So, what do YOU think --- Will Americans spend $120,000 - or maybe more - on a Japanese car?
TECHNOLOGICAL TOUR DE FORCE FROM LEXUS --- IF IT AIN'T IN OR ON THIS CAR, LEXUS DON'T MAKE IT!
Ladies and gentlemen, start your Barco-Lougers!
There’s an old saying, “You can sleep in your car, but you can’t drive your house”.
Outside of motorhomes, driving or riding in the super-technical Lexus LS600h L is the closest thing we’ve experienced to cruising high-speed roadways in our favorite EZ chair, plugged into our iPod, viewing our fave DVD, feet up, massage turned ‘on’, lovely leather chair either heating or air-cooling our backside to the same temperature as the rest of our body.
Would someone buy a hybrid gas/electric-powered super-luxury sedan at nearly 1/3rd more its conventional price in order to attain less than twice the fuel mileage of that gasoline-only powered model?
Lexus is betting that some 3,000 Americans will, and gladly so.
The highly-anticipated 2008 Lexus LS600h L carries a base price of $104,000 and fully-optioned, the car will nick buyers for just about $121,000 (compared to a base price of $61,000 for a conventional LS460 L, the sedan’s long wheelbase model).
While the car can’t be described as terribly exciting to drive, it does join a legion of famed models from various manufacturers which were produced in limited numbers to, more than anything else, prove a point.
The 1964 Pontiac GTO. The Oldsmobile 442. The Dodge Road Runner. The Chevy SSR and Corvette C6R. The Ford Mustang in any Shelby/Roush/Saleen configuration.
All vehicles made by car companies flush with money (at least for those models) and able to do some things just for fun. Not because they need to do it, but simply because they can. To prove something to their customers and their competition.
In the 1980s, when the entire country of Japan was flush with funds, even that country’s normally very conservative automakers got into the swing of fun things, focusing especially on small vehicles (with engines 660cc and under, known there as ‘K-cars’, whose buyers are given tremendous tax breaks) and turning them into hot, hip vehicles which even the wildest Tokyo teens sought to be seen in.
Now, in a technical tour de force by a division of the world’s largest car company, Toyota, the Lexus LS600h L moves that staid car company unarguably into the ranks of the world’s greatest automotive engineering companies.
Now near if not actually on a par technically with Lotus, Honda, BMW and even the old and original Chrysler (considered, before WWII, the foremost automotive engineering firm in the world), Toyota’s three quite disparate divisions (Toyota, Lexus and Scion) have thrown down the gauntlet and dared every other major carmaker to answer this quite impressive sedan.
When Honda held their first USA state-side press conference about their new division, something 
called ‘Acura’, the big question on everyone’s mind, the gathered Honda executives from the US and the Japanese “home market” as well as the American journalists, was simple and straightforward: Would American car-buyers spend as much as $18,000 or even over $20K on a Japanese-made car?
That question, asked publicly for the first time in late 1985 (the brand went on-sale at 18 dealers in March of 1986) saw the answer come quickly.
Not only would Americans be willing to spend that much on a Japanese car, they would line-up, put their name on waiting lists and pay deposits to dealers to await their new vehicles which they’d get as much as three months later.
After just four years of Acura selling their V6-powered Legend sedans (and what a fantastic name --- We predict it will be back) and sporty, fun Integra models, Acura and Honda rocked the auto world with the NSX, a mid-engined rear-wheel drive sports car which was a true “supercar” in everything but price. NSX was also the first all-aluminum mass-produced sports car in the world.
Honda had done their homework, working on developing the products and marketing for Acura for a full decade before the cars were available in the US. As of 2007, the Acura name has still not been introduced as a brand in Japan, but it is sold in Canada, Mexico, Honk Kong and mainland China.
Acura also opened the door for the Infiniti (Nissan) and Lexus (Toyota) luxury channels.
In those headiest of days for Japan and their then-booming ‘80s go-go economy, even Mazda started a major project and push for their own luxury brand, to be called “Amati”.
Luckily for the company, the project never reached fruition. Mazda, which has traditionally attempted to bring too many products to the market at the same time, would have probably seen Amati lost in the dust not only of the Honda, Toyota and Nissan luxury entries, but even their own large group of new offerings. Mazda is still using that questionable strategy of introducing a lot of fairly-similar cars with similar names at the same time, rather than spacing-out the timing of their new-model introductions.
