Test Drive Lexus Ls since 2009 Sedan
Jack-Pot
Jack Pope is when you are lucky. When only you, and the remaining players look at you with admiration and envy. When it came on foot, and left for Lexus LS430. The predecessor of the model with the index 430, Lexus LS400, appeared in 1988 and was sold only in the United States. Since then, the model has been subjected to upgrades, but it remained all the same old good four hundred. A fundamentally new version of the top sedan Lexus was represented by the public in early 2000 on the Motor Show in Detroit. And if the Euscation of LS400 was prepared for two years, then the 430th appeared on both sides of the ocean almost simultaneously.
Rates made. Ah, Monte Carlo! The place where the morning begins after lunch, and the good old Bentley does not cause admiration for the suggested public, and the pink Corvette is viewed with a squeamish expression. At the same time, the new Lexus LS430 caused carefully hidden interest. At first glance, it can be seen that the car is new: the form of anterior optics, to fire on the hood - modern forms, carefully disguised as a classic silhouette. Color - exceptionally classic black or noble silver. Dimensions and reflecting in glasses expensive Salon's skin leave no doubt that this is not just a new car, but a new expensive car. Consequently, it is necessary to look at - maybe it's time to buy yourself the same in the interval between the morning coffee and the game in the roulette?
Lexus marketers emphasize that the 430th was created for secured people at the age of about 50, not dependent on public opinion in choosing their new car. Undoubtedly, Lexus has a certain weight and influence in car circles, but why put the client with the image of the brand, when the level of comfort speaks for itself?
There are no bets anymore. In the late 80s, push-button phones appeared in Moscow. The people instantly went crazy and rushed to storm the counter electronics stores - silent devices immediately became a symbol of prestige and wealth. In government agencies, they were installed only in large bosses, in the apartments the phone did not hide shzydly in the hallway under the hanger, and put in a red corner. Prayer with telephones and subsequent remote controls with televisions, coffee makers and even light in the bedroom, we rushed to look for buttons in the salons of our cars. The word electropacket becomes key and largely determines the choice. Gradually, we were convinced that this is not a toy, and the level of comfort, mandatory for cars of a certain class.
In the LS430, only the steering wheel and pedals remain from the usual controls. Otherwise, it is sufficiently lazy to poke the button in the button, and something in the car will work. Even adjusting seat belts in height - and then on the button. In the back seat, I counted in the folding armrest of more than 10 (!) Buttons: managing your own microclimate, audio system, head restraints, separate seats for two passengers and so on. Up to the opportunity to manipulate the front passenger seat - suddenly the owner did not like it that the guard was located too rapidly and loses his vigilance.
About something very hard, usually say: only coffee does not cook. So in Lexus LS430 in the literal sense, only a coffee maker is missing from comfort mechanisms. Because the rear seats are equipped with a massage system, and the front armchairs is a hidden air conditioning system that serves cold air directly in the very sameness. Let's just say, creates an air layer between the driver and the seat.
Black wins. I am not a fan of a cheap populism, which is suffering from some big bosses. They wear plastic clocks, turn to subordinate to you, they are released in direct air doubtful jokes, and they themselves lead their limousines. But with Lexus LS430 a special case. The driver is ensured by no less comfort than the sofa sofa sowes. And the natural desire to hold down behind the steering wheel is justified and predictable. On such a car, I agree even to work with a personal driver. Especially taking into account the full automation of the workplace. The steering wheel and the seat can be adjusted for the driver of any complex - a few seconds I enjoy a quiet buzz of servos, after which you can go on the road. The navigation will take care of the right direction, which is one of the best among those that have been used. The corresponding icons are displayed on the display, and it is easy to touch it with her finger so that the team is accepted by the computer. Similarly, you can control the climatic installation and audio system with CD changer. Chajnger himself is located not somewhere in the trunk, but right on the center console. And shyly covered with a wooden panel, despite the fact that Mark Levinson is made by the audio system.
Chet-unfortunate. The gearbox on the LS430 is exceptionally automatic 5-speed with a figured Mercedes cutout. It is the most automatic from all automatic transmission that I had to meet. Externally, nothing has changed - the handle with P, R, N, D modes and so on. Two pedals are brake and gas. But Super Ect (Electronically Controlled Transmission) behaves, as if inside her, the minimum Pentium III with a clock frequency of 700 MHz and 128 MB of memory.
Not only is the system that the system is quite quickly adjusted to the individual style of each driver - we have already seen - it is still looking to recognize the lifts and descents that are found, for example, on mountain serpentines.
Let's say on a small bias with a turn, where the usual automatic holds the fifth gear and the driver has to slow down, the ECT system itself switches to the reduced, the fourth gear and slows down the engine. It is healthy felt on a torn lift. So I click on gas and Lexus obediently breaks off. Eyes are afraid, legs do: on a rather canopy plot, which nevertheless goes to the mountain, I will click on the full coil, although it is in front, a coolest rise. I know that you have to slow down, but persistently try to unwind the motor to the fifth gear. But this does not happen - the smart machine is stubbornly pulls on the fourth and at the beginning of the steep rise intelligently switches to the third.
Zero! Recently, the Chinese city was walking on TV. The main character, Chinese and Master Kung Fu, easily rake their enemies, fluttering on the screen as a butterfly. Despite the fact that with a slight increase, he was frankly fat. Chinese city I remembered no accident. LS430 has a length of 5 meters and weighs with a driver and one passenger 2 tons. At the same time, overclocking up to 100 km / h occupies less than 7 seconds. But how much dignity in this jerk. In the sports car, each second overclocking is felt by the skin: a roar of a motor, an overload, an addictive driver into a narrow Recaro, convulsive manipulation with the checkpoint. In Lexus and the driver, and passengers are deprived of these dubious pleasures for chosen. Everything happens to be funny: those surrounding how to slow down their run, missing you forward. This car does not go - he is in a literal sense disks the space, carefully protecting those who are inside, from extra overloads, road irregularities and noise of their own motor. The smoothness of its move in any mode can be compared with a sliding of a powerful glisser by sea in a full catch.
I did not put it goal to roll such a car in extreme modes. Because the behavior of Lexus LS430 in sharp turns and rearrangements should not worry his potential owner. This is the concern of the bodyguard driver, if such an need will arise. And the passion of the owner to the LS430 auto racing should satisfy only to deliver passengers to the Formula I stage in Monte Carlo.
Text Nikolay Kachurin, Photo of the author and Toyota Motor Co.
A source: "Autopilot"
