Upfront you will be greeted by Lexus’s new spindle grille. The fog lights have also been restyled and changed to LED. They now have a much slimmer profile and look like they were sculpted in the Star Trek universe. The hood/bonnet has also been restyled to look sportier with a prominent crease line running down its middle. The headlights have also been restyled in the fashion of those of the second generation Lexus IS. At the rear end, everything has been completely redesigned. The lamps now have a fluid appearance or in the words of Mark Templin, the afterburner effect. The trunk lid has also been restyled. I must say, the new rear end is an improvement over what was already quite good. Kudos to Lexus for this. The side profile however, is exactly the same as the previous LS460 and LS600 hl. The engine, the 4.6 litre 1UR-FSE V8 is a carry-over from the previous LS 460 albeit with a slight increase in power output. The biggest change though is on the inside.
The speedometer cluster is mostly the same but has seen some much needed improvement. The bluish backlight if the driver information area has been retired in favour of a much clearer white hue. This has greatly improved legibility of all the readouts and gauges. Also, most of the warning indicators have sensibly located. The previous Murcielago style scattering is gone and thankfully so. The seats, door panels, window switches, seat memory buttons and rear passenger compartment remain unchanged. The dashboard however, is a completely new design. There’s now a central analogue clock similar to those of those of Infiniti, Mercedes W221 S Class, Bentleys and Rolls Royce Phantom. The biggest change though is the navigation cum infotainment screen. Gone is the touchscreen based screen of the previous LS 460. In its place is a widescreen non-touch unit that is controlled by a mouse-like unit located next to the transmission lever. Now I do not know what informed Lexus’ decision to go with this new system. I’m assuming they see it as an improvement. To me however, it’s a step backwards. They got rid of what, in my opinion, was of one the LS 460’s main advantages over the its main competitors like the Mercedes S Class and BMW 7 Series. This new system is to me, homage to BMW’s iDrive and Mercedes’ COMAND systems. The previous touchscreen version was loved by many for its ease of use. With the new system though, simple tasks will require many more steps to accomplish, thereby taking the driver’s eyes off the road for much longer. The controller is truly no different to the d-pad of erstwhile Nokia E series phones. This only difference is that the controller in the Lexus has force feedback. Like I said in a previous article, a good user interface should require the barest minimum of steps to accomplish any task. Ergo, any new interface must strive to make it easier and quicker to access any function or feature and this is something the new Lexus system isn’t capable of doing. It’s one of my gripes with the W221 S Class and BMW 5 and 7 series. The setup only looks elegant in appearance but not in use. The driver will spend more time navigating through the interface with the central knob than he would with a simple touchscreen system. With a touchscreen, the driver simply taps and can get back to the business of driving that much sooner. The only advantage of this new system is that the screen has been brought up closer to eye level as opposed to the previous system where he had to tilt his head down. That being said, it is not impossible to bring the screen of the previous system up to eye level. Lexus already did it with the previous LS, the LS 430. Kia also did it rather well in the 2011 Optima. Lexus’s parent company, Toyota, did it to a lesser extent with the 2013 Avalon and Venza.
One other difference in the interior is the new steering wheel. It’s just as functional as that of the original LS 460 but I’m not convinced that it looks better. It is however, a much better effort than those in recent Toyota models like the 2013 Rav 4 and the 2013 Camry SE. It would have been if it was exclusive to the new F-Sport LS 460. It certainly looks sportier that of the first generation LS 460. Instead, the F-Sport has a steering wheel devoid of any wood trim.
Point of note to all automakers, the sport version of any luxury sedan need not be bereft of wood trimming. Using a silver satin finish in place of wood just makes the interior look dull and drab. The so called carbon fibre trim should also be avoided. Now, I know many people have been conditioned and socialised to revere its appearance due to its cost but to me, all I see is black plastic with a checkered or striped pattern. The asking prices for a carbon fibre interior trim are perhaps one of the greatest frauds perpetrated in automotive history.
There are other aesthetic issues with the new LS 460, one of which is the rear of the front seats. Even though the seats remain unchanged from the original LS 460, the back is now a hard black plastic. The previous LS had its seat back lined in the same colour of leather as the seat itself. The new black plastic back makes the car look and feel cheap. Another problem is the colour of the steering wheel. In some colour trims, it just doesn’t blend in with the seat colour and dashboard tone. In these instances, it makes the steering wheel look like a third party aftermarket option. These two issues in particular, the black plastic seat back and the sometimes off-colour steering wheel make the LS look inferior; something that is not befitting of a flagship sedan.
One other issue is the new spindle grille. I am just not sold on it. Maybe it will grow on me. All interface and aesthetic issues aside, this is a very good car. The rear end treatment, new LED fog lights and revised speedo cluster are to me the most welcome changes. What I don’t know is Lexus’s plans for this car. Is it going to be the flagship for the next four years or is it merely a stop gap measure like the 2011 Toyota Avalon was? I contacted Lexus on this issue and I didn’t get a definitive response. What I find surprising is that the cockpit of the first LS 460 looks better than that of the 2013 version. But maybe it’s just me.
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