Lexus LS 2010 Review

Lexus has updated its 2010 LS line with technological and aesthetic tweaks and the addition of a more sports-oriented alternative to the base LS460.

Outside, the update gives all LS460 and LS600hL models new grilles and redesigned bumpers front and rear. Headlamp and tail-light clusters have been updated, with the addition of the now de rigueur bright white LED daytime runners and mirror mounted turn indicators.

Along with four new colours comes a new clear top coating on Lexus's already top notch paintwork.

Underneath are tweaks to the air suspension help smarten up steering response, with an eye to keeping the big cars flat and stable on turn-in.

Indoors is a rejigged centre cluster with new switchgear and chrome trim bits. USB and iPod jacks are now standard in the centre console, with full play control for both through the multifunction satnav screen.

All LS models now come with an 'Eco' driving mode designed to optimise the relationship between engine and air-conditioning moment to moment, helping keep fuel consumption and emissions down. At the wheel, it presents as a green indicator light, supplemented by an instantaneous fuel consumption bar to keep you informed of how fuel-efficiently you're wielding your right foot.

LS460 Sport
Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $199,900
Crash rating: 5 stars
Fuel: petrol
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 11.1
CO2 emissions (g/km): 261

Overall Rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.5/5.0
Safety: 4.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.5/5.0
X-factor: LS460 Sport: 3.0/5.0

At a price identical to its 'standard' sibling, the $199,900 LS460 Sport sits parallel, bringing base LS buyers to a fork in the road of choice between sporting and luxury values.

Up front, the Sport gets a mesh grille to differentiate it from its twin, with a body kit and 19-inch alloys to help broaden and lower its stance. Inside, the front seats get more side bolstering.

Beneath the surface are several important mechanical differentiators including a weight loss program, retuned transmission and suspension and a substantial Brembo-sourced brake upgrade.

This being the LS devoted to the driver, the company stripped out the two individual rear-seat air conditioning units. On the downside, rear seat passengers have to share the dual-zone climate control with those up front. On the upside, it strips a handy 100kg out from over the rear axle and gives what was already a vast boot enough extra space to fit an extra set of golf clubs longitudinally.

In rejigging the eight-speed sequential shifter, the 460 Sport takes a leaf from the hot-rod IS-F's book, with the addition of wheel-mounted paddles to take advantage of a slicker upshift. It doesn't yet have the sophistication of that car's box in that it remains a simple sequential, without the algorithms to skip ratios in fast downshifts. But such athletic prowess would be wasted here anyway – this is, after all, not a track car but a luxury limo with a spot of boy-racer flourish.

At least in manual downshift, it blips the throttle for a bit of extra double-shuffle drama, but this being an LS, you have to listen hard to here it.

The most serious upgrade comes into play not at the green lights but the red. At the front, the Brembo braking package puts big six-pot calipers over monster 380mm rotors, while at the rear it gets four-piston calipers over 334 mm rotors (quite a shift up from the already excellent standard package of four-piston on 357 mm front and two-piston on 335 mm).

From freeway speeds to zero, the new brakes gobble up velocity like a wall of latex; and give the 1.9 tonne LS a surprising agility on approach to hairpins.

The suspension has been subtly firmed up and supplemented by beefier stabiliser bars to sharpen up turn-in and keep it flatter through the bends. It manages this satisfactorily, but the steering still lacks the precision and weighting of the better Germans. It's still skewed towards ride serenity over handling theatrics, absorbing road Braille and potholes with the aplomb of any LS.

The result is a car that nearly matches its 460 twin for comfort but makes better use of its 280kW and 493Nm with little dynamic sacrifice.

LS600hL
Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $250,900 four-seat; $243,900 five-seat
Price as tested: As above
Crash rating: 5 stars
Fuel: petrol
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 9.3 (combined cycle)
CO2 emissions (g/km): 219

Lexus has given its flagship long-wheelbase LS600hL a complete dashboard redesign extending to the replacement of the analogue gauges it used to share with 'downmarket' LS models with an analogue-look LCD screen. Inside the large, central speedo is a switchable display that rotates through normal trip computer information, a supplementary turn-by-turn navigation and hybrid system status.

The only option is in the choice of rear seat configuration: a three-place bench or, for an extra $7000, a 'relaxation pack' with twin-armchairs divided by a full-length console housing a fridge-box and controls for heating, cooling and multiple massage styles, entertainment and, on the passenger side, a recline function with a fold-out ottoman.

The in-flight entertainment system allows the audio to be split between front and rear so rear riders can listen to the ceiling-mounted DVD through wireless headsets.

Tweaks to the 600hL's hybrid drivetrain mean that while it carries over its predecessor's 219g/km CO2 figure, improvements in other exhaust emissions bring it into line with Euro V standards, without sacrificing any performance.

Married up, the 5.0-litre V8 petrol engine and electric motor generate a peak 327kW and 520Nm. With the air suspension and a panoply of insulation and silencing technology sequestering you from the outside world, and the CVT transmission keeping the V8's revs low, the largest Lexus sedan is deceptive in it accelerative power. The combined powertrain pushes 2.3 tonnes of car from 0-100km/h in 6.3 seconds.

Switch the car to Power mode, however, and the muscle on tap is even more evident, both in getting off the mark an in midrange overtaking manoeuvres.

Where this vehicle is most deceptive is in its fuel efficiency. Lexus claims 9.3L/100km on the combined cycle. The average 10.5 we achieved over ten days and about 1500km is remarkable for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we put no conscious effort into keeping consumption down – indeed the car spent a fair bit of its time in the thirstier Power mode. Secondly, more than half of the kays we covered were on the open highway, ostensibly the hybrid powertrain's weak point for fuel-efficiency.

In other words, that 10.5 is a bona fide, real life figure. By comparison, we managed 16.8 in the 460 Sport and the same in the smaller but rortier IS-F.

That the 600 is built as a fuel-efficient touring carriage is most evident in the workings of the CVT. No paddle shifters here. Indeed the manual mode, with its eight 'virtual' gear settings, is a complete why-bother as a performance enhancement tool. That's because it's more about engine braking on downhill runs, than about off-the-mark histrionics.

Traffic light GPs are about as hard as this V8 ever has to work. It leads a very pleasant life indeed, rarely having to exceed 3000rpm.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site