Arguably one of the more conservatively styled luxury brand flagships upon its launch for 1990, now in 2021 the recently updated Lexus LS is the polar opposite, sporting a longer, lower, and wider mantra infused with curvaceous yet also angular styling. The apparent dichotomy continues inside with again an evolution from an appealing yet predictably proper layout to today’s still perfectly functional yet visually perhaps outre style that is a bit of a feast for the senses, to be visually enjoyed as much as used to operate the vehicle.
Simply seeing the LS on screen or paper doesn’t accurately convey the same impression it does in person; the way the metal flows, the textures, shapes, and materials used inside, along with what is surely one of the sweetest powertrains extant. Not everyone will understand it either, alas, currently seeing the lowest sales numbers of any generation to date, the sedan’s form factor itself is facing a reckoning with this fifth generation of the LS, while it’s perhaps the finest one yet. In fact, this may be one of the first vehicles I’ve tested of which I did not see another example during my week with it. It’s not unlikely that you haven’t seen one within the last week (or perhaps month) either.
Did Lexus whiff it? Hardly, at least in aggregate, although there are some aspects that rankle a bit. It isn’t their fault that the luxury market has moved significantly toward the SUV form factor and thankfully for them, they have that aspect well covered with plenty of choices and there is likely room for even more at the upper end.
Of course the first thing seen (and usually commented on, at least in our Curbside neighborhood) is the grille. I’ll posit that the LS wears it quite well, and the car seems formed around it rather than having it tacked on. If anything, the version used on the standard model (as well as the Hybrid) is even better integrated overall than the one gracing this, the F Sport version, simply by dint of the coloring and surface detail of the “mesh” area, the standard item is more sculpted and very interesting to look at. In person, especially from a lower angle, it works.
Low is one of the operative words, and it’s startling how large the car really is, although it doesn’t seem it at first. I figured that it was around the length of the current Toyota Avalon, not a short or small car by any means, however the LS exceeds it in length by a full foot. It’s also two inches wider and over an inch taller, so perhaps not quite as low as it first appears and in fact taller than the original LS but lower than the last one. And, it must be said, all of the current dimensions are still smaller than those of the Mercedes S-Class, long the standard bearer of the segment.
While at one time the LS was available in two lengths, nowadays we are back to one for all variants. Differences are mainly in trim with the base model being offered in normal as well as F Sport versions, and then the Hybrid variant pretty much matching the standard car in all aspects bar the powertrain. Rear wheel drive is standard, but full time all wheel drive is available across the range and ours was so equipped.
The F Sport isn’t imbued with all sorts of extraneous doo-dads or questionable styling elements, externally the only real giveaways are a subtly different front fascia, darker colored chrome accents, different wheels, and of course the tiny fender and trunk badges. Remove those badges and nobody would know.
Even the Matador Red Mica paint color doesn’t really scream for attention and it’s available on the others as well. That paint though, you pay extra for the luxury model and there’s one area that you get something in return, the deep luster and surface smoothness are uncommonly good.
The front fenders aren’t simply extensions of the hood’s surface, they are separately sculpted to cover the tops of the tire circumference, and that shape blends back into the door. The door glass is completely flush with all of the pillars within the glass area, and the rear fenders bulge on top as well before integrating with the slightly raised trunk lid. The shapes and angles of the taillights mimic that of the brightwork around the license plate aperture and at the bottom are the two trapezoidal exhaust outlets.
The doors are hefty, and the rears are (or at least feel and act) longer then the fronts as in a proper flagship. While low, there’s no sense of having to thread any kind of needle while getting in either front or rear. The doors open so wide that there is real danger of needing to stretch farther than anticipated to grasp the seemingly floating handle in order to pull it shut, an automatic closing system all of a sudden seems like less of a needless extravagance.
Inside, this model was finished in black with Naguri aluminum trim, although there are multiple options available across the range, both in color as well as materials, even special Kiriko glass is an option for items that were rendered in metal on this one – don’t knock it, take a look at the website or other pictures, the glass is a very interesting effect and exactly the type of thing to make someone’s car be that much more special rather than the average punter being able to choose between tan and gray and silver painted trim vs fake carbon fiber as in the mass market.
Of course multiple woods are on offer too as well as laser cut and/or surface shaped variants as well. This is the type of car that it would be a shame to just buy off the lot, with so many different touchpoint options ordering something special is, I would think, a very large part of the overall experience.
