Category: Large Executive 
Price Range: £57,263 to £57,263
Superlative refinement, great new looks, limousine ride quality, it parks itself.
Really rather soulless, engine lacks low down grunt, grabby brakes.
Technocrats will love it, as will those who feel ride and refinement are the defining characteristics of the luxury car. It lacks only that critical sense of occasion.
On sale from January 2007, the LS460 is available in basic, SE and SE-L specification levels, priced £57,000, £65,000 and £71,000 respectively.
Because the LS460 does not go on sale in the UK until next year, there's no news yet on what equipment will be standard, though you can expect the usual goodies like its exceptional sat nav, leather upholstery and intelligent cruise control.
However, it seems certain that not only will familiar items like a drop-down DVD player and 19in wheels be extra, but so will the self-parking facility that allows you to draw up just beyond a space, press a button, apply very gentle accelerator pressure and sit back while the car parks itself. It's not a perfect system because it can't shuffle to and fro, so it will only work in relatively easy spaces, but as a device for impressing your mates it's near-enough priceless.
Interior space is generous, with space to spare for four or even five adults on board, calling into question the wisdom of the long-wheelbase version - unless its primary purpose is to provide the space to store its presumably vast battery pack. The boot is well shaped but, at 510 litres, only averagely spacious.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Lexus LS 430
wrote on 11 10 2007
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wrote on 30 06 2006