About 7 years ago, I was enrolled at Queensboro Community College’s driver’s education program. For $400, during the early part of the summer, Queensboro offered newcomers to America’s highways a simple class that was 2 hours long with a road instruction course, to teach even the greenest of teenagers, who had not yet been allowed to even touch their parents Ford Taurus, a valid NYC driver’s license. We, the teenagers, would later be able to wield our freshly laminated licenses with impunity in our parents faces on Friday nights asking “can I borrow the car” – to which most of our parent’s could only reply, “Yes but, be careful”.
What did I learn in Driver’s Ed? Well first, I learned to simply accelerate
and keep control of the vehicle in my own lane - the two most important skills to master.
Then came braking- which was harder than it looked. It wasn’t enough to simply slam on the brakes every time I felt uncomfortable. It just so happens that decelerating from 30 mph to 0 in less than 1 second feels quite harsh. I had to learn to “pump” the brakes – slow down gradually. Then came the 2 most dreaded maneuvers to a green driver:
#1 was the 4 point turn where I had to use the width of a street to make a half U-turn with a reverse and then an acceleration in the opposite direction. That wasn’t too hard After doing it 3 times, I was comfortable and felt I could do it a million times more. But, then came the hardest possible maneuver ever – one that would surely foul up green and experienced drivers alike if not properly respected…THE PARALLEL PARK !

Parallel Parking is by far, the most challenging skill facing any driver who must deal with congested city parking spaces. In an instant, too much throttle in either direction can ruin a paint job, or totally destroy the bumper of the car parked in front or behind. As car’s grew to SUV’s and rear window visibility rose to upwards of 50 inches, this task became even more difficult. Automobile Manufacturers sought to alleviate the worries of owners of newer more expensive rides by adding ultrasonic sensors in the rear bumpers. Now a tone would alert the driver when he was veering too close to the next guy. Later, auto manufacturers added sensors in both the Front and the back bumpers so that no matter what your visibility, you’d be able to park your brand new Luxury vehicle with no worries about dings and paint chips.

Now, Toyota – the world’s number 2 auto manufacturer takes the Parallel Park a step further. Now, instead of you being forced to line up A and B pillars yourself, Toyota has created a system that supposedly allows its car to “park itself”. This system has become one of the major advertised selling points on the new LEXUS LS 460 which I absolutely had to see in order to believe.

So now, I must answer your obvious question…

DOES IT WORK?




THE ALL NEW LEXUS LS460 The Car that Virtually Parks Itself

The car I tested was a Lexus LS 460 L which had the Executive Package installed. The car was being used as a demo by a Lexus dealership in nearby Freeport. Interestingly enough, in order to demonstrate the “Lexus Advanced Park Assist”, the dealer had already “set up” a parking spot. At first I wasn’t sure why that was necessary but it became apparent to me a little later when I actually drove the car myself.

Before I talk about the Lexus Park Assist, allow me first to mention the car itself! The new Lexus LS460 basically continues the battle of the “big bodies” which was arguably started by the 2003 BMW 7 series, and continued to the S-class 550 and the Audi A8. The LS-460 is 198 inches long, about 58 inches high, with a wheelbase of 117 inches [almost 122 inches for the L] and an overall look not too dissimilar from the Audi A8L - though the body very closely mimics the cues of the Mercedes Benz S-class and especially the rear of the BMW 5 and 7 series with its light fixtures,“bustle back” trunk and its fin-like antennae which sits atop the car collecting GPS and satellite data. I have never been a “Lexus” person. It’s a nice car but I feel it doesn’t have its own style and is more of a copy of its German counterparts.
Unlike the S550 however, which looks (and feels) like a limo, the LS 460 maintains a more sporty look like the 750li - with its integrated polygonal dual exhaust and its not-too aggressive Air dam integrated into the front bumper.

The mirrors unfold and the door locks unlock simply by touching the door handles. Similar to the Benz, if you leave the door slightly open, the car automaticaly closes it.

