Lexus LS test drive since 2009 sedan

All photos of Lexus LS since 2009

Farmers

Is it realistic to synthesize a purebred premium card, not having such an important component as family values? In my opinion, not the slightest chance. It is much easier to pull from a dusty chest of history to the light of God's rotten, but loud name and to adjust to it something multi-liter-many-cylinder.

Take a look at the list of reanimated dead. Bugatti, Invicta, Maybach, Spyker. It looks very honorable.

However, Japanese sorcerers from Toyota Motor seems to be on the shoulder. The bosses said it was necessary, the army of fanatics officers answered to eat. The Brand from the test tube was awarded with a name soullessly electron, but with meaning. Initially, it sounded like Luxus, but then the Toyotovites themselves considered the hint too naive and slightly overdone it, receiving Lexus. It took several years to prepare for the debut, and in January 1989 the first swallows were presented at the Demitsky Auto Show: a large LS 400 sedan or a more modest ES 300.

The newborn brand was created under the American market bottomless, fat and fallen to the window dressing. In addition, it was quite accommodated (therefore, the sale and service were not expected to sell and service on the chosen dealers of Toyota). The Japanese saw a free niche on a local premium market, which, according to their understanding, formed somewhere between the patriotic old people of Cadillac and Lincoln and chic German machines with their hard price tags. Lexus proposed a greedy embodiment of their aspirations: so that everything was, inexpensively and does not break. The quality was guaranteed by the Toyota genes, the generous equipment was part of the strategy for promoting the new brand, and the price in the first year of LS 400 was offered for $ 35,000! Naturally, the Japanese could not dump for a long time, and over the next years this figure was doubled, but the primary promotion of the brand was almost completed by that time. Bingo.

Lexus’s unprecedented pace was not just successful, but fashionable. Over several seasons, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were cornered in a corner, having lost more than half of their sales in North America. Then, the status quo was at the very least restored, but Lexus had already held his share of 200-250 thousand cars annually, acquiring a reputation and regular customers with an iron grip. In Europe, despite all efforts, sales figures are more than modest. Bye. Because the Japanese sincerely hope the new models of 2005/06 with more expressive styling and powerful turbodiesels shift the case from a dead point.

The current LS 430 belongs to the outgoing generation of Lexus. However, today it is he who proudly carries the flagship pennant. This car shines with the quality of the gaps between the body panels is barely distinguishable, the external trim chromium is elegant, multilayer varnish reflects the surrounding reality. Aerodynamics is phenomenal: the declared coefficient of SC is 0.26! But design design forces to suspect a large Lexus in a detrimental for premium imitation. LS 430 seemed to be created for those in whom the loss of the Mercedesovsky W140 lives. Apparently, mimicry is part of the proprietary policy. Even in the latest GS sedan, the rear rack area is obsessively associated with the BMW seven. It is worth mentioning here that in the artistic plan Lexus has never been independent. All brand models are based on machines sold under the Toyota brand in the domestic Japanese market. In particular, LS 430 is known there as Toyota Celsior.

Another invariable component of the policy is extensive equipment. LS is crammed with all kinds of ties and above. There really is everything! A European machine of a similar class with similar equipment will cost one and a half times more, if not more. Plus, constant quality in everything: the most delicate perforated skin of the seats was especially impressed. Only the stylistic order, the harmony characteristic of Europeans, all kinds of buttons are scattered across the cabin, displays on the dashboard and the central console are not enough. In general, the luxury with the signs of Sumbur. But there is something to improve.

The ideological architecture of the LS 430 is such that the passenger of the car should receive pleasure from the trip no less than the driver. Accepting this as an axiom, you can predict and correctly perceive the road character of the machine. A soft, almost gentle start is immediately inferior to a powerful, but surprisingly silent acceleration under a smooth shift of gears. The run of Lexus is in the Mercedesian lung and a weightlifting, the suspension says a decisive there is no indefatigable desire for the eaten asphalt to disturb the riders. In high -speed turns, the car seems magnificent from any row of seats, but in steep he restrains the gambling driver with tangible insufficient rotation. In order not to violate the parity of interests.

So, Lexus is a wonderful product that earned his title of premium. A richly packed, undoubtedly reliable, and even pleasing at a price. But still not able to dictate the lifestyle due to the blurry of the style of his own. They tell us: wait a little new IS, and then of course we will wait.

Lexus LS 430
Engines: 1
Transmissions: 1
Body flowers: 6
Salon decoration options: 4
Options: 0
Price: $ 97900
Top version, it is the only one: 282 hp/0-100 km/h 6.3 s
Among the basic equipment:
adaptive air suspension TEMS
vSC stabilization system
smart Key key access and start -up system
trunking door closers and lids
three-zone climate control
rear chairs with electric drives, multi -cut massage and ventilation
front seats ventilation
electric drives of the steering column
safety pillows for the knees of the driver and front passenger
aFS adaptive headlights
tire pressure sensors
mini bar
Among the options:
no options are provided

Lexus
It is part of: Toyota Motor Company
Headquarters: Aichi-Ken, Japan
Brand registration: 1985
Founder: Aiji Toyoda
Years of release: from 1989
Production range: 8 models