Lexus LS 460 (2007-) Review

On the road

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This is the first generation of LS that actually encourages the enthusiast driver to press on a bit.

Earlier iterations concentrated so hard on making sure they rode properly that an almost inevitable corollary was slightly ponderous, uninvolving handling. And, at first, it seems the LS460 is heading in the same direction. At low speeds the electric power steering (a first on a car of this size) feels rather remote. While the car floats down the road so serenely, it seems hard to conceive that it's going to be sufficiently firm and responsive to make it worth punting through some quick curves.

Well, it has a surprise waiting for you. Although it does quickly start begging its electronic safety systems to rescue it from its nasty driver if you try to bully it through a hairpin, in faster turns progress is much more assured. Indeed in long, fast curves it settles very securely onto its springs and can barrel through with great aplomb without compromising the comfort of those on board.

And it's good to see that while Lexus has undoubtedly had a change of heart with the chassis set-ups of the latest IS and GS models, making them firmer and more responsive than their predecessors, the commitment to superlative ride quality - one of the foundation stones of the Lexus brand - remains at LS level. It rides beautifully in all conditions, even around town, where air-sprung rivals such as the new Mercedes S-Class can be caught out. The LS is available with either 18" or 19" wheels and, while the larger alloys look better, if it's pure comfort you're after, you should go for the 18s every time.

Only the brakes are a real disappointment. As you'll discover in the safety section, the LS460 can brake all by itself without your foot being anywhere near the pedal. Whether it's connected to this or not, when you do slow the car yourself, you find a small dead patch at the top of the pedal's travel. You push through that, only to find the brakes arriving in rather too much of a hurry. None of this is remotely dangerous, nor is there any questioning the ultimate retardation on offer; it's just that when you drive a car like this, you want your passenger's ride to be as smooth as humanly possible and the brake system of the two test cars tried made this harder work than it should have been.

On paper, it looks fabulous. An all-new V8 motor produces 375bhp - a highly impressive output from just 4.6 litres - and directs it all to the rear wheels through an eight-speed gearbox. It reaches 62mph in 5.7sec and would doubtless top 170mph were it not electronically restricted to 155mph.

In reality, the picture is neither so clear nor quite so rosy. The first question to ask is why such a comparatively small engine is being asked to produce so much power. Mercedes' S500 has just 13bhp more, but it comes from an engine almost an entire litre larger.

The danger with small-capacity, high-output engines is that although they will ultimately deliver the power at high revs, they pay the price at the low engine speeds where such cars tend to live their lives. And so it proves with the LS. In fact, you have to be revving the engine at 4,100rpm before it will deliver maximum torque and if you let the revs fall much below 3,000rpm it can feel rather sluggish.

That, of course, is why it needs eight gears to make sure that, despite the engine's rather narrow powerband, there's always one to suit your demands. Which is fine in theory but on the road leads to too much hunting around the gearbox when a car with more power low down would simply let the engine do the work.

At least the engine is as smooth and quiet as you'd expect.