INTERIOR

For people who love Lexus vehicles, there is
lots to like about this new ride. First of all, I’ll call attention to the dark wood grain steering wheel which has all of the Lexus’s radio media, cruise control and navigation direction controls neatly integrated into it for simple driver use at 60 mph and above. All of the wood paneling in the car’s interior is tight, excellently detailed and feels orgasmic to the touch – much like what I’ve been seeing on top German models. The buttons are soft press with a high quality feel and they are mostly outlined with chrome plated aluminum for the luxurious touch. All of these buttons furthermore, are very well placed – easy for both the driver and the front passenger to manipulate without getting in each other’s way.
I found the computer design to be highly intuitive and easy to use in fact, I’d go so far as to say every luxury manufacturer should design consoles like this. Lexus foregoes the “Almighty German Control Knob” which made the BMW 745li and the Mercedes S Class so difficult for the average driver to acclimate to. Rather, Lexus’ designers took the Audi A8 approach and present you with a simpler dashboard where buttons are easy to locate and identify. Turning on the radio, searching for a tune or simply heating up the cabin are not as difficult to figure out here as it is in the 750 and the S550…Lexus keeps the whole system traditional with just enough tech opulence to give you the ultra luxury feeling.

When activated, the dashboard, Navigation computer LCD screen and digital clock illuminate in a crystal blue. Its quite easy on the eyes in both day and nighttime and it won’t fail to impress your business occupants. Even the rear seat gets a snazzy seat comfort/ radio control system where they can choose to listen to radio, CD’s or watch the ceiling mounted DVD player. I sat in the back for a little while to take the entire experience in and I was extremely impressed. Even my Father’s new $100,000 S550 lacked a backseat experience this enjoyable (though its front seat was near heavenly).

In the L Model I observed, both rear seats had a short reclining track which allows passengers to lean back just a bit. The rear seats also have their own motorized head pads. The LS460 might have been alot better if LEXUS gave the L model more length because then, it would allow them to squeeze in dual rear reclining Ottomans. Only a person with short legs will get maximum recline here.
It would be nice to see a car that offered Maybach level ultra-luxury for fewer than $100,000.

The rear right-side passenger of the car can even activate a shiatsu massage which is a couple of motorized actuators below the leather of the backseat.
I started to fall in love with these technological goodies.

But, Why don’t both rear passengers in the Lexus get backrubs? This is partly because in Japan, luxury cars, focused on Executive use, always assume the top official/executive, traditionally, will be sitting in the rear seat. This Exec will be sitting right behind the driver - In Japan, people drive on the right hand side. Its the Japanese culture.
Of course, I have to wonder why is it that only the driver of the Mercedes Benz S550 is getting a massage?
WHEN WILL LUXURY MANUFACTURERS LEARN THAT ALL THE OCCUPANTS SHOULD GET SIMILAR TREATMENT?

Lexus has even integrated an unheard of 19 speaker system plus subwoofers into the new LS460 for unparalleled music power. This ”Mark Levinson “ audio system provides 450 Watts or power inside the cabin as well as 7.1 Channel surround sound for its included DVD changer. I bothered to take a copy of the Star Wars Episode III DVD out of my truck and pop it into the LS just so I could hear the difference 19 speakers make. The sound quality was exactly what I imagined it could be and I was totally impressed by it. At its loudest levels, there is barely any distortion and it sounds like you are in a Movie Theater.
The Mark Levinson sound system also includes an
8 gigabyte hard drive which can be loaded with MP3’s so you can take most (if not all) of your music collection with you from home to the office. You can lounge in the back and enjoy a movie and a massage after a pressing day in the salt mines.
The only downside of this is that the Mark Levinson system is a $2500 option.
Furthermore, the massage system is part of a rear seat upgrade that costs $2000 by itself. Other rear seat packages included climate controlled seats and power sunshades.
Unless you are willing to pay extra for Mark Levinson Audio, you are stuck with the lesser, 10 speaker system that only includes a 6-disk Cd changer (though this changer can play WMA and MP3 formatted music from the disks for a total of 1200 songs)

Neither the German or Japanese manufacturers are fond of including GPS Navigation DVD’s with their cars due to the high costs of the disks and the problems with shipment-theft and region restrictions. Therefore, one of LS’s most required standard features is a 30 Gigabyte Hard Disk Drive which serves as the GPS Navigation source and the car’s computing center. All of the car’s systems have been linked to both the driver’s information center in the dashboard and the Navigation display which serves as the center of the radio system whether you listen to XM or broadcast FM.
The Navigation system has been preloaded with points of interest as well as voice commands so that out of the dealership, you can tell it where you want to go and it can plan and plot routes for you to get there. There is plenty of space to store virtually all the possible points of interest you could ever think about plotting during the life of your tour in the LS.

