Lexus LS 460 Review: Sublime Indulgence to the Max

The 2007 LS 460 L is aimed directly in the face of the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. There was only one way to do that – Lexus jam packed too many technologically advanced goodies into this one, single car, and beefed everything up tenfold.

It is the company's first long-wheelbase model. While it wants to offer more new buyers, the target audience does comprise of a group of well to dos.

Measuring more than 5 metres in overall length, the long wheelbase is about 12cm longer than the standard LS, and rides on a 12cm longer wheelbase. The 297cm wheelbase of the standard length LS 460 is 4.6cm longer than the wheelbase of the outgoing LS 430.

The 460 gains an additional 100 pounds over the standard variant’s 4000+ weight. But even with its many, many new features, the LS 460 weighs just 375 pounds more than the 2006 Lexus LS 430.


The Lexus LS 460, really knows how to offer the well to do man an extremely well calculated package for both him and his “tai tai” wife who wants to have everything, and be truly different from the Merc and BMW car key yielding crowd.
We do not mean to offend with this statement, but rather, we want to say that this car inspires confidence more than anything else in the first place. Allow me to elaborate.

The LS engine is a full-on V8 with the requisite power. The engine was a TOTAL REBUILD from scratch. Instead of just increasing the bore and stroke of the LS430’s 4.3 litre V8, the engineers reworked new charts and blueprints for the 4.6 litre. The bore, interestingly, is more than the stroke of the engine, which suggests that they didn’t just tune this car to have a good amount of low end torque.

Not that it is a bad thing, and in fact, for the racing driver at heart like me, having that muscular V8 rev to sub 7000rpm levels is an experience like no other. Acceleration is just incomparable to any other 2-3 litre turbocharged boy racer/rally machine out there. I almost wish that the guys at Lexus would have made the engine come through to the cabin in a louder fashion, because that V8 just growls and angries up the blood. Pure heaven.

You have power EVERYWHERE in the rev range. So you floor the thing, and suddenly you’re thrown back into your plush leather seat while the entire car (and its many contents) is thrown forward into the distant horizon. Now I know why those Americans and Australians love their V8s so much…

The transmission has 8 gears – a world’s first! Impressive, considering you can’t even feel it shifting. Lexus has this thing called the Artificial Intelligence (AI) shift program that eliminates the transmission shifting aimlessly through the gears, or have it get caught in the wrong one should there be a sudden change of load.

I never once wanted to shift the gears in manual mode despite its tiptronic endowment. The “Power” mode of the shift program works so well, you just have to floor the car like I said.

I have to say though, that the willingness and extremely refined character of the engine was let down by throttle. There appeared to be a fair amount of initial free play, which contributed to the lag, before anything actually happened.

I’m guessing that this was no fluke or shortcoming, and that it was deliberately done out of safety. After all, no one wants to accidentally step on the gas and have the car find itself on top of a minivan, and in addition, this isn’t a sports car. True to Lexus “LS” tradition, it’s a refined, oh so creamy long distance tourer.

Steering the car involves no effort at all. At high speeds, the car does feel very, very stable, although the suspension inspires something more, being a little soft for my liking. But hey, who am I to say such a thing.

I must reiterate that although the LS isn’t a sports car, it does inspire the driver to punt it through the corners, and on the highway like one. I assure you, when Mr Well-to-Do finds himself all alone in the car with a wide stretch of road and curves ahead of him, -insert chuckle here- well you get my point!

You simply slingshot in true V8 cruiser style, out of every corner, leaving every single thing on the road behind. It’s a great feeling. Really.



The brakes though, are a little bit scary at low speeds. The electronic braking system is first generation. There was no direct, positive response that my foot could anticipate, especially at low-to-moderate speeds. I don’t really fancy any system that tries to think for me or second-guess my desires. It does work very well when you’re not putting the vehicle under extreme stress though.



The 19 Speaker Mark Levinson speakers system has no rivals. I mean it. Even my $5000 Italian engineered in-car-audio system barely keeps up with the well tuned capabilities of the Lexus’ system.

The reproduction of sound is almost perfect as the volume goes up. With a 0.1% rate of total harmonic distortion, the sound is pure, clean and doesn’t have any of that distortion found on many factory systems in luxury cars.

The bass was so deep, warm and really punchy. Perhaps what I love is that the bass manages to come from up front and does not dance around like a ballerina. Overall tone is bright and uplifting, with lots of detail, and it wakes one up whilst listening.

The clarity and brilliance is just mind boggling! Even normal CDs get the surround sound treatment on this 5.1 system, thanks to the amplifier's DSP capabilities. Besides, this is where the Mark Levinson system flattens the competition – the ability to recreate the best sound out of normal CDs and not just high definition variants.



There is the park assist, that tells you that you are too close to anything at all 6 corners of the car (front, rear and at its 4 corners). In foreign countries, this car actually parks itself! However, the system was not deemed fit for local use by the authorities.

Then, there is the various hidden compartments in the back, down to the wine chiller (Borneo Motors was generous to include a bottle of exquisite white wine which none of us dared to open out of politeness) and, surprise – an Ottoman massage chair with so many different massage combinations, you’d be wishing you were the passenger half the time!

This is where I was nearly reduced to tears when it was time to part with the Lexus. The LS interior sure is grand, though. I grew so attached to the infinitely adjustable seats that have the air conditioning pipe through the seat cushions (I can’t stress how effective this system is in our hot, hot climate!) and deep-pile floor mats. This car really, really took take care of me like no other.

Photos courtesy of Wang Xiaochong. www.splutterphotography.com

Credits: Amery Reuben