nelsonatio

As I am currently trying to sell my 2010 Lexus Es I am also looking at the LS trim level.

2008-2010. I would think the AWD is the best bet as far as safety goes and a peace of mind when my wife is driving my kid around.

with a larger price tag on the AWD version, is AWD on the LS really worth it? does it make that much of a difference over the RWD? I live in Chicago so it snows 5-10 days out of the year and can rain 30-50 days a year.

I also test drove the Infiniti M56x. its sharp but it does not feel like true luxury. I also learned the Infiniti is rear wheel drive biased. so it only kicks the front wheels on when it feels it needs to.

is the Lexus AWD system a full time AWD? or is it also rear wheel drive biased?

sydtoosic

If you live in Chicago then AWD would be for you. Yes IMO it's worth it, I would even buy an AWD in a warm climate state... And yes AWD LS is full time, I have one and love it.

Valley101

Have owned two with AWD and concur with opinion above.

Devh

If AWD is a necessity then by all means however keep in mind there are a lot of disadvantages and compromises.

anniversar

I recently purchased my 460L AWD and traded my LS 430. I live in WI and wanted something with better traction for winter. The difference is huge whereas even with snow tires, I had some problems with the LS430, the 460 AWD is like a mountain goat. It is much more controllable when it deliberately get the rear to slide out. We have a very quiet large parking lot close by which I have used as my test track with all the cars we have owned over the years.

I am sure there are compromises as others have mentioned but if you want to feel secure from December through March / April, I would recommend the AWD configuration. However, I would also strongly recommend winter tires as AWD of course does not help to reduce stopping distance!

sydtoosic

actually the only disadvantage i see with the AWD LS compared to the RWD LS is that the RWD has more HP and torque, and i really don't see that as a disadvantage. it's a 5K lb. car. who needs oodles of HP and Torque in an LS... it's not a race car, it's a comfy cruiser. they both have the same top speed limited to 130, i'm just bias i guess because i've driven AWD cars like forever.

Devh

it's not a race car agreed but from my experience there were night and day real world difference more then I have seen in other cars. I have also observed this difference on the BMW X drive.

What I consider in a luxury car is highway passing power from the sweet spot of 55mph to 80mph. The RWD car has a smoother effortless transient power in this range where as the AWD has to kick it down a gear to do the same thing especially on hills. You can also feel the inertia of moving a heavier vehicle at this speed as well. Having more headroom with power on tap is luxury, if it wasn't a six cylinder engine would suffice.

The turning at low speeds under 40 feels heavy in the AWD. The RWD is a lot more nimble and its response is better. This is again not racing the car but just driving it in the real world like making intersection turns and U turns at low speed. Although it's not listed in the specifications I do believe the RWD car is rear weight biased which gives it a different driving feel that is more positive.

The turning ratio in the RWD is shorter and you can feel the difference when parking the car.

The AWD with all of it's options some of them standard like air suspension gets closer to 5k. The RWD with the regular suspension is less then 4300 pounds. I believe the actual difference depending on options is a little more then 300 pounds which is a lot not to mention its down in horsepower and torque.

In terms of reliability the AWD system is more complex with more moving parts that requires more maintenance and possible repair down the road.

Keep in mind I'm not totally against AWD cars and I'm sure it has it's value if you need it but with a good set of snow tires with traction control will make almost any car more then capable in the snow.

The AWD car may have some advantage driving faster in bad weather especially with inexperienced drivers but the general rule of thumb is to drive slow and safe AWD or not.
AWD, traction control, stability control and what ever else technology they invent down the road will not save you when the other guy loses control and hits you anyway.
I do not want to come off argumentative to win any debate but this was my experience test driving a good number of examples before I purchased.

anniversar

I can't disagree with anything you have said as I have not carried out similar comparisons. What I can say is that my LS430 with good quality winter tires was marginal in Wisconsin winter weather, whereas my LS460L AWD with winter tires is a night and day difference. Maybe there are other contributing factors such as weight differences, traction control software improvements etc.

Devh

It could very well be that a RWD car this size and weight will fair worse to compared to a RWD car that is smaller. I also think it depends on hilly area and the experience of the driver.