More interesting, is the newly surfacing Satellite NAV Traffic system that is slowly becoming available on all newer luxury vehicles. The new “Sat-Nav” system is based on XM NAVTRAFFIC- which was originally launched on the Acura RL - allows the driver to get real-time data from local sources that can indicate traffic flow over bridges, through tunnels and about major highways.
The Navigation system comes with a software package called LEXUS LINK which is the bread&butter requirement for communications - whether you want to use the integrated car phone or simply recieve directions similar to onStar
I was anxious to test this system and I must say, it works as advertised, however, inside NYC – especially Manhattan, using it becomes extremely problematic because it cannot accurately predict pedestrian related delays. In Manhattan people cross the streets as if they own them and they don’t hesitate to step in front of drivers. This becomes harder to deal with than other cars are. While the system is accurate at showing you weather conditions and construction delays, it is not 100% reliable especially when you factor in accidents that have just occurred within the past 30 minutes or when you are dealing with dead street lamps that cause gridlock.
Give the system 10 years and it will be perfect.


SEAT COMFORT

The LS 460 offers the driver a multi-memory 16 way power seat that allows everything from the manipulation of power lumbar support, to headrest and thigh adjustments. The passenger only gets 12 way adjustment – though – both the front seats feature heating and cooling. The driver’s seat was not as comfortable as the S550’s but it was considerably easier on my back and my sides than the seats in the BMW 7 series.
The LS similar to the big German cars features an activated Charcoal filter to trap dust and pollen but, after seeing what Mercedes Benz came up with on the S550 for seat ventilation, I am waiting to see which luxury automobile manufacturer will be the first to offer a “flatulence dissipater” of some type to suck wayward “gasses” into a filter and dispel them. Perhaps I should patent it?

I am about 6 foot 7 inches tall and I fit a bit tightly into the LS. I’d say that a driver who is shorter than 6 foot 5 inches is probably the ideal customer. The Lexus forces the tall among us to bend down and slide into the driver’s seat in a most annoying fashion to get the right knee down and around the steering wheel. Overall, I found the Lexus LS460 to be slightly tighter than my favorite big body, Chrysler 300C however, it was manageable and I could see myself driving in the 460…just not for distances as long as I could in my father’s S550 – that thing is a yacht.
Rear seat leg space is decent enough when you compare the LS460 to the Audi A8 and the BMW 7 series. For people who have ridden in those rides, the Lexus will be quite impressive. This is definitely a car that makes plenty of space amenities to rear occupants.

Trunk space is also quite generous. Whether you are a sportsman, a lawyer with documents or a simple walmart shopper Lexus Ls460 gives you plenty of trunk space. Be it football equiptment or golf club bags, one thing that is proved by the bustle butt trunk (pioneered by the BMW 7-series) is that trunk space will never be a problem.


YEAH BUT DOES THE CAR PARK ITSELF LIKE I’VE BEEN SEEING ON ALL THE COMMERCIALS?


The Lexus Ls 460’s optional “park assist” will cost you close to $4000 according to the factory sticker – no matter which package you get it with. you must buy the ultrasonic sensor package as well as the Navigation radio to get the park assist.

The ability of the LS 460 to virtualy park itself has become its most advertised feature since it hit American markets. Unfortunately what I must report to you is that,
IT IS ALL HYPE - The word VIRTUALY is a weasel word.

The electronic park assist can only park the car "by itself" in situations where it would be overwhelmingly easier for you to just simply do it yourself.

As it is shown on television, all you do is approach a parking space that requires parallel parking, pull a little ahead of it, press a couple of buttons on the Navigation computer and then the computer takes the wheel to slide you in while maintaining a safe distance to the surrounding vehicles using the ultrasonic parking sensors.

Yeah…that’s what it is supposed to do However, in practice, this is not how it all falls together.

First, you must locate a parking space which is behemoth. By “behemoth” I mean that the space must be about 4 or 5 feet larger than the car itself.

Once you have found one such behemoth parking space, which I can assure you does not exist in Manhattan NYC…you must pull up ahead of the car in front of your non-existent parking space. Place the LS 460 into REVERSE and the rear view camera is activated in the Navigation screen. At the bottom of the screen are now two choices:


Would you like to parallel park or back-in?


You choose back in if you would like to manually slide the car into the spot while keeping an eye on the rearview camera in the LCD screen to watch for the next guy’s bumper. Considering this parking spot is 24 feet wide, that shouldn’t be too hard at all.

