Sal Collaziano

I'm mostly interested in the ridiculously soft leather that came with this version. I'm also curious about other differences came about with this version. But I'm mostly curious about the year.. Was it 2001? It doesn't have the stiffer suspension. Does it? If so, can you get it Without it?

splogue

The Ultras became available starting in 2001, from the start of the 2001 redesign.

There are two kinds of leather for the Ultra: black semi-aniline, and ecru. The black leather should be softer as it is dyed rather than coated. The ecru is coated because leather can't be dyed white. It is very soft, though. Both of them have leather all over the place, not just the seats. Synthetic suede headliner, too.

All the Ultras come with self-leveling air suspension, which is selectable between normal and sport, and can be set to high to raise the car a little more than an inch for snow or bad roads. And all the options, of course, including power rear sunshade and manual rear window shades, laser cruise control, heated and cooled front seats, heat and massage in the powered rear seats (with memory), rear AC with controls. Rear stereo controls. Small cold box for drinks. Powered door closers, and trunk closer. There's more I'm forgetting, I'm sure.

Sean

squarehat

I knew that the UL had semi-aniline leather available (vs. the standard topcoated). I didn't realize it was only on certain colors. Wasn't there a dark red leather called Bordeaux (at least on the '01) that was matched with the Black Cherry Pearl exterior? Was that semi-aniline or topcoated? Wasn't there a darker beige, too?

Sorry for all of the questions, but I've always been intrigued by the leather on the LS. It looks like for '04 it's become even more complicated, there are three grades, standard, perforated, and perforated semi-aniline, and some colors are only available in certain grades (which are in turn tied to certain packages). For example, I know the rare Saddle color is only available in the middle grade.

splogue

There was a dark red color, but the Ultras only came with black or ecru interiors, with dark red wood and gray wood, respectively. The dark red was an interesting leather color, particularly with the black cherry exterior. But, the interior trim on those cars is a purple color. A bit too much red and purple, in my opinion -- looks a little strange for a big luxury car. And it isn't aniline -- only the black leather Ultras have that.

The leather on all the Ultras is perforated. It has to be for the heated and cooled seats to work, as they push heated (or cooled) air through the holes. In later years, they started making the heated/cooled seats available as an option on the non-Ultra cars, and that's when the perforated leather started showing up, as they must be used together.

Sean

LS430inTX

Mmm-kay. A few clarifications are in order:

For the '03 model year - The Custom and Ultra Luxury options had a choice of Ecru Luxury Leather, Bordeaux Luxury Aniline, and Black Luxury Aniline. All came with perforations (required by the climate controlled seats). The "base" model had a choice of Ecru, Light Charcoal, Black, or Ivory. None of these were "luxury" or "Aniline" and none had perforations unless equiped with the climate controlled seats which was optional for the base model. There was no such thing as "semi-aniline"in the '03. The word Aniline refers to a particular dye process and is typically applicable to very dark dyes. It does *not* refer to a particular "grade" or quality of leather. I believe the aniline dye used is of a natural, organic origin rather than a man-made chemical. As for the suede headliner and pillars, it is genuine, not synthetic. Also, the wood trim is genuine and was different for the Custom and Ultra models. They got a choice of Ecru Birdseye Maple(looks like grey marble) or Bordeaux Birdseye Maple while the base models had a choice of Golden Birdseye Maple, or California Walnut.

For the '04 model year - I read where there wer changes in the leather for the The Custom and Ultra Luxury options. And if the sales brochure is accurate, the leather is neither "luxury" or "aniline". (This may be a choice of words for the new brochure rather than reflect reality.) The C & U models have a choice of Ecru, Saddle, or Black. All have perforations for the climate controlled seats. The base models have a choice of Cashmere, Ash, or Black. Again, perforations are only present when equipped with the climate controlled seats. Wood options are Antiqued Walnut or Golden Birdseye Maple for the C & U models while the base gets Golden Birdseye Maple or Walnut.

For the '03 model, the Ultra has every factory option available. The Custom has everything the Ultra has *except* the Adaptive Air Suspension and the Rear Seat Luxury Group (which includes manual rear door sunshades, rear A/C, power reclining rear seats, heated rear seats, power rear headrests, rear seat audio controls, cool box, Air filtration, Rear seat massagers, rear seat memory)

Sal Collaziano

Thank you for all the replies. Wow - this can certainly get complicated..

LS430inTX

Oh yeah, I forgot one other difference. The Ultra comes with LexusLink. It's optional for all the other models.

squarehat

Going to the "Build Your Own" for the '04 LS, I see "Luxury Aniline" listed in "Custom Luxury Selection with Additional Options--$9,244.00" Interesting that the Ultra doesn't have "Luxury Aniline"--just "Perforated Luxury Leather"

Wait--it gets more complicated! When building a sample Ultra Lux LS, the screen lets me choose between "Ecru Luxury Perforated Leather" and "Saddle Luxury Comfort Perforated Nappa Leather" In contrast, when building a base model, it's just called "Ash Leather" Finally, building a Custom Lux with "Additional Options", I was able to build a car with Black Luxury Perforated Aniline Leather."

In sum, it looks like there are FOUR grades of leather for the '04, depending on color and option package selected (still baffles me that Aniline is available on the Custom Lux but not Ultra Lux):

Leather Trim
Luxury Perforated Leather Trim
Luxury Comfort Perforated Nappa Leather Trim (may only be Saddle color)
Aniline Leather Trim (only black color, only on Custom Lux).

LS430inTX

"perforated" and "aniline" are *not* grades of leather.

EdSpider

For 2004:

The Ultra/Custom choose from preforated ecru (pale ivory), saddle(orangey med tan) or black. All are perforated since that trim level always has climate controlled seats. Among them, black costs more and has the extra label - aniline.

The Base, Premium, Modern choose from cashmere(light tan), ash(med grey) or black. None are aniline. If the car has climate seating, the leather will be preforated.

Personally, I don't like the holes in the seat and I'd rather have a resistance fast acting hot heated seats. I find the climate controlled seats almost worthless. But I buy ultras so I'm stuck with them.

For 2001:

The Ultra interiors were either ecru or black. The ecru came with this kind of grey toned wood. The black wood was named after a common wine. Both were a bit avant garde for the US LS market and I believe were quickly discontinued. The Japanese market really liked the odd wood colors.

squarehat

Okay, I agree that the "Leather Trim" and "Perforated Leather Trim" are the same top-dyed leather. However, from all of my research on leather, products using full aniline dying process need to start with a higher quality hide, as imperfections can't be hidden easily like those with dye sprayed on top. So cars with aniline leather may have higher-quality hide. I'm still trying to figure out what Lexus means with the Nappa descriptor.

iDunno2k3

Is the exterior color dependent on the interior color choices?
I am thinking about getting a silver exterior with black/cherry interior.

EdSpider

Yes, the exterior color determines what subsets of interiors you can get. And the trim level also affects your options. The brochure spells it out. The lexus web site build your own also helps, but I noticed the web site doesn't let me build a flint mica w/black - but I know that's allowed. It might be that since I entered a chicago zip code it took that combo away. I say that since I will have waited over 100 days to get it. So there must be a supply shortage for that color combo.