2012 LS 460 test drive, some Q's
 

we're shopping for a 2010-2012 LS 460, and just spent a couple hours driving a rather nice candidate. This was the 3rd or 4th LS we've test driven.

first thing....

I tried for the first time to link my phone via Bluetooth... I first linked it via the phone menu, that went smooth enough, but then I realized I had to go into the audio setup and link it via audio. this didn't work until I deleted the 'phone' configuration
on both the car and my Pixel3a, then I was able to play music from Spotify or whatever.... but when I went back to the phone menu, it was no longer avaiable, and when I tried to relink it as a phone, it broke the music playing.

is that 2010-2012 system really that picky/clumsy ?
'

2nd thing, the automatic mirror retract mode didn't seem to work. I could manually retract and extend the mirrors with the switch, but when it was in auto mode (and the light on the switch was lit), the mirrors didn't retract when I shut the car off, and if I manually retracted them, they didn't extend. is there another setting in the menu system that controls this?

The auto mirrors work when locking and unlocking the car. Did you try that?

I've only experienced having to setup the phone and music streaming separately the first time. After that it's always been automatic. As stated above you said in your original post you expect the mirrors to retract automatically when you shut the car off. This only happens when you lock and unlock not simply shut off the car.

ah, ok. the one we drove the other day, which I think was a 2011, i swore they retracted when I shut it off. k, won't worry about the mirrors (frankly, I'm more likely to leave them in manual mode, and only retract them when I'm parked somewhere where it might be helpful, that way the motors don't wear out).

re the BT stuff, I've noticed newer bluetooth stuff seems to work much smoother and more seamlessly than first gen stuff, and I'm thinking 2010-ish designed car computers are pretty first gen.

hey, anyone used those Grom VLink systems with this gen LS ? I like the idea of being able to use google maps for nav rather than the klunky built in GPS.

I have a 2010 and use the bluetooth almost every drive. When you pair it use the phone and internal audio playback. This will pair the phone for voice and media. If you dont do it his way the bluetooth will want to pair the media under a separate connection and problems arise.

It is a little weird how you have to pair phones, but it's worked fine on every phone I've had including my new iPhone 12.

I think you'll be happy with the 2010-2012 years. My neighbor had a 2011 before he moved to a 16 and he loved that car. Never had issues and was smooth as can be. He only traded it in to Lexus because it was about to hit 100K and he likes to swap before that. Be sure to explore the Lexus owner site and put in the vin of the car you are considering. That will give you the history through Lexus's eyes of all they've done to the car. Good luck.