Lexus is preparing an all-new flagship limousine to take on the likes of the Audi A8 and Mercedes S-Class - and now Auto Express has had a brief run around the roads of Yokohama, Japan, to gauge how the latest LS is shaping up.
It’s a bigger car than before. Lexus used to offer the model globally with a choice of regular and long wheelbases, but now there’s just a single version – and the gap between its front and rear axles is 35mm longer than the old extended-wheelbase variant.
There are a couple of new powertrain options too, although British buyers will only be offered one of them: the LS 500h hybrid. This mixes a 295bhp 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine with a pair of electric motors, giving a combined output of 354bhp. That’s enough for a claimed 0-62mph time of 5.4 seconds, even with a ludicrously complex four-step automatic transmission that mimics a ‘conventional’ 10-speed unit.
The LS 500h marks a significant step in Toyota’s hybrid development, because it switches the battery unit from nickel-metal hybride to lighter lithium-ion. The unit is 20 per cent smaller physically than the old spec, which, in turn helps the new LS hybrid gain 25 litres of boot space over the outgoing model. But it has a higher power density, and Lexus claims the car can reach up to 87mph on electric power alone.
There’s also an LS 500, powered by a twin-turbocharged version of the same engine but with no electrical assistance. It’s actually slightly faster - a result, no doubt, of losing the weight of the batteries and the additional electric motors. But it’s likely to be targeted at markets like Russia and the US, with no plans for the car to be sold in the UK.
Our short drive on two-lane urban roads offered little chance to take the LS 500h much beyond 50mph. But it does feel pretty accomplished at these lower speeds, with the standard air suspension doing a fair job of soothing out bridge expansion joints and ridges in the road. Sharper imperfections are more of a challenge for the setup, though, so more pointed speed bumps will still be a pain. An S-Class is more comfortable, in other words.
The steering is surprisingly heavy, and the car feels pretty bulky with it. We can’t say for certain based on this test, but our gut feeling is that it will major on long-distance motorway cruising ability instead of any deftness or handling agility.
The refinement as you pull away from rest is unnerving at first, with only a distant electric motor whine. Thereafter, a smooth approach will be rewarded, allowing the electric motor a better chance of acting alone, while also keeping revs to a sensible level if the system does decide that it needs the V6’s help. At a cruise, you won’t hear much from under the bonnet at all - although this also down to a fair amount of roar from the (minimum) 19-inch wheels and tyres.
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We also had a chance to try out some of the LS’s new safety tricks, including its ability to keep the car in its lane while you issue a featherlight touch on the steering wheel. The big Lexus can switch between lanes if you hold the indicator in its ‘halfway down’ position, too. The lane keep assist is a little ponderous but works well, although the handover back to human control when the system doesn’t feel confident enough in the road markings takes a bit of getting used to.
The cabin is a mixed bag. Lexus has crammed in plenty of Japanese craftwork, such as wood trim and pleated door trims, but while these elements look spectacular in their own right, the sheer number of them helps to create an interior with none of the coherence found in German rivals. You’ll see a dozen typefaces and clashing mixtures of textures, leaving you wondering whether the whole thing was conceived by several disconnected small teams, instead of a single well-run one.
Perhaps more surprisingly, the quality doesn’t seem to be entirely consistent either. We were able to find the odd rough edge inside our (admittedly early) production car, and the shiny black plastic coathooks are some of the nastiest we’ve seen this side of a cheap supermini, too.
There’s no denying that the LS piles on the infotainment, with a Mark Levinson sound system that includes speakers in the headlining, a 12.3-inch infotainment system in the centre of the dashboard and even a 24-inch colour head-up display - the largest device of its type in the world.
We’re still waiting for UK specs, though, so for now we’re not even sure if the HUD will be standard-fit or a pricey cost option. And while the central screen itself is impressive, there’s still no sign of Android Auto or Apple CarPlay - a glaring omission in this connected age.
- Model: Lexus LS 500h
- Price: £100,000 (est)
- Engine: 3.5-litre V6 petrol, two electric motors
- Transmission: Four-speed automatic, four-wheel drive
- Power: 354bhp (total output)
- 0-62mph: 5.4 seconds
- Top speed : TBC
- Economy/CO2: TBC/TBC
- On sale: January 2018
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