Originally Posted by XeroK00L

As frustrated as you and I might be over the absence of our favorite luxury marque in this comparo...HELLO...read the title!! The comparo is not just about luxury, but about LARGE, hence long-wheelbase, sedans. The LS simply doesn't qualify with its currently relatively short wheelbase of 115.2" when the average wheelbase length of the cars in this comparo is 121.7"!

But as I said in the previous post regarding this comparo, Lexus will soon be regarded as one of the top contenders in such comparos in the future when it releases the LWB version of the next-gen LS in fall 2006. Just be patient.

Originally Posted by doug_999

While the long wheelbase theory is correct, the fact is that not too many LS's are equipped with the Ultra package - and even so, I sincerly doubt that the LS is cross shopped with those cars. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm just saying it rarely happens. Different league of cars - period.

Originally Posted by GRAND_LS 4

Take a look at this article in the last issue of Road & Track last month, and I was really challenging myself to come up with an answer as to WHY they hadn’t added the 2004-5 LS430 with the UL package? Why I ask?



We all know the LS as won numerous prestigious awards from many magazines, we also know that the 2001 LS430 won the best luxury car in North America, so why did the guys at R&T magazine not acknowledge this type of accomplishment?

They tested the A8 and Phaeton, two luxury cars from essentially the same company but didn’t even bother to add the LS into the comparison? Is it because they THINK the LS isn’t worthy of such test? Or not on par with these cars? Because I know many, including myself that would take an LS over any car in their test. Is it due to price? We all know the UL LS430 is MSRP'ed at around $75K, in par with the others.

Has anyone emailed them by the way? I would be particularity interested to hear what they have to say.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article....rticle_id=2151

Originally Posted by AmethySC

There are many people cross shopping the LS430 & the S class & many of these cars in this test as far as I know, & the LS430 was placed 1-2 in 2 tests in C&D & MT, whereas the S class finished last & fourth, & the 7 series finished last in one of them. Not to say these rankings by the car mags means much, but it shows the LS is very comparable to them.

BTW, I think the A8 should have won this test, to me picking it over the 7 is a no brainer, car looks way better inside & out too.

Originally Posted by rominl

yeah, if having the test car over 75k to be qualified then i have nothing to say, coz' i know the LS430 can't get in for sure. but in fact a lot of people who shops for the s430 / s500 or the 745, the ls430 is most of them time a contender too

Originally Posted by enigma354

As a former S-class owner who switched to the LS, and knowing at least 5 others who've done the same, plus having seen dozens of S-classes around and now LS's replacing them with more frequency, I'm sure that the LS and S-class are cross-shopped..including the S600 and LS 430.

Originally Posted by doug_999

I'm telling ya, the amount of people cross shopping an S Class and LS is negligible. You may have an uncle or a friend that claims to have done it, but I'll bet if you ask 100 S Class owners if they looked seriously at an LS and 99 of them will tell you "no".

Now you can ask the same question of the LS owners and they will say "oh sure, I checked it out, it was like $20K more and it has less reliability" - trust me, they were never seriously considering an S Class. Probably did not even drive it.

Lexus wants into this market - and they will get there with the next gen model, I'm sure.