Does anyone know if the new LS comes standard with cruise control. I'm talking about without the Saftey+ package, which includes the radar cruise control, which sucks, along with all the warning bells and crap that I have no interest in. I can't imagine in this day and age any car not coming with cruise control, but it's not called out in the list of standard features, and nobody at the dealership seems to know anything about the car other than the fully-loaded demo model they have.

Thanks in advance...

 

 

Every car has cruise control. Now if you want an LS without radar cruise, probably not. But you can turn off radar cruise on any model and make it standard. But you have to do that every key cycle.

 

I'm sure every Lexus comes with Cruise Control (a feature introduced in the 1950's), and perhaps even with Radar Cruise Control, which does not "suck," whatever that means. My RC was my first car with Radar Cruise Control, and although skeptical at first, after using it on the highway, I am very pleased with its convenience and impressed at its accuracy. And as noted, you can turn it off if, for some reason, you don't want that extra safety and convenience feature. The same is true for most of the other "warning bells and crap," a feature also not "called out" in the list of standard features, at least not any of the lists I have seen so far.

 

Yes, the new LS comes standard with all-speed dynamic radar cruise control. That's part of the Safety+ package which is standard with every LS. My only issue with it is that I don't find the system as intuitive as the old one where they had a separate lever / selector for the cruise control. The buttons for the new system are built into the right hand side of the steering.

 

Forgot to mention that you can turn off the "dynamic radar" part and use it just as a standard cruise control.

 

 

I'm almost afraid of fiddling with it while driving for fear of getting into an accident! Wish they could stick to that old design.

 

 

Another thing I miss is the seat heater / cooler ***** on the LS 460. I still haven't figured out how to configure them on the new LS, they're buried deep within the touchscreen interface. But to be fair, I keep mine on auto most of the time.

 

Yeah they're buried in the menus on our Pacifica van too, very annoying.

 

I am guessing you are the proud owner of an LS500. Congrats, man! And do start a new thread and post pics inside and out! You might very well be the first LS500 owner to post on CL!

 

Thanks Frank. It's pretty sad that the sales rep at the dealership couldn't answer a simple question like that during a test drive. I figured it out on my own, the day after I posted.

Regarding turning off the dynamic radar cc and reverting to the constant speed cc, do you know if it can be set to default to off, or is it like it was in the 460 where you had to shut it off each time you engaged the cc?

I agree with the others on the change of controllers. The old lever worked brilliantly. The only issue I ever had with it is that I banged it with my knee once getting out of the car, and loosened it enough that I had to have it replaced. Perhaps I wasn't the only one and that was the reason for the re-design.

 

I just looked it up in the manual. Apparently it says that "constant speed control mode" can be activated by long-pressing the cruise control button (for > 1.5 seconds). So I guess short press for dynamic radar cruise control and long press for constant speed cruise control

 

Thank you I'm still getting to know the car. I barely had to read the manual for the LS 460 (it had buttons for everything) but I now have the LS 500 manual at my bedside table