Seats in this example look like there is some sort of texture effect, however what you are seeing is a black leather surface with a white interior (of the leather, not the seat itself) that is visible where the perforation pattern is. Designed with a pattern rather than just the entire surface, it creates a striking impression.
The seats themselves are of course heated as well as ventilated and while normally adjustable with electric controls, pushing a button with a pictograph of a seat makes a menu pop up on the 12.3″ touchscreen alllowing a total of 28 different seat movement options – this includes all seat and back bolsters, lower cushions, as well as the back cushions split into several segments and the headrests all being able to be adjusted independently of one another. I’d be best off getting my old orthopedist neighbor to help me select the optimum setting and then make sure that the memory function was enabled in order to save it, once lost it would likely never be duplicated.
Basically, everything that can be electrically adjusted, is, and this particular LS was actually one of the lesser equipped versions available. The seat moves itself back when the door is opened as does the steering wheel, and both reposition themselves when it’s closed again. The steering wheel has its button controls in a logical arrangement on its surface, and through the wheel at first it is surprising to only see one gauge. That’s the tachometer with the speedometer only shown as a digital readout in the center.
While the temperature and fuel level are in small areas flanking it, the rest of the center portion can be varied as to the information presented. On this F Sport version that whole gauge though can also slide to the side and then it displays the same information in a different format at the touch of a button. It’s not that just the digital display moves electronically, but there is a physical bezel around that tachometer, it physically slides to the right about two inches. Very odd and hard to envision until seen. At the end of the day though, it’s still a similar display so not something most would move often if at all.
For those interested in keeping track of soft vs hard materials, it’s a pleasure to report that the entire door panel is soft with the exception of the control buttons and the metal areas. So the upper, the middle, the handle, as well as the lower sections including the door pockets, everything yields to an exploratory touch. The dashboard is the same. The pillars and headliner (where it flanks the optional panoramic sunroof) are finished in a very rich feeling Ultrasuede material.
That material is also used on portions of the seats as well as the doorpanels (the patterned stitched section). The sunroof is composed of two sections and while the front and rear of the cabin each have their own electrically retractable sunshades controlled independently from one another, the front section can slide back and open externally by sliding over the rear portion.
This was done to not impinge on headroom as much as in a traditional setup, however the frame still managed to get in the way of my 6’1″ with 32″ inseam, managing to brush my hair and once uncomfortably causing me to impale my head on the button of the ballcap that I was wearing when a dip was traversed at speed. I found myself traveling slightly slouched to the side, which sort of negates the healing effects of the sublimely adjustable seats. My problem, not yours, unless you are otherwise blessedly long of torso too.
Lexus has started to abandon its generally unloved touchpad coupled with cursor puck system, now just leaving the touchpad with a few quick menu buttons around it, but really having no need for it as the touchscreen itself is close enough to just tap as needed for pretty much everything.
The navigation worked well and I had actual uses for it this time, but curiously the speech pattern of the synthetic voice was highly irregular compared to other brands’ current systems and seemed a decade old with notable gaps between words and phrases as they were joined together into something not really resembling normal speech. Additionally while the camera system worked as well as they all do (good) the resolution was surprisingly poor, and not at all what I would have expected for a car uncomfortably close to (and in some cases exceeding) six figures. There are cars at a quarter of the price with better camera graphics if perhaps not the same size screen.
What is good though (and is becoming more common elsewhere as screens increase in size) is the ability to easily section the screen in order to have it perform and display multiple functions at once, i.e navigation and radio or radio and trip economy or whatever else might strike one’s fancy.
While interestingly styled with the silver multi-bladed accent piece swooping traversing the dashboard and incorporating the center vents, functionally it’s as one would expect with the screen up top and its smooth surface also encompassing a traditional timepiece with it on the left side.
Below that are the center vents and right below that the HVAC controls. Temperature is selected via small thumbwheels that spin freely if pushed and released and feel sort of like mini version of the older Mercedes system which in my own cars I always used it to increase or decrease the amount of airflow by raising or lowering the temperature instead of letting the car’s brain do it for me. The instant gratification of being able to change that without selecting the fan speed itself was just as enjoyable now as it was back then, well done, Lexus! Of course it can also do it all for those that would rather just set and forget.
To the left of those controls is one of the more delightful items, those being the milled solid two-level knob of the audio controller. The main knob controls the volume and is light enough to juuuuusssssst rotate with the surface pressure of one finger while the ring around the base of it is the tuner. Fortuitously I enjoy three satellite stations located very closely to one another on the dial (33, 34, 36) and in this case it was easier to just flitter between them rather than using the on-screen preset buttons.
