New Lexus LS 2018 review – finally better than a Mercedes S-Class?

This is the all new Lexus LS. It’s got the style to stand out against the conservative looks of its German rivals, but does it have the substance to compete against the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S-Class? I was invited to the launch to find out!

This is the new lexus ls and i bet like me you want to know is it as good as the german luxury limousines it starts from just under seventy three thousand pounds but if you click on the pop-out banner in the top right hand corner of the screen or on the car well link under the video you can see how much you can save on electus ls or any new car for that matter of

Coroico dot uk’ now one of the things i really love about lexus is that unlike the germans they’re braver with their design so this is the original ls luckily compared to the new one it’s completely different we look at a german car be very recognizable a lot to evolve their designs very cautiously also the lexus makes you think that the german car designers have a

Serotonin deficiency as their creations are just so joyless in comparison the face of this car is just dominated by the huge spindle grille i really love the look of it’s very dramatic you got thin headlamps as well these have the range-topping matrix leds which can blank out part of the high beam so you don’t does all of the drivers you can get the car with 20-inch

Alloy wheels with this chrome finish they are very very sweet the cuff is quite low for a big saloon to make it look nice and sleek lexus has given this comedy course a 6 window design said of course as the windscreen one two three then here you’ve got four and five and these actually help with rearward visibility and of course six at the very back then around the

Tail of the car it’s not pretty neat you’ve got bits of chrome and it’s kind of going for slightly fake exhausts they’re not as bad as on a mercedes but yeah they’re still sort of there which is a bit disappointing but what do you think about this cars design click up there to vote if you think this looks better than a bmw 7 series mercedes s-class or a v8 unlike

Its german rivals the lexus will not be offered with legal power in fact in the uk there will be just one engine this 40 miles per gallon capable ls 500 h salvar 3.5 liter v6 petrol engine mated to an electric motor and as a result i can cruise along on electric power alone so it’s perfectly silent but i’ve also got a combined 360 horsepower so i’m going to put

The car into sports plus mode now i don’t going to launch it to see how fast it is now did you hear that sounded a bit odd didn’t heal a bit whiny when you rev it out and the gear changes a bizarre and that’s because this car has a mixture of a normal gearbox and a cvt so the normal gearbox has four gears and there’s a cvt and combined you get like this ten step

Gears it’s it’s all a bit odd it’s designed to stop the kind of whining sound of a cvt and make it feel more natural but it’s still not quite there i don’t think and that sums up the handling tube because while the ls 500 h holds on to the road one enough especially as you can get it with all-wheel-drive unfortunately even in sports mode with the suspension in its

Firm is setting it just never feels a shop to drive as a bm to do 7 series nor ld a 8 part of this is down to the added weight of the hybrid system which also causes another issue as standard the ls gets hands-free tailgate opening and being japanese it works every single time one of the problems with being hybrid though is the fact that the bachelors do take up

A bit of space and as a result the boot on this car is smaller than that of a mercedes s-class still would’ve managed to fit all our filming kit in it that’s ok what is more than just alright though is how lexus has incorporated traditional japanese hospitality known as or matta naxi into the ls and so here are five ways that the car will pamper you when you open

The car and go to get in the air suspension automatically raises by 40 millimetres to make the car the ideal hit point for you to just drop down into it when you turn off the car the seat belt holder automatically rises up to make it easier for you to undo your belt and then obviously the steering wheel moves back and down and you seat moves back slightly also

When you open the door on the passenger these side bolsters of the seat go flat and then when you sit back in again they pump up to hold you in place as well as a normal force and climate control you can get something called climate concierge what that does is use infrared sensors throughout the car to measure the body temperatures of all the occupants and then

It can do finer control and the temperatures throughout the car to account for things like uneven heating caused by low-level sun the cost speakers can cancel out any unwanted engine noise entering the cabin also orbit the entry level car comes with a premium mark levinson surround sound system with 23 speakers located at 16 different locations when passengers in

The back want to get out the rear seat moves into an upright position to make exiting easier another japanese tradition you’ll find in the ls is to pumi craftsmanship which is essentially a combination of art and ocd no matter how hard you try you will not find a single stitch out of place they are just back gone it’s it’s really good the quality even the curved

