get why MT compared the LS F-Sport with the S63...

The article was so weird. Does the writer have no clue what to compare it agains. The S class has a sport package option.

Seems every article mentions "adequate" power and turbo lag. They got 0-60 in 5.2 seconds, way off the Lexus claim.

We need a V-8. bad.

 

[Levi]

The article was so weird. Does the writer have no clue what to compare it agains. The S class has a sport package option.

Seems every article mentions "adequate" power and turbo lag. They got 0-60 in 5.2 seconds, way off the Lexus claim.

We need a V-8. bad.

First they say they want turbo, then they complain about lag. I really doubt that is turbo lag, in the way it cannot be any worse than Germans, that have not anti-lag tech. It has more to do with throttle calibration. NA engines can have lag, throttle lag, because they are drive-by-wire, so need calibration.

 

[Ian Schmidt]

Isn't the TTV6 supposed to have some fancy tech on the turbos to avoid lag anyway? I can't say that I noticed any when I was test driving the 500, and I did push it pretty hard in a couple of instances.