Below that the faceplate and CD slot for the frankly stupendous Mark Levinson audio system which in this case is officially named the “Mark Levinson 23-speaker, 2400 Watt Quantum Logic Immersion Reference Surround Sound Audio”. It is as impressive as it sounds and once again as in another Lexus reviewed prior, allowed me to hear notes I was not aware existed on various tracks and turn the volume up so loud while remaining perfectly clear while my passengers asked me to turn it down.
This is the system I want. It should be available in any vehicle on earth but it is not which makes me have a sad. I can be a bit of a cheap bastard but I would happily pay the $1,940 that this particular option commands, it’s a bargain. And I absolutely love the patterned texture of the metal speaker grilles in the rear doors.
On the horizontal surface of the center console resides the button to select Park as well as the shifter and a cover for two cupholders. Behind that the redundant trackpad, buttons for the rear screen, and two others to call up the seat climate control and the finer seat adjustments via the screen. Under one’s elbow is the storage compartment with padded lid that has buttons on both the driver and passenger sides and is hinged both ways for everyone’s convenience.
The shifter is yet another twist on the art or science of monostatism, in this case actually improving as to shift into drive or reverse the shifter must be pushed left and forward or left and back, not unlike in a manual transmission vehicle but on a minimal scale with “throws” that measure in millimeters. As a result it does not require actually looking at it to operate it and manages to always look neat, tidy, and centered which I suppose is the point of this style of shifter.
There is not any obvious place to store a phone so the cupholder does a fine job of it while concurrently ruining any aesthetic qualities extant and worse, in my opinion at least, was that there was no wireless charging pad. The rich are different, I suppose, and happily pay extra for options that are standard in all manner of lesser vehicles these days. There are a multitude of USB plugs in the center console though in order to allow an unsightly wire to be draped towards the cupholder phone storage area.
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When you noted that you had not seen any other versions of this car during the week you had this one, you were exactly right in reading my mind that I could not recall seeing any either.
It has finally happened. I look at a flagship Lexus – traditionally my very favorite kind of vehicle, a large, powerful high-quality sedan – and I go “meh”. I guess this means I am in tune with the market when I find my self showing more interest in big pickups and SUVs than in a car like this. I think that the large wheels disguise the scale of this car, making it look smaller than it is.
The fuel mileage is surprising. It would be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison of mileage between this car and the previous V8 version. I guess the old conventional wisdom is still true – a turbo V6 only improves fuel mileage over a V8 when you are not using that (or those) turbo(s).
That’s the thing: this just doesn’t scream “flagship” to me. This LS looks and feels more like a plus-sized GS.
I also agree with your assessment of the turbo V6. I get that engine’s very capable, but I’d rather have what’s under the hood of the LC 500, instead.
Every new LS has had the impossible task of replicating the success of the 1990 LS400, and it seems each new one since about 2000 has landed farther from the mark than the last. Lexus stuck to the initial winning formula, providing an impeccably-built and refined sedan at a bargain of a price compared to the Germans, but that initial splash cannot be replicated and the executive sedan world seems to prioritize flash and prestige over genuine quality for their short lease periods, so the Germans regained their lost ground.
I’ve only seen one of the new LSs out on the road. It was a metallic brown and it was stunning. In person, they have far more presence than the Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. There will be the same old comments about the big grille, but out in the wild this design works surprisingly well. I don’t like the dashboard design, however. Materials may be faultless, but the area to the right of the steering wheel where touchscreen, origination point for the horizontal dash lines, and gauge binnacle all meet is a complete mess. The analog clock slapped onto the touchscreen is tacky. Compare this dashboard to the 2016 model year, and I’d gladly sacrifice access to Kiriko glass and folded velvet fabric on the doors for the much cleaner old design.
Lexus’s hard shift to daring modern design works extremely well on the LC500. Here, it seems a little too try-hard to me. If this isn’t the final generation of LS I’ll be somewhat surprised given the poor sales numbers and market shift to SUVs, EVs, and EV SUVs. Shame, it’s an iconic model. It simply may have run its natural course.
The LS430 is commonly regarded as the best generation.
The LS430 debuted in 2000.
This here is that 2016–a proper dashboard design and integration of an analog clock:
The side view looks like a Tesla Model S to me. A design that has been out there for almost a decade. A beautiful design, but still…
Thanks for a typically thorough review. You also answered my question about my neighbor’s new car. I had only seen it from afar and thought it might be a new Genesis, but after seeing this article I looked closer this morning while walking the dog and saw that it is indeed a new LS Hybrid.