In the Mid-Atlantic we see our share of snow but it's probably doesn't rank anywhere in comparison to other northern states. I can only speak for myself and my experience with a BMW RWD 5 series on all seasons was more then enough to make it up my hill and drive safely. I did try a set of blizzaks on my mid engine roadster and it did better then many of the AWD cars with all seasons as far as control. Dedicated Winter tires make night and day difference.

I strongly feel AWD is a tool and it's use in the real world is valid especially since most AWD owners will only use all season tires. If you have an alternative vehicle for the snow or have a job where it is not absolutely necessary to drive when roads are at their worst then the RWD car will be the better car 358 days of the year.

sydtoosic

i concur...i must touch on the point about the passing power. i drive in ECO mode 99.9% of the time ( don't ask why, i don't have an answer )but on those occasions when i throw her in sport, or even normal, the engines comes to life and the cars' demeanor changes, LS owners know what the LS can do. this highway cruiser is no slouch. i have not experienced any lag when passing or going up an incline... the car does what i want it to do, with no problem. yes the AWD components are a science project so to speak, although so far i haven't had or hope to not have any problems down the road with the AWD components. guess i'll have to drive a RWD LS for a few days to discern the difference. now if i can just get my hands on a RWD LS .

Devh

Now that I'm driving my LS I feel the ECT power mode is a gimmick. Normally I don't feel that way with other V6 cars that I have driven that has the option of changing the gearing profile. In ECT it tries to hold the lower gear a lot longer to keep in the mid range end of the power band which is not needed and it's awkward. The regular ECO mode is able to keep it in a higher gear longer and there is more then enough torque on tap to push you back into your seat like an airplane accelerating down the runway. Keeping it in the lower gears with high RPMs is more noisy and clumsy.

I do like how the eight speed transmission is able to kick down to the right gear to keep the torque flat as possible. Lexus did a great job here.

edarte

I have to agree with everything Devh said in his first post.
I have both winter tires and AWD and feel the tires make the biggest difference although I like the extra security the AWD brings. Plus, if we ever get heavy snow (rare in these parts), the "Height" button can give you a little bit extra clearance.

To me the additional downside is that there are documented problems with AWD. You can experience what feels like a "searching for gear" sensation while under light, uphill, acceleration. There is a a TSIB for this that greatly reduces the problem but not 100%. I have not heard from any RWD owners reporting this type of behavior. I can't prove it but I also have a feeling that the TSIB results in slightly poorer fuel mileage numbers (and the AWD is not as good as RWD to begin with).

joeyb

I agree.
AWD helps a lot. Winter tires mean more.
Winter tires, AWD, snow mode plus height make you like spiderman.

LXurious

I have a 600 which makes more power than the 460 and is AWD so the lag and power loss I cannot comment on, but judging from the numbers and my estimate yes it would feel a bit "heavy" "sluggish" and might lag passing on the freeway. However with that being said the LS in any trim level is not meant to be a power house and will feel that way to a certain extent. Tires make the most difference so a RWD with winter tires will be better than AWD on all-season.AWD does feel smoother to me on any car I drive you feel more control so that would be an added bonus in any weather. I live in california so idk much about bad weather, but I would go AWD if it was for my family, if it was me personally I'd go with RWD for more power (marginal as it is) and cheaper price.

Devh

I think you are starting out with a car that is more luxurious being that it's a long wheel base. The passing power might actually fair better in the sweet spot since the torque delivered is assisted by the electric motor and the transmission is a CVT. I would imagine it would be an apples orange comparison between the hybrid and non hybrid models.

One other thing I failed to mention apart from the lower horsepower and weight is the drive train loss which on paper should place the AWD car a major disadvantage. I think Toyota has done a brilliant job with the gearing ratios and was able to quicken up the AWD quiet a bit.
One can only imagine how much quicker the RWD car would be with AWD transmission ratios.
Gearing can cover up a lot of ground but there are some drawbacks to this as well.

What I have seen in the industry lately is turning off performance potentials either by software or other means to keep the cars in a competitive price range. They seem to do this with electronics as well.