Stitching here in this lovely contoured door panel in fact the the alcantara material extends all the way down into the door bin terms of the rest of the design well i like it it’s got this swoopy thing going on a bit like a mercedes s-class but it’s it’s not so ostentatious some people may find a bit busy with all these lines and stuff but i quite like it i also

Like how the infotainment display is integrated into it as well so for the driver you’ve got a reasonably small display but it shows all you need it to and then for the main entertainment you’ve got this huge wide screen its massive now you control it using this computer laptop style touchpad it’s go along between the different icons and press down to select one

Though i don’t find this system quite as easy to use as a swivel wheel that you get with bmws idrive also the menu structure isn’t that intuitive it can be a bit confusing one thing that isn’t computing though is a huge heads-up display you get with this car it’s absolutely massive and really makes it easy to pick up key information when you’re driving along there’s

Lots of other kit to help boost safety too including a system which will prevent you from reversing over a child and then there’s the semi autonomous driving technology to help make cruising on the motorway less arduous so i have the cruise control on and the radar is measuring the distance to the car in front and keeping me safely drop back from it also i’ve got

Some cameras reading the white lines in the road and it’s it’s auto steering to keep me in lane now one of the problems with that is that if the lanes aren’t that clear the white lines start to disappear the car could weave off the road but to prevent that happening this lexus actually uses a radar to lock onto the car in front that helps tear it when it’s not

Sure where the white lines are now you can drive along with your hands off the wheel for a certain length of time before the car get a little bit cross and warn you and then disengage the system but i don’t suggest you ever ever drive along with your hands off the wheel particularly in this car because if it’s got that radar lock onto the car in front and the car

In front decides that it wants to overtake the car in front of it this lexus will just go and follow it and well that could be a little bit scary really though as with every other luxury car you should never fully rely on the systems if you really want to take a back seat get someone else to drive so then what’s it like in the back of this lexus ls well now it’s

A good time to talk about comfort levels really so in terms of sound insulation as you can probably tell it’s pretty quiet it’s nice and relaxing as for the suspension well a standard this particular car has air suspension and it doesn’t think of you know wafting you up the road make you feel like you’re floating however i don’t think it’s quite as good at ironing

Out the bumps as the air suspension you get in a mercedes s-class or an audi a8 it just seems to fidget about a little bit over imperfections now one of the things i love about lexus is the fact that it doesn’t have an extensive options list like the german cars do so you just have trim levels and the specs are clearly explained so this is the range-topping premier

Car it costs ninety-eight thousand pounds you might be thinking that here in the back he doesn’t look all that special but watch this so i can fold this down here and then i have a control panel so i can go into the infotainment system i can change the source i can put on a dvd to be perfectly honest it’d be easier if i could use it as a touchscreen this car has

Class-leading seating so this is known as the business position the normal position but if i press this button here it will move the chain front of me out of the way and it will move my chair back and down and in fact this car has a class-leading 48° reclamation in this chair back then i can go into the individual settings and what i’m going to do now is control

The seat ottomans i mean this is lovely this is lovely but we can go on better because i can now go into the shiatsu massage function and i’m gonna give myself a full body stretch massage because why not and it’ll not only do my shoulders my lower back it’ll also do my thighs and i’ve got spot eaters my upper back and lower back as well i mean it’s really impressive

And for an in-car massage this is pretty bloomin good it’s really relaxing in fact you know what i’m gonna do now i’m just going to put up my blinds and just chill out a bit because i deserve it i’ve worked so hard today i really like the way it does this look you’ve got individual little blinds for the quarter lights as well and all this is standard on this

Range-topping car so then what’s my final verdict on the lexus ls well do you know i really like it i don’t think it drives quite as well as the german rivals but it’s not that far off and you know if your interests in this car because of the way it looks and it certainly looks good then it’s definitely worth considering now if you enjoyed this video please like

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Transcribed from video
New Lexus LS 2018 review – finally better than a Mercedes S-Class? By carwow