That is, I believe, the main problem with executive class sedans. My neighbor is a retired doctor in his late 70s. If he were even ten years younger, he would have bought an SUV or crossover, perhaps the RX hybrid, instead. The market for sedans narrows yet again.
To add to your point about the age demographic, I know several older folks who have migrated out of sedans and into crossovers or SUVs because the lower sedans have become difficult to get into and out of (and if not for themselves, for friends or family members who are not as mobile as they once were).
The sedan style appeals to older buyers, but an increasing number of them are avoiding sedans for mobility reasons – So the sedan is left with a seriously shrinking demographic: Elderly people whose circle of passengers is still limber enough for them. 🙂
Who wants to drive with their head cocked? That’s anything but luxury.
7′ ceilings in new houses were once not uncommon. 8′ ceilings in new houses disappeared years ago, 9′ ceilings are the norm, and 10′ ceilings are increasingly common, never mind soaring cathedral ceilings.
If we like lots of room over our heads in our houses, why would we want to drive a luxury car with our head cocked? That’s not luxury.
And that explains the popularity of the pickup and SUV right there. Once you’ve experienced the extra room, you’re never going to want to step down in a low sedan again.
Lexus should have created a tall sedan, along the lines of the Rolls or such. This is a dead end.
Sometimes I feel a little like John Travolta at the beginning of Saturday Night Fever “De Hair, don’ touch de hair!”
While I’m hardly one that styles their hair even remotely excessively I hate it when it contacts the roof of a car, There are not many modern sedans with sunroofs that I fit into very well, but I’ve come to realize that perhaps my torso is a little longer than those of many others, one of the reasons I include my height and inseam in the reviews, so people can contextualize themselves in the vehicle. At 6’1″ with 32″ inseam (so 41″ remainder) this car with the panoramic and/or presumably the standard sunroof was not ideal. Even an inch would have made a big difference in that regard. I do also tend to keep my seat a little more upright than many others do, which may exacerbate that as well.
Sales figures of the LS line have been on a generally downward trend since the great recession, blipping when a new generation is introduced and then continuing down. Three large-ish SUVs (RX, GX, LX) in the showroom are also siphoning off some of that, of course.
My comment reflects the fact that cars have tended to mirror houses to some extent over the decades. Up through the 1920s, houses typically were narrow and tall-tallish. Starting in the 30s, residential houses started to look wider and lower. This culminated in the massive popularity of the ranch style house in the post war era through the 60s. Then houses started to become taller again, emphasizing vertical design elements as well as actual increases in height, both outer and inner, with cathedral ceilings and such.
This trend has only continued. Is it a sheer coincidence that these trend lines correspond to the trend lines in automobiles too, in terms of their basic proportions? Me thinks not.
As to the LS in particular, I haven’t seen a new one around here in some years. But there sure are a lot of Tesla Model S to be seen.
I much prefer 8′ ceilings to the 9′ or 10′ ceilings builders insist on using lately, though it’s usually back to 8′ once you walk up to the second floor. High ceilings drive up your A/C or heating bill, and I don’t want my house to feel like a gymnasium anyway. Lower ceilings feel cozier. I do think sedan roofs have become too low though, which is exacerbated by the rakishly sloped, rounded A pillars which require bending your head to enter the car and get seated. I think taller sedans would sell better; something like the Ford 500/Taurus from the ’00s would be perfect. I know those didn’t sell very well, but it was a different time and not everyone loved their styling (though I did). I imagine a higher beltline would be more accepted today.
Lexus LS has been in decreasing mode for years. The previous mode was in market for years without any upgrade. The current model is viewed as worse than the previous one by Consumer Report which for long time favors Toyota products. Lexus, and other two Japanese luxury bands, is struggling against other three German bands despite recent surge of luxury car buyers recent years. We can not say it is not good vehicle, but to the fair mind, if everything is equal, you will choose this LS over S-class, 7-series or A8L? Lexus last 20 years also missed the blooming China market, it was viewed as symbolic car in China until Chinese realizes the German cars fit their ego better if they are not indeed better. I will not shock to see one day Toyota stops selling Lexus. For business points of view, selling Toyota is very profitable now.
LS volume has been decreasing since the first generation, initially it was one of only two cars in the lineup. Currently the RX and the ES are the volume sellers, which is how it has been for some time now.
