Lynzoid

In what universe S-class is beating LS??? It's still unreliable trash. My company have a lot of 221's. All of them constantly broken and repair costs are astronomical. All of them not even 3yr old.

lexusls4

Haha lol there's not a car on the road with the same rating as the ls430,for the price . You guys are comparing 2014 high end Benz to the lex . I can't see the comparison ,but I can tell you that,if the ls step it up to the v12 Benz in price and feature as the Japanese century model . The Benz will not have a chance . It's just the us market won't allow the real high end Japanese luxury sedan into America. There are cars there in japan that has the class that surpass the ls ,especially a ls made for Japan . The ls is the car that Mercedes hate. Why would somebody actually say the ls copy the s class in desighn . I guess people have never seen the 80 ls aka crown , century . Benz owner would only claim that the ls is a copy because its actually a better car . BTW we don't drive a ls because we can't afford the Benz . We can't fix cars is the real answer....

Lynzoid

'xactly....

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

Only solely talking about how it feels.

Reliability wise, S-Class is still no match to any LS............the gap is getting smaller though. 220 was total trash, 221 is getting much better......hopefully the 222 will be better still. I am a little tired of driving a Japanese car after 20 years But I don't see the future where a S-Class can match the reliability of a LS, ever. But never say never I guess.

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

Exactly!!

I always wish Toyota would put their V12 into the LS and sell it in the U.S. That V12 is insanely smooth from what I heard.

The LS430 is a direct copy of the W140 S-Class, but Toyota made it way better!!

S-Class is actually cheaper to purchase (New or Used, new S-Class are heavily discounted, where new LS are not. We all know used S-Class worth much less then LS.) They are just expensive to fix, and I hate dealing with car problems, that's why I have a trouble free LS430 and love every minute of it.

Wiley9

Ha! Yes. It's called that $300k+ price tag. I'll stick to my used LS430. At least I can drive that to the grocery store. Even if money was no object, I just don't see the rationale in buying a car as expensive as that!

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

Is all relatively, to some people, their $300k Mulsanne cost less to them then your used LS430 to you

aypues

Your last line makes no sense. If money was no object it wouldn't be expensive.

Stu

People who own these ultra expensive cars own also own LOTS of very expensive things. Its not that big a deal to them. I am also pretty sure they don't spend any time on the internet worrying that they are going to have trouble getting something better for their next car, or about how much better their car is than the the others - including an LS430 Ultra Luxury.

I know quite a few very weathy people currently driving cars much less expensive than your LS, because they think an LS is too expensive ....

My advise to all those concerned you've hit the glass ceiling with your LS is to enjoy your car, and when it gets old and worn out and needs to be replaced - then worry about it. When that time comes, and if you are able to afford a Bentley or Aston Martin and just dont want one, you will be able to find a very nice car that won't be a step down from your current car.

Lynzoid

My main concern is still reliability... After massive auto-industry 'merger' of 2000s, there's no more cars on the market, which have been engineered NOT to break.
Cars nowadays is engineered TO break, and feed auto-industry.... That's what pisses me off to no end...
LS430 was (and is) that amazing balance between just great luxury sedane AND amazingly reliable vehicle.
I guess many people ranting about impossibility to replace this quality in future. And i completely agree.
I had american cars, german cars... Excuse me, but these are trash in reliability sense.... Yeap, TRASH. Especially GM and Mercs...

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

Not engineered to break, they are just made less robust to save cost so they don't last.

It make sense, why do they want to sell you a car that would last 300k miles? All it matters to the manufacturers are within the warranty period, 100k miles life is already pretty generous.

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

Good one, I didn't catch that

There is no such thing as money no object, just ask all the billionaires, they count penny with you.

Lynzoid

BNR34, man... My friend works with CAD systems for last 15 years, and around year '99 i remember he said, that the 'latest buzz in the area is that CADs now are able to automatically predesign parts with limited lifespan'... The idea of using special 'weakened' materials was someone's 'golden idea' inside the automotive industry...

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

They use plastic instead of metal for the goal of saving cost and weight, it also means the parts are weaker so don't last as long. They are not trying to make it weaker on purpose.

Lynzoid

'99 A8 was the first real implementation of this. Main propshafts were designed to break at 100k (service interval for it was 80) and it DID if left unserviced (and it did cost 3k+usd). It was designed like this, and this is a known fact, eventually acknowledged by Audi...
Not going to argue further about that, as it's going offtopic and if i talk about something, i won't make ignorant statements just for 'effect' or whatever... Check W220 or '01 7-beamer (or A8) forums and be amazed at types of mechanicals failures these 'high-class' vehicles are prone to. Broken heads (broked! due to premature metal fatigue), shafts torn in half, broken aluminum-alloy control arms etcetcetc... Is it because germany have bad metal? Highly doubt it ))))