Rants and Raves
DAVE VANDERWERP
The LS460 is pretty much what we've come to expect from Toyota/Lexus. It's a perfectly rational car that competes in every measurable way with the competition: horsepower, features, comfort, and technology. But the one thing Lexus can't seem to nail is driver involvement. The intangible feel and feedback from the controls that a driver gets from a car like a BMW 3-series isn't matched by any Lexus or Toyota currently sold. Clearly, not everyone wants involvement from his or her car, as evidenced by the LS's strong sales history that far outpaces sales of the more involving Audi A8. As enthusiasts, however, we can't help thinking of the LS as an aspirational car for people who love their Cadillac DTS.
ALISA PRIDDLE
This car is almost too comfortable—I was in danger of nodding off on a long straight highway commute. There are some serious potholes on I-75 in Detroit near the bridge to Canada—the kind that remove fillings—and this is the first car in some time that seemed to float right over them. I didn't even realize I had hit this usually memorable stretch of quasi-pavement until after the fact.
I was less enthusiastic about the adaptive cruise control. The concept is appealing, putting the onus on the car to slow down when you come up on a car in front of you, giving the right foot a break on a long cruise home. But the distance allowed between cars, even at the shortest setting, is too great, making the feature pretty much unusable unless you enjoy letting every imaginable vehicle slide in ahead of you.
Download this car's window sticker for pricing information.