Toyota is not about to stop selling Lexus vehicles anytime soon. In the US, Lexus outsells Audi by a wide margin, is about on par with BMW and somewhat behind Mercedes. I don’t subscribe to CR and don’t own any of these particular brands currently, however having owned Audi, Mercedes and Toyota multiple times I will comfortably pick the Toyota-backed one to perform better over the long haul with less maintenance and repairs than any of the others. I believe overall statistics rather than solitary anecdotes bear that out.
As far as I understood, until relatively recently, the Chinese market viewed all Japanese cars negatively, I believe that viewpoint has been changing rapidly over the last few years, just like everything in China has been changing rapidly. While the Germans sell more there (and WAY more than they do here in the US), Lexus as of 2019 was selling 200k Lexus vehicles there that year with large year over year increases, while the US absorbed just under 300k in the same year. It is entirely possible that in the next few years Lexus starts to sell more total vehicles in China than in the US, which will likely hold more or less steady as it’s a more mature market.
Without a real EV on its product line up, I doubt Lexus will sell more vehicles in China and US. First those three German bands offer variety of good vehicles to customers, we witness the increase numbers of German vehicles on the street. And Tesla and NIO offer very good and technology advance vehicles to the trend setters. What Lexus offerings are mostly dressed up Toyota based on the new Camry platform.
One of the best reasons to buy a Lexus LS instead of a big German sedan has long been reliability, especially as the car got older – German luxury cars have a reputation for becoming expensive to maintain once past the warranty period. Unfortunately, Lexus seems to be having trouble getting all these gadgets to work properly – the new LS is rated “much worse than average” in the current Consumer Reports survey, a rare place to find any Lexus or Toyota.
Anyway, the car leaves me a bit cold anyway. Despite the abundance of features, the power, and the smoothness, it still looks like a Camry inside. A luxury car should look and feel special in a way this one doesn’t.
The German bands solved reliability problems long time ago not by improving the design and components but by financial engineering — selling vehicle via leasing. Let the inspired luxury owners to take the hit. This approach makes the only desirable to own a Lexus is its resell value. But is it the real concern for the real luxury car buyers? Also, the reliability of German cars have been somewhat improved. Until last November, my 2003 ML 350 had been my dally vehicle without major problems for 16 years—this is one of most unreliable cars on the market.
Oh, my. I long have respected Lexus and Toyota from not too afar, and believe that the new Camry, in particular, looks somewhat more impressive than ever. This design, though, seems like a total miss. The exterior screams mid-market compromise, length and girth notwithstanding, and the interior fails entirely. Even the seats look like something out of a Rav 4 (though presumably not so much if directly viewed, rather than through means of a photograph?). The door panel is the worst of all, and might be the most schizoid, homely such surface or collection of surfaces I have ever seen on a vehicle.
It looks like Lexus has abandoned it’s core value and appeal, that of a conservative luxury car done better. They were great for people that actually purchased their cars and held onto them for a long time. The reliability and conservative styling made them satisfying cars for their owners. The initial and the following ones, which led to good resale value. The acceptance of widespread leasing makes other less reliable and long lasting cars more attractive. Land Rovers are extremely popular and they still are considered to be quite unreliable as they age, but with a two or three year lease, who cares?
The big Tesla has been around and visually unchanged for quite a few years. Right now their cachet retains their status appeal, but will a repeat buyer want to buy an identical car over and over? Lexus now knows why Cadillacs used to vary the height of their talfins, you’ve got to change them up to keep buyers interested!
I needed to see this LS next to a Model S. Yes, the influence on it (and others) is rather unmistakable.
Wow! I could see a resemblance but it’s way more than I thought in profile
Where the Lexus is lacking is its flat sides, the Model S looks wider in other angles
The new LS seems like a disappointment and a downgrade from the previous generation. It almost seems the main purpose of the LS these days is to steer customers into a high margin CUV.
From the side it has plain but attractive lines. The rear is also unoffensive, but the front end is saddled with the jarring corporate Lexus predator face. The interior looks cramped for a flagship luxury car and the small greenhouse means it likely has poor visibility. The black monotone plastic interior which looks acceptable in a Camry looks cheap in a Lexus. If they used some real wood or real carbon fiber to break up the acres of black plastic it wouldn’t be as bad.. At least they kept the painted silver plastic trim to a minimum. Yes the car will likely be reliable compared to its Euro competitors, but then so are Lexus CUVs.
