I still think it will be an excellent car no matter what, might not be a track star......

 

Here is a recap of Car & Driver's First Drive Review:

 

Previous generations of LS's on debut outsold the S Class.
The current S Class debut in 2014 with 25k units, then 21, then 18k units last year.
With such controversial styling, it will be interesting to see how well the public responds to 5LS, and how well 5LS sells relative to the S Class in 2018.
By 2018, because the current S Class is 4 years old and past its half life, the new 5LS would be theoretically expected to absolutely clobber S Class sales...
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The lows seems to be a copy and paste from old reviews of most Lexuseseses.

 

dont get it when you review a luxury sedan, they complain about isolated driving dynamics. Its suppose to be a luxury barge

 

Just a guess, but maybe they are comparing the handling to entrees from Audi, MB, BMW, Jag etc.

 

dunno its like them complaining a sports car is louder

 

I disagree. Modern suspension technology doesn't relegate large vehicles to being floaty-boaty anymore. If a car can be large yet nimble, why not? Now that said, some steering feel is going to be lost in making a car more isolated from the road, but not necessarily maximum grip. It's kinda similar to the current 3-series's problem - more grip but less feel does not mean it's more fun to drive.

I've seen reviews, such as AoA and Redline, where they say the car is relatively fun to drive in the segment, but C&D has a hard time accepting this. Even with cars like the IS, which is widely considered to be one of the sportier entries in its segment, they still seem to be hung up on typical Lexus-boring as their preconceived notion of how it drives. Just the other day I was driving the car and was like "hmm, the steering is pretty numb...", but then I decided to put the steering in Sport and take some turns quickly, and I was proved wrong. It's only numb when it needs to be, and when you push it through corners, the steering lets you know you're pushing it - there's legitimate resistance. That's another thing about modern cars, not just Lexus, is that they are adaptable to what they need to be doing at a given point in time - not one-dimensional like you might expect. Thus, the new LS really needs to have some quality time spent with it to really assess its character. That won't happen until closer to its launch.

 

BMW gets **** for their signature snob nose grille design, but Lexus' spindle grille is off limits?

Get out of here. That design was cool when it came out, but now it's literally on every Toyota/Lexus vehicle in some iteration.

 

100% agreed especially C&D.

 

They still have that BMW bias going on over there? These magazines are trying to stay relevant but people are getting smarter. Even though you have typical fanboy reactions about things like the big grille (that nearly everyone has) and it's soft handling, the LS mainly sells to a more mature crowd. Don't think a magazine write up will change minds on most decisions. The real buyers will go to the dealership and have a look and feel for themselves.

 

I don't think they do....because when you have cars on the 10 Best List for say 23 years in a row, 29 years in a row, for you to take it off has ramifications. They rightfully took the F series 3 off the list. Having spent over 4 mos. in one, as a loaner, it definitely does not belong....neither does Accord but again, political.

In reality, there likely aren't too many perfect cars. If there is one, there has to be a minimum 2-6 mo. wait. I mean I got a mailer saying there's money from GM off of Corvette, and that's a very decent car...

 

I'm a BMW owner, and liked their cars since I was about 8 y.o. Too bad I never saved all the brochures I amassed over the years. But I do have a 1978 320i brouchure (as well as a 1969 Buick full line catalog), 1990 Lexus LS and ES brochure, 1998 Lexus full line, etc. blah blah blah. And they have definitely fallen, look at these products like the X1, FWD? But their demise applies to most cos. imho BMW is like Apple, all they have to do is apply the logo to a product and it already wins.

 

Based on sales numbers, real buyers in this segment seem to be flocking to the S-Class. So you're right, folks probably don't care how their large luxury car handles.

 

i really don't see the point in comparing LS and S class sales as the S class average selling price is probably $15-25K higher than the LS.
i'm sure the new LS will do fine.