I see room for improvement as well. I'm waiting for them to make the LS460/600 have the exterior reputation of the European makes! I truly am a Lexus loyal but, my one complaint is the exterior! Mainly the exterior of the LS. Interior wise its a great interior and the others such as gadgets and buttons are cool as well. What my Benz/BMW/Jag owner friends and I dont like about Lexus is the lack of exterior creativity! Funny thing is that most who Im friends with dont like Lexus (the LS460) for one reason only,exterior(some performance and lack of sporty ride)!!! I just cant trade up or buy a car I dont like the exterior of even though I did with my LS430 because of the reliability of Lexus only.

I'll just stick with the LS430 for now and see if there will be a change in 2011. Will I get a 2007-2009 in the future if no change comes in 2011? Maybe, because of the reliabilty of all the Lexus cars and that would be why I did do it and is why I have the LS430 I have now, relability! I buy Lexus as my luxury brand because of the reliability!L.G.N.M

 

On paper (not having driven the 460), from an engineering standpoint, I don't like the drive-by-wire steering introduced on the 460 over the traditional rack and pinion steering. It seems it doesn't improve performance and just leads to worse reliability, like the electronic brake booster over the traditional vacuum booster on Toyota/Lexus 4x4's. Some of those have failed, and the replacement part is $1.3K for the booster motor plus labor (and this is Toyota). The only reason I can think of the drive-by-wire steering is for the self parking option on the 460; can't do that w/ a traditional rack. IMHO, if one isn't skilled enough to parallel park, one shouldn't be on the road.

 

I see the comparison as like comparing Kate Beckinsale to Scarlet Johanssen. Sure, Scarlet is new, better built, sexier in certain ways, but not without her faults, while Kate although older now, but she's still a very hot babe and can turn heads.

Personally, I'll take Kate as she's more classy beautiful instead of just "hubba hubba All BIG and there" gorgeous. Class doesn't fade... looks do.

 

nice review man.... Did your LS get fixed right this time?

 

Yes, doing fine, but still let me know if you guys get a flint/black '05 or '06 LS that is in outstanding condition, low miles, and either CL or UL. We might be interested....

Thanks for your help and courtesy last week -- I'll definitely recommend you to anyone I know looking for a new or used Lexus.

 

Good to hear that man. Yeah only one we have now is a Black '04 with 58k on it no nav. I'll keep an eye out for you though.

No prob with the courtesy, that's what I'm here for. It was nice talking to someone that actually knew about cars too. lol

 

Yeah I6turbo know what's up

 

Finally got back into my LS430 after driving our 03' GS300 Sport Design for 2 weeks, wow what a difference!

We always forget and take for granted what we have if we have it everyday, doesn't matter what it is. We only know how good something is after we don't have it anymore.

The GS is an awesome car for what it is, but the LS is definitely a whole league or 2 higher, everything is better on it, wow, I enjoy every features on the LS that the GS don't have

I love my LS430!!

 

Thanks for the detailed impressions of the LS430 vs. the LS460. I own a 06 LS430 and I absolutely hate the ride of the standards(non-sport, non-air) suspension. It's floaty and harsh(with stock 18'' wheels) at the same time, meaning it's good for nothing in my opinion. I've always thought of putting in the tein CS coilovers you have. Could you elaborate on how the teins deal(meaning NVH(noise, vibration harshness)) with a number of road surfaces like bridge expansion joints, concrete & blacktop highways, etc... Feel free to add whatever else you like to mention. I'd like to get rid of the floaty feel as well, to a more controlled ride, which I assume should be easily achieved due to the dial-in approach to dampening. Thanks for any guidance and sorry if this post in the wrong place.

 

Sorry for the delayed response -- haven't been online during the Christmas break. I've thought about your question -- even while driving along in my LS -- and I really don't know how to respond because I would never categorize the LS ride as harsh. I wouldn't even call it floaty, but then we have billiard-table-like roads around here, so maybe if we had whoop-de-doos and undulations like some parts of the country, I might see it differently. I've heard of some air suspension cars riding harsh, stiff, or noisy due to something screwy going on with the suspension, but you said yours is standard suspension, so I don't know what to say. All that is assuming that our definitions of harsh and floaty are similar...

BTW, What tires do you have? Some tires absolutely suck in terms of noise and harshness, so that would be the first thing I'd look at.

If you feel that the stock suspension is harsh (and there's nothing wrong with your car), I doubt that you'd be happier with the Tein CS on that front -- I doubt that you could get the car riding any smoother than stock with those coilovers, all else being equal. You can, however, adjust the valving on the Teins to a much higher damping rate than stock, so you could cut down on the "floaty" feeling that you're experiencing, I'm pretty sure. You might also want to add some stiffer sway bars to match the higher damping rate. But, the above two things will almost certainly increase ride harshness, so it'll be a bit of a tradeoff.

 

Per Car and Driver the 430 trumps the 460 in acceleration and braking. Not a great selling point for the 460.


Lexus LS 460 performance numbers disappoint
Lexus LS 460 fell short of its claimed 0-60 mph time of 5.4 seconds in a road test in the latest issue of Car and Driver magazine. The C&D testers couldn’t get the car to complete the sprint in any less than 6.0 seconds. Braking distances were also unusually long. The car took 209 feet to come to a stop from 70 mph, the magazine said.

LS430 can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 5.9 seconds, compared to 6.3 seconds for the 2003 model with a five-speed automatic transmission. Car and Driver 2004

 

I have had a loaner GS for two weeks now. I am very thankful my dealership gave me a good car to drive. What I am about to say reflects my opinion of the new GS. The GS is VERY small inside, especially for the money. I would much rather have an Avalon over the GS. It's also has many squeaks and rattles, not to mention road noise. I know understand the complaints of my friend who owns one. I will give it credit as being a fast little car and offers an AWD option.