2014 Lexus LS Pros and Cons: Why (Not) This Car?

	Compared to the XJ
Reliability & durability	Better Worse

The Lexus LS 460 could be the only large luxury sedan people don't fear to own well out of warranty. My father has owned two, a 1991 for most of the 1990s and a 2009 in recent years. His experience has been typical, with no problems worth mentioning.

Back in the 1980s, my father badly wanted a Jaguar XJ, and came close to buying one. But the horror stories scared him. TrueDelta has some data on Jaguars, mostly a few years of the smaller XF. These data suggest that, while the company's cars have gotten better (even since the first year of the XF, the 2009), they have a way to go before they're worry-free.

The reliability of these car causes them to depreciate much more slowly than the average large luxury sedan, reducing the total cost of ownership. (See the discussion of pricing below.)

Ride smoothness

Better Worse

Some reviewers have felt that the F Sport tweaks seriously harm the LS's ride. Personally, I didn't notice a big difference (which, as we'll see, cuts both ways). The large Lexus remains among the cushiest cars you can buy.

The classic Jaguar XJ was arguably the best-riding large luxury sedan of its day. The current one doesn't absorb small bumps as well as the Lexus. Its suspension doesn't quite seem up to the task of managing the weight of the 19-inch wheels.

The XJ also shimmies a bit at low speeds, likely due to its standard rear air springs. Jaguar employs steel coils in the front suspension for the sake of crisper handling. Perhaps they should have done the same with the rear. Air springs tend to make any car feel squirmy at low speeds, including the Lexus, which has them at all four corners. These springs, though part of the F Sport package, are optional on the non-F'd LS 460. My father's car has the standard steel coils, yet still rides very smoothly. I'd drive the LS with both suspensions to see if the ride quality benefits of the air springs justify their additional cost and complexity. For me, they don't.

Quietness

Better Worse

My father's original Lexus LS was shockingly quiet. Car buyers weren't the only ones shocked. Across the entire auto industry noise suppression become a top priority even at much lower price levels. Thanks to this focus, the advantage of the large Lexus isn't what it was. But the LS remains among the quietest cars you can buy. Both the XJ and the Audi A8 seem noisier inside, and more like regular cars as a result. For an ultra-quiet European luxury sedan, you'll want the BMW or Mercedes.

The Jaguar's engine idles surprisingly loudly. Rev the Lexus to the redline, and you'll also hear its engine, but you'll want to hear it. This V8 has always been among the sweetest-sounding. A review back in the 1990s likened the sound its ancestor made at high rpm to "ripping silk."

Front seat room

Better Worse

The Jaguar's sports car-like interior design lends it a sporty character, but at the cost of front seat room, perceived even more than actual. The Lexus feels much roomier.

The cushy, well-shaped front seats in the Lexus are among the most comfortable in the class. The Jaguar's are nearly as comfortable, though, and I like the BMW's most of all. Despite a plethora of adjustments, the Audi A8's are firmer and less form-fitting than the others.

Move to the back seat, and even in the regular wheelbase cars there's plenty of room and comfort for most adults. The long wheelbase only makes sense if the back seat will often carry tall adults, or people who want limo-like legroom even if they don't have the legs of an NBA center.

Cargo capacity

Better Worse

You'll also find more room for your stuff inside the Lexus. The LS 460's 18 cubic-foot trunk is about as spacious as you'll find in a large luxury sedan. The XJ's can hold a mere 15.2 cubic feet. And the Audi A8? A compact-like 13.2.

The BMW 7-Series's trunk comes close, with 17.7 cubic feet, but only by ditching the spare tire. The Lexus manages to offer both a full-size spare and a vast trunk.

	Compared to the XJ
Handling	Better Worse

The Lexus GS midsize sedan and IS compact sedan both clearly benefited from the F Sport treatment. Both are much more fun to drive than people expect a Lexus to be, while retaining the brand's strengths. On the other hand, the F Sport calibration destroys the ride quality of the RX without doing much for the crossover's handling. The payoff with the LS is unfortunately closer to the RX than to the GS and IS. While I didn't find the car's ride quality objectionable (some other reviewers have), neither did I find its handling to be enjoyable or engaging.

Lexus bundles the air springs with adaptive dampers and variable gear ratio steering, but doesn't appear to have taken much advantage of the capabilities of these systems. Turning the mode selector knob a couple clicks to Sport+ tightens up the steering and firms up the suspension a little, but the differences aren't night and day. The steering remains numb and body motions still aren't controlled as tightly or as precisely as in European competitors. Push the car, and it'll hold your intended line through curves fairly well. But it doesn't ask to be pushed.

Unlike in the Jaguar, Audi, or BMW, the modes of the drivetrain and suspension cannot be varied independently. So if you want to tighten up the suspension, fuel economy will take a hit unless you use the paddles to request upshifts while cruising (and the transmission still might refuse these requests). Lexus should make the systems independently adjustable.

The tested LS 460 F Sport was all-wheel-drive, which probably inclined the chassis a bit more towards understeer (where the car resists turning). The rear-wheel-drive F Sport, which has a limited-slip rear differential, should feel at least a little more dynamic and balanced.

And the Jaguar? Even with all-wheel-drive, overly light steering, and its own body control shortcomings it feels much more dynamic and nimble. An AWD system with a strong rearward bias contributes, as does a significantly lower curb weight (4,125 vs. 4,650 lbs.). The XJ's aluminum body pays dividends here.