Mazda is also generally recognized as, next to Honda, probably the best automotive engineering company in Japan. Focusing their relatively meager resources (compared to Toyota, Nissan, Honda) on a brand-new luxury channel certainly would have taken away money, effort and talent (not to mention actual marketing dollars) from their small cars, which are now selling very nicely in the US. So sometimes a new luxury channel is not a good idea.
Today, there’s another question being asked by the Japanese, this time by Toyota and their Lexus division. And it makes the “$18,000” Acura question pale in comparison: Will Americans spend $121,000 on a Japanese-made car?
In addition to their original strategy of creating hybrid cars and trucks for the masses, Toyota is also making available several hybrid gas/electric models from their Lexus division. Interestingly, Scion, the purported “youth” division of Toyota (whose original name and inside-company code-word was “Genesis”; too biblical!) as yet offers no hybrid model, and in fact the big news from that company at recent auto shows is a factory-developed supercharger for the small and sporty Scion tC coupe, adding another 100 horsepower or so to the vehicle. Not exactly Sierra Club virtues.
Lexus is selling both their RX SUV model in a fuel-saving hybrid configuration (as Toyota does with their similar Highlander SUV) as well as the largest, longest and heaviest version of their take-no-prisoners LS sedan.
Aimed smack at the heart of the upper-end luxury segment, the Audi A8, the Mercedes-Benz S-class and the BMW 7-series cars, Lexus’ LS600h L (h for hybrid, L for long wheelbase, 600 for total theoretically-available horsepower) is loaded with virtually every feature, most of them standard, which the company makes available to their “conventional” LS model buyers.
From its all-wheel drive (utilizing a Torsen differential) system to the air-ride suspension to the reclining, massaging, heated and cooled front and rear seats to the traction control, anti-lock brakes and various advanced passive and active pre-collision safety systems and airbags, to the parallel parking assist to the radar-equipped cruise control, this Lexus weighs-in at 5,220 pounds. (By the way, credit must be given to Audi for their hilarious TV spot which takes a dig at the Lexus’ parallel parking assist system; if you’ve seen it, you know what we mean).
And yet even with all those features, all that weight, all that engine, the car is rated by the state of California as a “Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle”, the highly sought-after SULEV rating which captures the attention of the “green” population. Part of the reason this Lexus is so clean is a newly-developed Hydrocarbon Absorber and Catalyst (HCAC) system linked to the two-way exhaust to help prevent exhaust hydrocarbons from being released into the atmosphere during cold start up, when the catalysts are not up to temperature. In other words, your exhaust gasses are heated clean before their release …
To achieve that kind of “greeniness” in a relatively quick off-the-line big car (0 to 60 in 5.5 secs) which also offers a booming mid-range for passing power (the torque of electric motors happens immediately, there’s no waiting in line) is impressive in any case. In fact, 50 to 70 mph comes in just 3.5 seconds.
But the big news, naturally, is in the engine bay (and the trunk area and under the rear seat, where the massive DC nickel metal hydride batteries are housed and cooled), where a conventional gasoline-fired 5 liter 32-valve V8 putting out 389 horsepower mates with 288 volts coming from two DC permanent-magnet electric motors (one used to power the wheels, one used to start the V8 when it shuts-off at stop lights, etc) for a total-of-438 horsepower.
The LS 600h L is defined as a “full hybrid,” capable of operating in electric-only mode in-town for short periods at low speeds or with a combination of the gas engine and electric motor. This heavyweight floats above the turnpike much as the conventional Lexus does, keeping the driver involved in the experience only as much as absolutely necessary.
This is not a “driver’s car” with flashy or showy handling and performance; it is definitely an “engineer’s car”, something a Cal Tech professor will show-off to his associates, or the car which Ed Begley-types will self-park at the Beverly Hills Hotel to let everyone know how "green" they are. An all-aluminum Audi A8 buyer will probably be more attracted to this Lexus for its sheer force of technology than either the S-class or 7-series. Doctors and lawyers buy Beemers and Mercs ... Engineers will be most attracted to this Lexus, as they already are to Audi's A8.
Perhaps the single most-impressive part of the car, engineering-wise, is the Electronically Controlled Continuously Variable Transmission. For those who know, and have so far abhorred, the feel and sound of typical CVTs, which tend to wind and wind and whine and whine and feel as if they have a rubber band which is about to snap if a solid “shift” does not happen, Lexus seems to have mastered the problem and potentially ended the complaints. The “dual-range continuously variable automatic” in the LS600h L can actually be shifted like a conventional automatic eight-speed … yes, the first mass-produced eight-speed. Officially, Lexus calls it “eight ratio steps available in manual mode”. The best thing is, it works.
