The e tron is a mid trim A6 level car, try an A8. The LS has nothing on one other than low speed smoothness and it's why I went that way. The 7 like you mentioned has some cheapness and crashy ride in these gens but the material quality is still great if you pay for it. The W222 is much better about that IMO but they start more expensive so that's to be expected and some BMW drivers really truly don't care. I will challenge the build quality statement however....Audi is the most impressive cars I've taken apart so far. The interior is so tight that I had to triple check a lot to make sure it was actually an individual section that was removable. The only Lexus I ever had to do that in was the LS430, the 460 just comes apart easily. (I usually take my interiors out to clean when I first buy a car)

To use my brand as an example Audi has 4 levels of leather, you need level 3 to equal an LS....level 4 blows it away in feel and smell. Lexus is fantastic at providing an amazingly high quality and "coherent" experience with even the base cars, to the point they feel a lot more expensive than they are and almost make the upper spec interiors redundant.

The Germans are the opposite, the base cars all out drive the LS but the interiors are cheaper....my cars have three headliner options and the basic one is right out of a Jetta. The LS defaults to a very nice cloth selection and I always liked how impressive the LSs feel across all specs.

In my case though I've moved up to a tier Lexus just never offered

 

Those are some pretty good positives for the argument, it's the way I learned too, back when cars were much simpler. I was 17 and my dad and brother worked on their cars. I wanted to do it too but they refused to teach me anything. At least they let me use their tools, so when my dad had a 1964 Plymouth Fury 318 V8 that needed a valve job, he said fix it and its yours...experience in car repair up to that day = none.

My dad paid for the machine shop but the rest was on me, and it took me a month to do the valve job; but I did it and I felt like I could do anything after that. So to learn even more and get more skilled, I told my friends I'd fix their car for free to get the experience. And you might be surprised to find that if you go around telling people something like that, they will be lining up in droves for you and pretty soon I was fixing all my friends cars. Also, this was 1977 and long before internet, so my only reference materials were library books and old hot rod magazines etc. but doing the book work to understand the principles behind the mechanical repair, was almost as important as turning the wrench is.

And doing what you did, by learning auto mechanics on an LS460, is like going from middle school straight into a PhD program. Newer cars are a thousand times more complicated, and the under-hood area is ten times as cramped as in that old Plymouth. So I'd say learning car mechanics the way you did is a mighty impressive achievement.

 

The 7 Series depends on how it’s optioned. With the higher interior options it’s much nicer than the LS460, you can have the whole dash and doors covered in leather where that’s only an option on the 600h or an executive package 460, they have lots of feature and tech options that were never available on the 460, massaging seats, much more performance with 0-60 under 4 seconds, better handling and high speed stability with a similar if perhaps not as soft a ride.

The last gen 7 was also available with a V12 and high performance Alpina versions, just on another level from an LS460.

LS460 was still a great car though and much more affordable and for most buyers a smarter choice.

 

He has a 6 part short series pretty cool.

 

FYI the original e-tron is now known as the Q8 e-tron...

Build quality was mediocre, let alone stellar as it should have been.

 

Have you experienced good massage seats in a car? I can only speak for the 7-series that I rented for a week. Quietness reminded me more of my X3 (which was very good) than the W222 or LS460. The dynamics I don't care about so much in a boat-sized car. Even in the S-Class I didn't want to race around, just relax in the right lane.

On the whole, I'm not a huge fan of the LS460. It's very competent and we'll have it for a couple more years or when a new EV replacement comes out..

 

Yes and the Q8 is cheap compared to an A8 with the etron being worse. Again about a mid tier A6 level interior

 

As someone who purchased an 05 LS 430 CL package a few months ago. And owning my 07 LS 460L for about 3 years now, I can say that my 07 has been trouble free in the 3 years I’ve owned it. Just basic regular maintenance as nothing has broken or failed on the car, so it’s been very reliable. I do however, need to replace the rear air struts. But there’s no clunking or weird noises coming from under the car.

The 460 has close to 156k miles, and the 430 has 158k miles. So pretty much they are neck and neck in terms of mileage. I did recently have to replace the transmission, alternator and battery in the 430 as the previous owner did a lousy job maintaining the car. So now the car drives like butter.

IMO the 430 has a better build quality, that’s something I instantly noticed right away after sitting inside of one. Mine is the Custom Luxury package which is a step below the Ultimate Luxury trim. So I have the soft closing doors, double laminated door glass, and the nicer leather wrapped door panels and dash which is much nicer feeling and looking the than the 460 door panels and dash quality material.