The interior is spacious, except for headroom if long of torso as I explained. Legroom and general space around the interior are better than in most other sedan-style vehicles as is ingress and egress.
As I also explained there are multiple interior finishes available with lots of wood and other material options in the non- F Sport trims. This one happens to be the black interior with metal and Ultrasuede trim accents. Other colors are available There is no painted silver trim, the silver stuff on the doors etc is all metal. My photography is likely to blame for any non-premium look that you might be seeing.
I don’t really see what else they could do. For years (decades?) Lexus were constantly accused of being too conservative and “boring”. Then they do something more dynamic, add a “sport” trim to everything that is quite good in most applications and now they are accused of the interior being too black and monotonal.
The market is (and has been) moving away from sedans as I also stated. It doesn’t really matter what sedan gets created, while there is still plenty of volume in sedans as a whole the overall format is shrinking, no matter the segment it’s in. Even in new areas like EV’s, the Tesla Model S (sedan/liftback) does not see a huge number of sales and the Model 3 (sedan) was going gangbusters until the Model Y was released, now that’s the bulk of sales.
Oh dear, surely the photos of that interior are not representative? It looks like the greyed-out insides of a slightly grubbily cloth-seated rental Corolla. Given that Our Correspondent in Colorado fairly recently showed us a spectacular-looking Avalon interior, complete with everything including Talbot-Lago pigskin leathers, one presumes that a different combination looks a good deal less $39-per-day-not-including-taxes than this does.
That grille, with two fingers either side pulling the mouth open, still looks impolite, but I have to say when I saw one of these new LS’s locally, I relied a bit on the shape to identify the car, so that’s job done. Crass, but effective, I suppose. Truth is, I had to look more than once because I thought it might be a posh Camry at first, which says something not so effective about a rather undifferentiated design, or my eyesight, or possibly both.
Got to agree that a requirement to drive about on a tilt makes the car a complete fail in my book: 6’1″ is no longer an especially tall person any more (unless the photos are always shopped and Our Correspondent’s knuckles usually drag in real life?) Lexus sure aren’t looking to capture, say, the Dutch market.
Most interesting on the 18 mpg, but without a hybrid, 4,900 far-too-manyfull pounds and 4.5 second-levels of push are just going to need an unavoidable amount of hydrocarbons melted whether by six cylinders or sixteen.
The interior is black on black with zero gray. My choices are either to shoot it looking somewhat light and capture the details or have it go coal black and not see much. Sadly there is no budget or talent for significant color correction. The Lexus.com website has lots of that though for perhaps a better representation. Or you’ll just need to take my word for it that it does not look like a rental Corolla…
Holy cows, that’s not grey? Incredible. I take back the joke about my eyes, and make an urgent appointment instead.
Frustratingly, the Aus website has all of the interior pics….in the same scheme as above! Now I really want to see inside one, as the website pics don’t exactly flatter it either.
For your amusement, this 500F is $217,000AUD on the road here – in fairness, there’s a lot of tax on exxy cars, in this case nearly $50K worth. That’s a lot of Corollas!
Yep, black. The suede on the door panels, ceiling, pillars, and part of the seats sometimes come off as charcoal I suppose depending on how it’s handled. But not gray. The rubber moldings around the door openings might be a decent gauge in that respect as they’re always black. Otherwise it’s mainly to do with how light reflects to the camera on some surfaces vs others.
What do your Corollas cost in comparison to ours?
To my surprise, close to $30K, but Toyota has done some repositioning upwards and re-equipping lately, for eg: moving the brand-new Yaris right upmarket, starting PAST the Corolla (go figure). Still if we take off the $50K Fed taxes – there’s a hefty lux tax kicks in about $75K – that’s only 6 Corollas, I guess.
Interesting review on a car that is perhaps not for me from a brand that isn’t either, but I started to warm to it as I read the review and saw the interior. Now there’s no Jaguar XJ to choose, that interior looks as good as any to me, and the ability to avoid some of more gauche wood trimmed options might tempt me.
To my eyes, a more tasteful interior than a Bentley and more special than a BMW; not sure if the M-B S class wouldn’t top it though
When the front-end design change first hit, I was instantly drawn to it though I did not find it attractive. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t take my eyes off of it, but then saw a picture of my moms ’61 Plymouth Suburban wagon. Bingo.
You want another laugh? Pull up a head-on picture of a Port Jackson shark and look at the front of a 61 Plymouth. Love that car’s amazing dashboard but that grille is grotesque!