Power is controlled by a three-mode hybrid switch which allows the driver the most effective use of torque output. The driver can select “hybrid” (normal), “power,” or “snow” options. The “hybrid” mode provides the smoothest operation; “power” sharpens accelerator response and allows the engine to go to higher revs before a shift, and the “snow” mode softens accelerator response, making it easier to accelerate on slippery road surfaces. (We don't get a chance in So Cal to really test that snow mode too often...).
Naturally, as with the Prius (and the Lexus is really an over-amped Prius-on-steroids, all things considered), heat generated by braking is recaptured and used to recharge the vehicle’s batteries.
As with the regular (non-hybrid) LS models, the 600 feels too disconnected from the roadway. Even with its all-wheel drive system, which in most vehicles would usually offer the driver an extra feeling of self-assuredness while negotiating fairly-twisty but high-speed freeways, the steering “feel” is extremely, sometimes worryingly, light. It’s something a Mercedes or BMW driver would have to experience and get used to feeling.
While we appreciate the technology of the “electric” power steering on the car, wouldn’t it be nice for the driver to be able to adjust that steering input and wheel response and feel? Probably will never happen, considering insurance regulations and the like, though the technology makes such an adjustment very do-able. You won't be seeing too many of these rigs at the SCCA weekend Driving Rodeos.
Outside, the car is all-Lexus, all-the-time. It’s a near-exact copy of the long-wheelbase LS, built in Japan. Only a few small “hybrid” badges give the vehicle away as the special model it is. Lexus sedan buyers like their cars conservative and this vehicle isn’t breaking any new design ground. This in spite of the fact of the much bally-hood use of LED (light-emitting diode) lighting front and rear, which stylists have been telling us will make exterior design on all such-equipped vehicles easier to change and more daring. Not so on this car.
Incidentally, the Lexus brand has been on-sale in Japan since only November of 2005, when it was introduced to the Japanese public for the first time at that year’s Tokyo Motor Show.
Inside, gauges and controls are as well-placed as possible, but there are so many controls that too much of the switchgear is spread around the instrument panel, the steering column and the center console and tunnel, making for some easy confusion. There’s just too much “there” there.
Yet no one can fault the car for its velvety comfortable ride, supreme quietness, fantastic sound system and ultimate comfort. The doors close as solidly as a bank vault, the fragrance of leather saturates the interior and finding your own perfect comfort zone, separate from the driver and two other passengers, is a simple matter of learning to use the fully-intuitive personal controls.
Looking for personality? Sorry, try that ’64 GTO …
What’s the bottom line, the actual fuel mileage?
The 2007 LS460 has a rating of 18 city and 27 highway, utilizing the conventional 8-speed transmission with the 4.6 liter 380 horsepower V8. Also, the LS460 weighs nearly 900 pounds less than the 600h L. Using the new 2008 EPA rating system, Lexus says the LS600h L churns out 20 miles per gallon in the city and 22 on the highway. However, as with all things governmental, we found our mileage during a week with the LS600h L in the real world was a bit different.
Our observed average, admittedly under our heavy right foot, was about 15 miles per gallon, city and highway combined. Not bad considering the competition in class, but nothing to join Greenpeace over, either.
Let’s get right down to it: What if they built a thoroughly-delightful, family-sized and powerful performance sedan with all the right bells and whistles, priced so reasonably that even your mother wouldn’t object … but no one could afford to put gas into it?
the 5L40 five-speed automatic, or the bruiser version, G8 GT, with its pushrod Gen IV L76 361-hp, 6.0-liter V-8 mated with a six-speed 6L80 Hydra-Matic. Both trannies can be set in “full auto” mode or the driver can select semi-automatic, clutchless sequential shifting. GM calls this auto/manual system as having “manual-shift capability”.
No matter the G8 model chosen, both the five- and six-speeds are “driver shiftable” using the console-mounted shifter (sorry, boy racers, no F1-style paddles; this car is for your dad). Our V8 tester came with a “normal” and “sport” mode choice for the six-speed; naturally, we spent most of our driving time in the sport mode, especially on the curvy parts of the over-100-mile route laid-out by General Motors’ engineering- and PR-types, and appreciated how long the system, when in sport, stayed in-gear until upshifting. 
