They phoned in the exterior design, such a shame given the concept had so much promise.

And the pseudo Camry rear end is just terrible, even if you remove the resemblance to the Camry, that upside down U-shaped chrome strip is NOT elegant, this is an LS not a Toyota truck.

The side character lines and surfacing is all over the place. For a car like this you need a SINGLE STRONG LINE going down the side high up along the doors. None of this wavy, saggy, bulbous crap.

The door handles...what happened? Lexus had nice door handles with the last gen ES. Upgraded them to another design for the 4GS. Upgraded them to arguably the best design so far in the RC and NX. Now suddenly they've ditched that for these garish truck-like door handles.

The headlights aside from the very cool checkmark DRLs are uninspiring, and look straight off of an ES.

The front vents flanking the grill are garish, unnecessary, and not well detailed enough for a car of this class.

Proportions...yeesh. Lexus seems to be the only luxury brand that can take a platform with great inherent RWD proportions and make it look FWD. Poor Audi is struggling to make their FWD platforms look RWD, and Lexus is squandering their advantage:



The direct front shot is the car's best angle:



The interior though is stunning, a work of art. Best in class IMO, and such a contrast with the exterior. Clearly this is where the money went.



Anyways that's my opinion having digested this car over the day.

 

Woot it's on the Autocar site. Looks like a giant ES, I love it looks more like a Panamera or Quattroporte competitor.

 

Totally agree with you Burnsy.
Though I don't mind 5LS' headlights, nor 6.5ES's headlights either.

I don't mind the 3.5 V6 TT; it's probably the way to the future as far as economy goes.

 

The Raptor already has, and the ZL1 is very close if they have not already begun production.

The more I look at the new LS the more I'm dissapointed. I agree the interior looks great except for the narrow instrument raised part and very strange looking "warts" on both sides. It makes the exterior styling all the more baffling to me. I also dissagree with the V6. I'm sure it's going to be a good engine, I just think it sends the wrong message. It's the only car in its class the does not at least offer a V8. And Lexus problem is like Cadillac's, they are having to play catch up in the credibility department for shoppers to take them seriously in the $90-$110 price class.

EDIT: I just noticed something else about the interior that looks very incongruous. The center console design makes it appear to stop at the front and leave a gap near the area where the CD slot is. Very odd. To me there should be a constant flow.

 

I have to wonder why wouldn't this engine be introduced into the LC? The timing just seems weird.

Or conversely, why didn't they just offer the V8 as a option then simultaneously announce that the V6 TT will ALSO be available in the LC?

Man, to have their "flagships" so disjointed just makes zero sense to me especially since they are on the same platform, something they actually emphasized. Most sibling flagships share the engines as well, Lexus is throwing these out in a damn ad hoc manner in regards to the power train.

If this engine is so great, why wouldn't they offer it in the LC?

I personally think the 471 HP engine is flat-out amazing. To put out that much horsepower without forced induction and to actually beat the rivals V8 TT offerings is phenomenal. That's why I wanted that damn engine in the LS and planned on keeping it for a long time. Really disappointed.

 

I'll echo the part about the reaction of non Lexus enthusiasts and their reaction vs here. CL is the most negative about this car...reaction elsewhere surprises me by how positive it is...

 

Can you post links? I couldn't find any other forums

 

Not anyplace I can now but look at comments on Jalopnik, Autoblog, MBWorld...usually savage about Lexus.

 

Man I read mbworld and let's just say, there bashing the car just To bash and cause it's a Lexus. Fanboyism aside Lexus hit a homer in for this car and if I was the flagship segment this would be my number choice for sure, one member said the interior is ripped out of a Avalon, come on now

 

not sure about the cowl 'horns'

 

Like somebody already said we all want a V8 in an LS and maybe if Lexus see all this whining maybe they would consider one. I think we can all agree what a coupe is known for and what an LS is known for. A coupe you expect it to be a hooligan you know loud fast and all the other sporty feel right, and when you get in an LS the first thing you all say is damn its so quiet no body wants a noisy LS so what's the point of the V8 when you can barely hear the sound unless you standing outside of it I bet you can hear the engine sound in a GS better than you would in a V8 LS. especially with how quiet they even said this new one is I bet you wont even know you had an engine in it. so I think that's why you have the V8 and that exhaust note in the LC500 and and a TTV6 in the LS for quickness and and a quiet ride.

I still want to see a V8 dough maybe throw the v8 in the lc500 in the ls500 fsport and retune it to still give the same number as the ttv6 in the regular model maybe mess with the ecu or something.

 

I can see the V6 TT as an upgraded engine for the LC, if it is tuned to 500hp. The V6 will definitely outrun the V8 when you compare both engines in the LC, but Lexus will need to justify it by giving it more HP even though the V6 will be faster even with "only" 415hp.

 

I don't think you get the point. That is exactly the point of the V8.....smoothness, quiet, and refinement. We're talking an LS V8 here, not for a Corvette or Dodge Viper.

 

As I said earlier, perhaps it's because the V8 is a the sportiest motor in the arsenal and more appropriate for a GT/sports car. The V6 TT with its torque reserves is probably more fitting for a large luxury car.

That motor is light on torque though.

 

Alright since everyone is burning this thing to the ground I would like to say few things that most of you have missed. What they did on the inside is exactly what they did on the outside of the previous LS, they made it understated compared to the competition. They somehow concealed the technology into one seamless flow of lines. Just look at the screens, they are not sticking outs like tack on tablets, instruments cluster (which btw should have been completely analogue) are small and inside of housing which is a nice touch, unlike in MB where even cluster screen screams tablet. Reason why they didn't throw in another 12.4" screen in front of the driver is huge HUD which is the right way to go. And with just this step forward alone Lexus has marched ahead of the competition.

If I have to complain about something it would be gauge cluster which should have been analogue as a wrist watch now that there is a functional HUD available. Even on the gauge digital graphics I don't see a point of faux ring/bezel, it's not necessary on this type of the car.

From live video and picture shoulder at the C-pillar that reminds you of Q70 is a lot less prominent, I guess photographers retouched it to exaggerate it. Although it's not the best exterior design they have came up with you have keep in mind that this kind of flaring design language Lexus features right now is really hard to apply on a huge limo like this. They tried and they made it almost as the best as they could.