The doors are slightly heavier on the 430 and close with a nicer solid “thunk”, and overall the 430
feels to me to be a more solid quality feeling sedan. Although the 430 is a great car, it’s extremely smooth and in many ways, its smoother than the 460, it feels more like midsize car than a full size luxury sedan. The interior is extremely dated and minimal, which is expected because of its age. The 460 feels much more modern and “newish”.

The 460 has to be experienced in the Long Wheelbase model. The standard 460 to me again, feels in between a midsize car and full size sedan, while the 460 L feels like a proper full size luxury car and is more comparable to an S-Class.

The Car Care Nut points out some valid concerns about the 460, but again, the 460 is extremely more complex and advanced than the more “basic” 430. It’s suspension system is far more complex, it has duel fuel injection, an 8 speed transmission, far more automatic features and options, different engine design and performance specs, so of course there’s more areas in the car to go wrong. But at the end of the day, a 460 will most likely be more reliable than say a Cadillac or Lincoln equivalent. Or a Benz or BMW.

Everyone here will have a different experience with their 460. I can say that mine has been pretty good so far.

Because my 430 needed a new transmission, does that mean I think differently in the way I perceive the reliability of the car? Not at all, because even the transmission tech that diagnosed that the original transmission had failed, he told me that it was very rare for him to see these LS 430 transmissions come in and needing a rebuild under 200k miles. It was a mixture of poor maintenance, aggressive street driving and a manufacturing defect in the drum housing of the trans.

But everything still works great in the 430. Is the 430 a better car than the 460? That is very hard to say. Both cars have their pros and cons.

I love the power of the 460 as I can easily pass anyone on the freeway, while the 430, it’s not as snappy or peppy as the 460 for obvious reasons. But the material/build quality in the 430 is better. The interior doesn’t creak or rattle at all, while in my 460, over certain rough roads the 460’s interior plastic can “creak” a bit.

After driving both cars for a good while now, my 460L with air ride suspension definitely feels softer and more floaty to drive, but the 430 absorbs some bumps and smaller vibrations better, it also handles better. Road noise is too close to call, sometimes the 430 is quieter, while the 460 is quieter. I can’t for sure say which one is the “quietest” mainly because the tires on the 430 are old and are of different brands. And the tires/wheels are 45/235 R18’s on the 430 which aren’t riding on stock wheels. So once I install the original wheels and tire sizes, I think the comparison between both cars will be fair and then I can come to a conclusion of which car rides the best and is the quietest to drive.

I say, drive what you like and deal with the consequences later if you can afford it. If not, then don’t buy a flagship luxury vehicle. Because eventually something will break on them one way or another.

 

Mis-post moderator please delete

 

What generation 7 Series did you drive? The newest one is the quietest best riding car I have ever driven. The previous generations weren’t.

The suspension is really worn on your 460 if your 430 handles better and the 460 is softer and floatier.

 

Look here folks: I had a 2005 LS430 I bought at 98,0000 miles and took it to 122,000. During that time I replaced the suspension on all 4 corners, ball joints, tie-rod ends, brake pads and rotors, upper and lower control arms. The car was my daily driver, until I rode in a 2014 LS460 and I just had to have one. So, I traded in my LS430 for a LS460. That 460 is a much better, much more refined than the 430 could ever be. That car has me driving like a stupid teenager grinning from ear to ear. Been working on cars since "1910", and yes, parts for the LS460 are not cheap, but the 460 is just as reliable, if not more, than the 430.I just replaced the front brakes and rotors last weekend after crossing 46,000miles. Spirited driving will burn a hole thru your wallet when comes to maintenance and upkeep, but if I had wanted to drive a boring reliable econobox I would have settled on a Camry or Toyota. I still own and drive a '96 MB E300D with 113000 miles on the clock but that car takes forever to get to 60mph, and about the same amount of time to come to a halt. With 386 horses on tap, that LS takes off like a rocketship and can almost do a wheelstand coming to a stop. Yes sir, I do declare that this might be the last car I'll ever own. By the time I get done with it ,it will be nigh time for me to be dead n gone or too old to be driving.

 

If you've been working on cars since 1910, then you're old. Like Me!

 

consumer reports agrees with you

 

Looks like a very good rating to me...

 

Steve, I always get a kick outta you staying engaged over here. Props to you Sir.