My car is more than a decade old and the mirror lights are LEDs and cannot be replaced. But they weren’t meant to be that bright in the first place. I would’ve made them brighter out of the factory but the subtle white led light hitting the silver paint and concrete flooring is a very classy look.

 

Only 30 in the picture since my friend with the ES350 hasn't bought his Panamera yet lol!

My 12 is setup as follows....

Side view mirror puddle light
Inner handle light
Each handle has a puddle light
"W12" laser projector
Door bottom LED
Red warning LED
Door pocket LED (can select color and intensity)
Door mid line accent lighting (can select color and intensity)



You can see the door pocket light, and red warning light on the end of the door. I have the floors, pockets, and overhead lights set to white and the door accents plus everything else red. If I had a lighter interior I would have set it to blue or amber

I replaced my factory ones above with "W12" laser projectors.

Interior lights are twined, one outboard near the grab handle and one over your inner shoulder so there is no dead area. Rear door footwell area also gets adjustable lighting

Sills are lit on the S8 and W12

 

That door sill with the W12 is special

 

Thanks, here are a few more for you....

 

Its funny because with the Japanese cars you have to fight tooth and nails for those little options but in the German cars they come decked out lol.

 

That German car is 187k sticker......it had BETTER come loaded to the gills at more than 2x the price of my 460!

I actually fine base Lexus to base German heavily in favor of Lexus, it's only when you start layering on the options the German stuff enters a class of their own. The base spec is insultingly cheap feeling, actual hard plastics everywhere not even soft touch and very course and unpleasant cloth surfaces/headlines and literal vinyl in place of leather for surfaces......in the flagships.....

Lexus always gives you a very very nice interior not just on the real cars but also the IS/GS/ES/RX/GX and small desirable details are always present and not stuck behind upper trims and packages/engines. That I'll fully give them credit for but when it comes to the true high end they just "stop" where they are so damn close.

 

This is well said and I agree 100%, at least Lexus now.

 

Great post. I find this to be extremely true. Well said

 

And that was $187K in 2012! Thats $250K today.

I agree completely.

 

Looking back. I don’t agree. Lexus Ls430 was nowhere near an S430 in 2001/2002 when it came to standard features.

Items missing from the LS430 base. that were on a S430

Standard touchscreen (optional on LS)
Standard Navigation (optional on LS)
Standard Laminated Side glass. (Optional on LS)
Standard Air Suspension (optional on LS)
Standard Safety Telematics (optional on LS)

some options for the S class that were non existent on the LS430 era
4matic awd
4 zone climate
Nappa Leather. (Not like I’d care)
i can go on and on

As you get to the LS460 non existent turbo engines. Missing panoramic roof systems. Awd was an afterthought. S class had standard fibre optic interior lighting. Power rear side shades.

Lexus LS was nowhere close to the Germans. LS600h is a different story


‘The very first gen Lexus had cloth seats as standard. Even the lovely power seat belt adjusters were optional

notoriously difficult to get options without upgrading to a higher trim. That was the strength of the Toyota and Lexus brand of the time

 

S430 also didn't start at 55k. A fully loaded UL $70k LS430 gave up nothing to anyone, no S-Class, features-wise at least after the refresh. There were not one but two leather upgrades, and even the base stuff is extremely high quality.

 

Holy crap you are right....yeah I didn't even check inflation. I can see why they stopped offering this level, it really is a "just get the Bentley" price these days!

 

Not to get political but current inflation has been way worse, that’s another reason inflation calculators are reading crazy.

My LS430 is now a $100k car in today’s dollars, go back to ‘18-‘19 it was only $80k. That’s a 20% jump in 4 years.

 

Oh I know it is bad but I just never thought to check what the "new replacement cost" of that car was since it's not made anymore.

 

The S Class is a little different, but other MB models I absolutely agree that basic Lexus models feel better than basic German models. The S Class comes out of the gate already to a certain level, but low spec BMWs and MBs really feel austere.

Not really. The LS500 has had options well into the $100k range since it was released in 2018. Pricing for the LS500 for 2023 is not appreciably higher than it was 18-22. My LS460L was $90,000 in 2017 and it was not loaded, a loaded one even in 2017 was just over $100k.