Exterior styling

Better Worse

Through the 2012 model year the Lexus LS strongly resembled the previous generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Handsome (with the arguable exception of the blocky 2000-2006), but lacking any identity of its own.

Lexus has decided it needs an identity. So for 2013 the LS gets the makes "spindle" grille (inspired by Toyota's heritage as a loom maker). I don't mind the spindle grills on the GS and IS (but am in a fairly small minority). Where the grille has been grafted onto a pre-existing design, though, it doesn't work as well, or at all. While the latest LS's face is alien fierce, the rest of its exterior remains as generic as ever. It could be worse. The spindle grille looks awful on the GX and LX SUVs.

Powertrain performance

Better Worse

Like the Jaguar XJ AWD, the Lexus LS 460 F Sport AWD can get from a dead stop to 60 mph in about six seconds. Not too shabby. But the AWD Jaguar has only six cylinders (albeit supercharged ones), while the Lexus has a V8. If you want a breathtakingly quick large sedan, Jaguar also offers the XJ with a boosted V8, as do all of the Germans. So far, none of the F Sport tweaks have included engine modifications. The LS is offered only with the 360-horsepower V8 (380 with rear-wheel-drive), take it or leave it. (Okay, there's the slightly more powerful, slightly more efficient, far more expensive hybrid variant, but it also isn't nearly as quick as the V8-powered Europeans.)

This won't change until Lexus follows the Europeans in offering engines boosted by superchargers or turbochargers. Perhaps out of concerns for long-term durability, Toyota has resisted this industry-wide trend.

Don't need more thrust than the LS 460 offers? In other aspects, its powertrain is as good as any and better than most. I've already noted the sweet sounds of the engine. The eight-speed automatic partnered with this engine is about as smooth and responsive as a conventional automatic gets. In typical driving, most shifts are undetectable unless you're watching the tach.

Fuel economy

Better Worse

Nearly everyone except Toyota has been transitioning to boosted engines for fuel efficiency at least as much as for performance. While boosted engines swill gas at least as well as their unboosted equivalents when hustled, in typical driving they are more efficient. With EPA ratings of 16 mpg city, 23 mpg highway, the LS 460 nearly matches the Jaguar XJ AWD (16/24), but falls well short of the Audi A8 3.0T (18/28) and BMW 740Li xDrive (19/28).

In the real world, the Lexus's fuel economy lags the others, including the Jaguar, to an even greater degree. In our suburban driving the LS 460's trip computer often reported averages between 15 and 16, vs. low 20s in the Jaguar. A light foot could nudge the LS's average to 18, but the XJ's to 25. On the highway the LS 460's trip computer reported averages of 24.7 and 23.3. The XJ's reported just over 30.

Audio & nav systems

Better Worse

Much praise has been showered upon the Mark Levinson audio system optional in the LS 460. To my ear, though, the Meridian system optional in the Jaguar produces clearer, more immersive sound. Set to the factory defaults, the ML system heavily favors the center front speaker. Most likely this is by design, but it's not a design I personally care for.

	Compared to the XJ
Interior styling	Better Worse

The interior of the LS 460 F Sport is a pleasant enough place to spend time. Though there's a bit much silver plastic (or real aluminum that resembles silver plastic), the materials are generally worthy of the car's high price.

This said, the Jaguar's interior is much more stylish, and both looks and feels more special. Especially in blue.

Controls and instruments

Better Worse

The Jaguar's touchscreen-based infotainment system controls are the most difficult to use in the bunch. After years of refinements, the knob-based systems in the Audi and BMW are the best. The Lexus's unique system, based around a mouse-like controller, is much easier to use than the Jaguar's, but a little more fiddly than the Audi's and BMW's. Bumps in the road can cause inadvertent cursor movements and clicks.

Safety & braking

Better Worse

The F Sport upgrades include massive six-piston Brembo front brake calipers. While these brakes do an excellent job scrubbing speed, in casual driving they can be overly touchy. This was most noticeable the first few days I drove the car, after which my brain adjusted.

Price or payments

Better Worse

Brilliantly, Lexus launched the LS with a $35,000 base price that severely undercut the large European sedans at the time. Once the car was a hit, they raised the price aggressively. With a few years the base price was $50,000.

Fast forward to the 2014, and the base price of the LS 460 is about $72,000. Still less than an equivalent European car, but not to nearly the same degree as in the past. Add AWD ($2,945), the F Sport package ($7,860), the Comfort Package ($2,090), Mark Levinson audio ($1,580), and a few minor options, and the bottom line rises to $88,000.

A similarly equipped Jaguar XJ lists for about $4,000 less. Adjusting for the extra features of the LS 460 F Sport (including active steering and a four-corner air suspension, neither of which provides a clear benefit) narrows this to $3,000.

Upon a closer look, the F Sport package isn't a very good value unless you'll be taking your LS to a race track. Spec a car with nearly all of its features save appearance items and the Brembo front brakes (whose additional capability will rarely if ever been needed on public roads), and the price drops to within a few hundred dollars of the Jaguar's.

An Audi A8 3.0T also costs about the same, while the BMW (where AWD is only available with the long wheelbase) is a few thousand more than the others.

This is looking at the initial purchase price. Because of the big Lexus's reputation for reliability, it depreciates much less quickly than other large luxury cars. So the total cost of ownership can be much lower.