I went to a pool hall outside of town tonight and as I pulled into the parking lot (it was pretty dark), I saw a dark gray sedan parked and it took about 1/2 a second to realize it was an LS460! I only looked at it briefly. I'm pretty sure it was SWB and it looked smaller than I'd imagined. It was a dark gray color. Now granted the parking lot was pretty dark, but at first I almost missed it not thinking it was anything that special. But as I drove by it before parking my own vehicle I noticed it looked good, but small - honestly, it looked like a bit like a bulked up Camry. Very nice, but not that distinctive.

Contrast this with going to the supermarket on the way home, and a CLS500 pulled in near my vehicle. No problem noticing it and kinda drooling.

But Lexus knows their market - they don't do 'flashy'.

 

That's why I'm worried about Lexus. They've got to design their cars in a style that stands out more. The only thing Lexus has over Benz is their reliability ratings.

Performance, handling are still dominated by Benz and BMW. Even resale value is better.

What if Mercedes-Benz finally got their reliability issues straight?

Lexus is going to have some trouble.

 

no they have ergonomics, price, build quality, customer service above BMW

this is a land luxury boat, performance is not the primary role

no they havent

no

 

i agree with 4teh, i dont buy lexus cars for their reliability honestly, i actually buy them for the looks (yeah i said it!!!) and for the price and value. same prestige as a merc at half the price. The CLS may just be the most beautiful car on the outside, but im not that appreciative of the inside.

 

CLS is a very very ugly car in my eyes. No not because I can't have it so I said it, a lot of cars I can't have anyways, but many of them are very good looking. But M-B CLS? From the front to the rear from the side however I look at it, it is ugly. I know look is subjective, but I can't believe how much I am different from many of you who admire or even drool over that ugly thing.

 

While the CLS 55 Looks much better, the CLS500 does have a few ugly corners, or angles if you will.

 

CLS "Ohhhs & Ahhhs" are wearing off as the time goes by in my case. I have seen em so many that now it looks weird and weak to me like its missing something. It just doesn't seem bold enough, it has nice lines but it needs mass.

I used to prefer CLS over GS year ago but not any more. GS has so much more presence on the road than CLS and it is much more massive (especially with 18' or more).

All flashy car designs wear off and become repulsive if they are around you all the time. Trust me, if you get to see F430s all the time it would not be as striking as it is when you see it once in a while. Sadlly that exactly happened to CLS and 911 (at least here in SFL) They became bland (and maybe even distasteful like in CLS case) because they try to be so special and different.

That is why we don't see very "edgy designs" on economy cars. It would repell byers after some time. 300C is the perfect example.

Aesthetic and pleasant industrial design has to be a nice ballance of offensive and inoffesive ideas and philosophies.

 

I guess I don't see things quite the same way when the topic of cars comes to appearance. To me, how the car looks on the inside is the major concern, because when I'm driving the car, I only can see the inside. I have no idea what the outside looks like, so I could care less.

If the outside appearance of the car is of great importance, it sounds to me like you might be buying a car to impress other people, rather than to please yourself. If that is the case, you are wasting your time. People could care less what kind of car you drive. Trust me, they don't give it a second thought. If anything, when they see you driving any expensive car, they probably think more negative things than positive, but who cares anyway.

I would choose the Lexus of MBZ or BMW because I think the interior is much higher quality and nicer to look at, sit in, feel and hear than the competition. Yes, if it drove more like a German car and still retained all of these other qualities, it would be nice. However, I just don't think the look and feel of the interiors of the S550 or 750i are up to the standards that Lexus has achieved, and I can't justify spending that much more money to get less quality.

 

I agree. The older I get, the less inclined I am to think about what a car looks like to anyone other than myself, and the more inclined I am to evaluate a car on an objective scale of how well it does the job that *I* want it to do. Granted, I'll do my part for society and try not to drive a rusty eyesore that fogs smoke out the tail pipe, but as far as buying a MB or BMW or Escalade on 26's because those who covet such a car might be impressed??? That's sheer stupidity combined with immaturity and insecurity, IMO.

 

I agree, when I look at a car that catches my attention, I concentrate a lot more on the car itself than the person driving it (couldn't care less who is driving it) unless it's a very attractive female Otherwise the driver of that car won't impress me at all, & I agree people would probably be thinking more negative things about the driver than positive . . .

As for the looks of the LS460, I think it's a very handsome car from most angles, I just wish the front is more agressive. There are some others that might be more eye catching, but eye catching cars are not necessarily aesthetically pleasing in some cases. Some cars catches your attention but they look less appealing once you look at them more.

Regarding the comment about it looking like a big Camry in the dark, I suppose it's possible, but you can mistake a lot of cars in the dark for something else. I do think they should have designed the Camry to look a lot more different from the Lexus ES350 & the LS though, they should make family resemblance only within the Toyota brand family, & different from the Lexus brand family.
I think that's another good reason to get the LWB LS460L, I think it looks better aesthetically than the SWB, but the longer car also makes it more distinguishable from the smaller Lexus ES350/Camry from a distance or in the dark.

 

maybe i am too into cars, i can't seem to get it wrong whether it's ES or LS

i can to certain extend why some people might mix up between them, but then i don't see how that would be a problem

 

I agree on ALL points!

 

I never had problems distinguishing them either even from far away, for those that do, it just tells me that they are people that doesn't know too much about cars anyway, they never paid enough attention to them to be able to tell them apart. The problem is many people falls into this category, & some car owners feel the need to impress these people.

 

You are most definitely not the typical car buyer, Henry!

 

The LS are starting to pop up all over the place in SoCal. At first, I thought they were ES too since I did not expect to be seeing the LS around town this soon. I was thinking that the ES was nicer than I remembered. LOL. That L-Finesse can sometime make things confusing.

I think part of it is that the ES is not a small car. I remember when people were complaining the MB C was a small S. There was no confusion there since the sizes were easy to spot. The ES/LS sizing is not as apparent.