Since my sisters used '68 Corona she let me drive on occasion, the Toyota brand has been interesting to follow over all these years. Even back then, a Mercedes was considered the upper class ride.

Back then it was cost of entry (for us "normal" people) and later on when cost of ownership and reliability came into the decision formula than a MB was out of the picture. Toyota and later the Lexus brand lead the pack in value and reliability....

While I can afford pretty much anything, now, the German/European lineups don't have the value/reliability factors to even consider owning on a day to day basis. Not that the Lexus cars don't have their issues, but as stated above the dealership support is typically rated higher than the others.

I agree that comparing the LS to an S class MB is not that relevant given the gaps in features and costs (styling will never be agreed upon I don't believe). All good fun to exchange about, though....