Hold onto your hats because this may be the boldest claim you will hear in quite awhile, but the Lexus LS 460 just may be the best model ever made by Lexus. Now, since we are discussing a vehicle manufacturer that prides itself on quality and craftsmanship, that’s quite a claim, but nonetheless it may well prove to be accurate.
In the LS 460 we have a full-size luxury sedan that has already improved on its predecessor, the LS 430, a fine car in its own right. What the folks at Lexus did was add extra horsepower and fill this baby with enough technological innovations to satisfy any car aficionado or for that matter any science fiction aficionado too. Need proof? This Japanese import parks itself! With its Advanced Parking Guidance System parallel parking is as easy as pushing a button. Not impressed yet? How about the first mass marketed eight-speed automatic transmission that smoothly shifts through options as the 4.6-liter V8 sends out 380 horsepower?
The Lexus LS 460 is priced competitively with the big boys from Europe and to sweeten the pot the Lexus engineers have added some serious high-tech toys. You can have a hard drive-based navigation system with real-time traffic and a back-up camera. You can heat your seats or cool your seats and you can change seating options, have cooled storage, toss in a DVD entertainment center and recline in an ottoman.
The high-tech stuff is fun but what Lexus offers in the LS460 is comfort and luxury first and foremost. This may well be the quietest luxury sedan on the market, further adding to the feeling of “fantasy” or “fictional” when riding in it. The power supplied can get you from 0-60 in a very respectable 5.8 seconds, the lush seating and high-quality interior design practically screams luxury, and the insistence of Japanese engineers to create nothing but the best leaves you feeling pretty darn regal.
The Lexus LS 460 debuted in 2007 and has only improved with each year. While other competitors in the full-size luxury field may lay claim to having a slightly more “sporty” or “sexy” drive because of their handling capabilities, none of them can match the sheer comfort and/or serenity of the LS 460.
It seems that one rarely hears a negative about a Lexus vehicle but one constantly hears superlatives about them. That is not by accident, not some anomaly in the automotive world. Lexus vehicles are made with luxury in mind and they are made with a degree of craftsmanship one used to only associate with the finest German or British cars. A standing “O” is in order for the people at Lexus for not being satisfied with the status quo.