I doubt that it's a 4.6 second car, but why not wait until there is more than one test out there to write off its performance? This may have been a pre-production model and who knows what it went through before Motor Trend got their hands on it. I'd like to see more data points before coming to any conclusions.

 

Many different factors (even on the same car) can affect 0-60 times, such as tires, road-surface/conditions, slope, temperature, humidity, air pressure, altitude (N/A engines lose power with height...less so with turbos), tire PSIs, vehicle weight/load, center of gravity, engine-condition, fuel-grade, driver-skill...the list is almost endless.

 

I think he's implying that marginal error alone does not reconcile with the difference between advertised and reproduced results.

 

Thanks, that's it exactly. (hence the "buffer" mentioned before)

It's more of, if they say it can do a 4.7-second sprint to sixty, but it can't regardless of 5 ft. rollout, weather, tires, fuel, etc., then what else can't it do as advertised? (I'd give them a pass if it was a smaller gap, like .2 to .3 seconds, as you really could chalk that up to the above factors)

 

Interesting how the CarWow video said that he liked the styling [though most people don't], the battery diminishes the trunk space, the LS500 not that quick, but has good mileage, doesn't handle as well as the 7 Series diesel due to the hybrid's extra weight, and the 5LS air suspension doesn't ride as smoothly as the S Class & A8 either [maybe Pres Akio once again designing the car for his own sporty tastes rather than the full size luxury market], however the 5LS has a lot of equipment and features, and is very well built.

 

I just watched the CarWow video, I really think the ride issues people are having come from those RF 20s. If you had the 19s and regular tires I bet the ride would improve a lot.

I like that interior/exterior combo of the car, and the looks are growing on me more. Oddly enough the park I care for the least is the back...

 

It's true that 0-60 doesn't equal real world driving but this metric has been around the car industry for a long, long time. Who knows where it came from but it's been there in car magazines and car manufacturer claims seemingly forever. So to dismiss it because we're talking about the LS is going against manufacturer bragging in advertising as well as car magazines.

The car magazines historically had an incestuous relationship with the manufacturers and that's why you have to look at them with a bag of salt on hand when you read what they're saying. But they do fulfill an important function: that's to test manufacturer claims on a safe test track with proper testing equipment. If they didn't do that, we would have collectively abandoned them a long time ago and just read manufacturer advertising or some guy with a Youtube channel (yes I know that's what people are doing as well).

0-60 gives a metric about what the vehicle might do in other real world situations. A slow car in a 0-60 test won't be as slow in city traffic but it may be hopelessly under powered when it comes to highway/freeway merging or passing.

Lexus seems to be taking a very conservative approach with this car and its tuning. So far we see an AWD car running fives and mid-thirteens with a claimed 415 hp/442 lb/feet on a roughly 4700 lb car. Look at similar cars priced anywhere from $75K for a Genesis G90 V6tt that can match this car's numbers, and go right up to the Germans at $85-95K with V6tt and similar curb weights. Now they are running far less horsepower and torque in the low to mid 300's. How is a 415 hp car matching cars with less horsepower and often with far fewer transmission gears running the same numbers as them?

So who's telling the truth. Is Lexus overstating hp numbers or are the Germans and Genesis lying and understating hp numbers?

 

Seems like it. Its interesting how a Kia Stinger can out accelerate recently launched Lexus models. The upcoming Supra Toyota May not even use its own engines anymore. What does that tell us?

 

I don't think Toyota will let someone else put their own engine in the car unless they are involved with it or they are in a partnership. It's not because they lack confidence in their engines like you're trying to allude to.

 

Reviews of reviews are always fun but after all they are just another opinion no different or more important than yours.

If they have to go such a long distance to claim there is poor legroom behind drivers seat in a freakin' 200+ inch limo then that's straight off stupidity. Then we have so called euro reviews or should I say UK reviews as only those are available in English, yes they kicked the crap out of 500h. TopGear even claims they got the same or better gas mileage on S500 V8 model than on 500h, yeah right. Somehow they managed to make 500h do 23mpg and yet they claimed they drove it "ordinary". Anyway if you take any UK reviews of Lexus LS in the last 20 years you can read the same thing all over again. You can tell reviewers have no emotional attachment for the brand like they do with others, just like Germans don't have emotional attachment to Jaguar so they trash it all the time. Basically Lexus reviews are always on rational and logical side while others get that extra in emotional connection.

Lexus LS is pretty much on par in flagship game.

I love the styling and I think together with Jaguar XJ it's the best looking big driver's limo there is. BMW and Audi are too invisible, unless they ride on 21" wheels and MB is a chauffeur limo especially if you get it in black. And then there is a S class on the budge like the most builds in Europe, short wheelbase with diesel V6 and 18" rims. It looks craptastic inside out. Sure it does close to 40mpg but base thank is only 16 gallons so in order to get the big one with 23 gallons you have to pay like 5 grand and the list of upgrades goes on and on. Just then you realize how much more LS offers for the same price, it's in a different league compared to common S-class Euro build.

 

I think the LS looks like nothing else on the road. It may have some swoopiness of the Mazda 6 or Infiniti M, but they don't look as luxurious or have the presence of this car. The BMW and Mercedes look just or too much like their lesser siblings. Of course they're going to trash Lexus because that's the thing to do. But the sales will tell the real story. It's already sold out for months in Japan. That goes to show you something.

 

For some reason the MT test car weighs 5300lbs. Thats quite a bit of heft.

 

MT comparison road test. BMW 740e xDrive iPerformance 2.0t electric, Lexus LS 500 AWD, Genesis G90 AWD 3.3tt and rounding out the American side, the Lincoln Continental AWD Black Label 3.0tt. I won't spoil the ending so you can read what the outcome was, and you'll be surprised. Here's the snippet on what they thought overall of the LS ride/drive experience.

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/genes...ontinental-30/

 

Sounds more and more like the G90 is the car for me...

 

Go for it. I think after I get a 2010-2012 LS a used G90 will be my next car unless I want something sportier. Nice win for the G90 in the comparison test.