Test drive Lexus LS 2000 - 2003 sedan

Jack

Jack-Pot is when you are lucky. When only you win, and the rest of the players look at you with admiration and envy. When he came on foot, he left for Lexus LS430.
The predecessor of the model with index 430, Lexus LS400, appeared in 1988 and was sold only in the USA. Since then, the model has been subjected to modernization, but it remained the same good old four -hundredth. A fundamentally new version of the Lexus top sedan was presented to the public in early 2000 at a Detroit car dealership. And if the LS400 Euro version was cooked for two years, then the 430th appeared on both sides of the ocean almost simultaneously.
The bets are made. Ah, Monte Carlo! The place where the morning begins after lunch, and the good old Bentley does not cause admiration for the saturated audience, and the pink Corvette is considered with a squeamish expression. At the same time, the new Lexus LS430 caused a carefully hidden interest.
At first glance, it is clear that the car is new: the shape of the anterior optics, stamping on the hood - modern forms, carefully disguised as a classic silhouette. Color is exclusively classic black or noble silver. The dimensions and the expensive skin of the salon reflected in the glass are not in doubt that this is not just a new car, but a new expensive car. Therefore, we must look closely - maybe it's time to get the same in the interval between morning coffee and playing roulette?
Lexus marketers emphasize that the 430th was created for wealthy people at the age of about 50, regardless of public opinion in choosing their new car. Undoubtedly, the Lexus company has a certain weight and influence in automobile circles, but why press the client with an image of the brand, when the level of comfort speaks for itself?
There are no more bets. In the late 80s, button phones appeared in Moscow. The people instantly went crazy and rushed to storm the shelves of electronics stores - silent devices immediately became a symbol of prestige and prosperity. In state institutions, they were installed only in large bosses, in the apartments the phone did not hide bashfully in the hallway under the hanger, but was placed in the red corner. Having played enough with phones and the remote controls for them with TVs, coffee makers and even light in the bedroom, we rushed to look for buttons in the salons of our cars. The word electrical package becomes key and largely determines the choice. Gradually, we were convinced that this is not a toy, but a level of comfort, mandatory for cars of a certain class.
In LS430, only the steering wheel and pedals remained from the usual governing bodies. Otherwise, just lazily poke a finger at the button, and something in the car will work. Even adjusting the seat belts in height - and then on the button. In the back seat, I counted in a folding armrest of more than 10 (!) Buttons: Management of my own microclimate, audio system, headrests, separate electric drive for two passengers and so on. Until the possibility of manipulating the front passenger seat - suddenly the owner did not like that the guard was too free and loses vigilance.
They usually say about something very sophisticated: only does not cook coffee. So in the Lexus LS430, in the literal sense, only a coffee maker is absent from comfort mechanisms. Because the rear seats are equipped with a massage system, and the front seats with a hidden air conditioning system, which gives cold air directly into the very nature. Let's just say it creates an air gap between the driver and the seat.
Black wins. I am not a fan of cheap populism that some large bosses suffer. They wear plastic hours, turn to subordinates to you, release dubious jokes on the air, and they themselves drive their limousines. But with Lexus LS430 a special case. The driver is provided no less comfort than the dignity of the rear sofa. And the natural desire to hold onto the wheel is justified and predictable. On such a machine, I even agree to work as a personal driver. Especially taking into account the complete automation of the workplace.
The steering wheel and seat can be adjusted to the driver of any complexion - I enjoy the quiet buzz of servo drives for a few seconds, after which you can set off. Navigation will take care of the right direction, the management of which is one of the best among those that have been used. The corresponding icons are displayed on the display, and it is easy enough to touch it with a finger so that the command is accepted by the computer. In the same way, you can manage a climate installation and an audio system with a CD changer. Chainer himself is not located somewhere in the trunk, but right on the central console. And bashfully covered with a wooden panel, despite the fact that the audio system is made by Mark Levinson.
Chet-naked. The gearbox on LS430 is exclusively automatic 5-speed with a curly Mercedes neckline. She is the most automatic of all the automatic transmission that I had to meet. Outwardly, nothing has changed for the driver - the handle with the modes P, R, N, D and so on. Two pedals are brake and gas. But the Super ECT (Electronically ControlLLLLED TRANSMISSION) behaves as if inside it has a minimum of Pentium III with a clock frequency of 700 MHz and 128 MB memory.
Not only does the system quickly adapt to the individual style of each driver - we have already seen this - it is still out of recognizing the ascents and descents, which are found, for example, on mountain serpentines.
Say, on a small slope with a turn, where a regular machine holds the fifth gear and the driver has to slightly slow down, the ECT system itself switches to a low, fourth gear and slows down with the engine. This is great on a torn rise. So I click on gas and Lexus obediently breaks away. Eyes are afraid, legs do: on a fairly gentle area, which nevertheless goes uphill, I squeeze the fullest, although it is ahead, a more steep rise. I know that I will have to slow down, but stubbornly trying to promote the motor to the fifth gear. But this does not happen - the smart machine stubbornly pulls on the fourth and at the beginning of the steep rise intelligently switches to the third.
Zero! Recently, the film of the Chinese city was on TV. The main character, the Chinese and master Kung Fu, easily threw his enemies, fluttering on the screen like a butterfly. Despite the fact that with a slight growth he was frankly fat.
I remembered the Chinese city. LS430 has a length of 5 meters and weighs with a driver and one passenger 2 tons. At the same time, acceleration to 100 km/h takes less than 7 seconds. But how much advantage is there in this jerk. In a sports car, each second of acceleration is felt by the skin: the roar of the motor, an overload, pressing the driver into a narrow recaro, convulsive manipulations with a checkpoint. In Lexus, both the driver and passengers are deprived of these dubious pleasures for the elect. Everything happens ordinary: others, as it were, slow down their run, passing you forward. This car does not go - it literally dissects the space, carefully protecting those inside, from unnecessary overloads, irregularities of roads and the noise of its own motor. The smoothness of its course in any mode can be compared with gliding a powerful glider along the sea in full calm.
I did not set my goal of rolling such a car in extreme modes. Because the behavior of the Lexus LS430 in sharp turns and rearrangements should not worry its potential owner. This is the care of the driver-guard, if there is a need for such. And the owner’s passion for the LS430 car racing should only satisfy the passengers to the Formula I stage in Monte Carlo.
Text Nikolay Kachurin, photo of the author and Toyota Motor Co.

 

Source: "Autopilot"