However, if you want to put the Lexus computer to the test (find out what you paid $75,000 for) you select Parallel Park. At this point a green target square appears in the rear view camera screen. Should the park be too small, it will light in red to let you know you can’t fit in the spot. If you do manage to both find this perfect parking spot and you line the car up properly, you simply push OK.
At this point you need to lift your foot slightly off the brake so the car lurches backwards. You must manually use your foot to control the descent.
If you let your foot too far off the brake pedal, the entire system cutsoff and the car reverts to manual mode

If everything has been properly setup, and your foot is true, the computer in the car will turn the steering wheel in the direction required to cut the wheel and get the car into the spot.


The car that virtually parks itself!?!
As it is advertised, you’d think the car could navigate a tight spot like a MINI Cooper or a Toyota Prius… NOT TRUE


The problems I saw after I did this in a McDonalds parking lot myself was that:
#1 the computer does not perfectly center the car into the spot meaning you may have to make some adjustments MANUALLY and #2, as you are told in the driver’s manual, the park assist will not work if the incline of the car is any greater than “flat ground”. Forget using park assist, its easier just to do it manually. After having parallel parked over 1000 times, you just get used to it as a necessity of driving.
This is robotized driving in its infant stages. Hardly worth running out and purchasing a $75,000 car for.


THE RIDE

No the Lexus LS 460 is not worth the money if you just want it for its “park assist”. What it is however worth the cash for is luxury at a relatively low Luxury sedan price. The LS460 is cheaper than the S-Class and the 7 series, though more comparatively priced as the Audi A8. But the ride, of the LS 460 is smooth as silk.
Coupled to the Four Wheel Drive 380 Horsepower V8 is the world’s first 8 Speed transmission. The LS 460 has beastly acceleration yet remains quiet under 50. 380 Horses is a lot considering this car weighs less than both the Mercedes S550 and the 750LI though has more horses than the Beemer and only 2 horses less than the S550. This car was built for high speed luxury. Mash on the pedal and the car churns through its gears with ease. I noticed that under a lead foot, the Lexus is louder than the S550 though.

Also like S550, the car seems to virtually glide from gear to gear with almost no slip shock at all. You just don’t feel it. I was equally amazed by the car’s handling over road imperfections. It feels perfectly stable, perfectly smooth and is akin to riding on cotton. All cars should ride like this.

The only dissapointment I should note is that the LS460 leans into corners considerably more than the 750 and the S550 do. S550 inflates cushions around the driver's chair in order to bolster and support your sides when rounding corners at high speeds. The 750's roll stability control mitigates corner roll by its lonesome. Unfortunately, for Lexus LS460, the only way to mitigate corner roll is by purchasing the expensive air suspension. LS460 in this respect does not lend itself to the "sports driver" like the BMW and Benz do. Then again, they cost alot more.

The car has a relatively tight turning radius. In a U-turn, once you've completed about 90% of the turn, the electronic steering takes over the remainder.

I liked that the LS does not feel as “Long” as the S550 when I drove it and the mirrors are perfectly sized so that I can easily see around the car and zip through traffic without having to worry about my rear end being hit by someone in my blindspot.
I absolutely loved the LS’s precise steering which let me point the car as quickly as I felt I wanted to. I must state however, that this is a “fast” car which should not be driven fast due to what I consider to be a long braking distance from 65 to 0. All too often I see people wrapping their Lexuses, Honda’s, and especially Nissan Altima’s and Maximas around poles because they felt like racing in city traffic. If you buy this car I highly recommend you don’t add aftermarket rims unless you have sufficient brake rotors.

The Ls460 even has some great safety features.
For about $3000 optional there is a pre-collision safety system like what I saw in the S550. The car’s radar ranging devices can detect impending collisions and in the event there is an unavoidable collision to be had, the computer activates pre-tensioners in the seatbelts, readies the airbags in the car and determines what level of force the airbags will deploy based upon current speed, closure rate and the size of the font seat occupants. The lip of the seats themselves even have airbags in them that inflate to keep you from slipping under the seatbelt.
Lifted directly from the Maybach's feature list, the optional pre-collision system can even apply brakes for a panic stop if it senses an impending collission and "notices" you snatch your foot away from the accelerator. As your foot scrambles for the brake, the car is already braking!
Volvo eat your heart out !


There are other neat safety features worth mentioning such as the rotating headlamps which swivel to scan around corners as you drive at night. Let the Deer know you are coming !



THE OVERALL PRICE TAG - *GASP*

Firstly, the LS 460 is offered in two wheelbases. The base model and the L model. The L model has an MSRP approximately $10,000 more than the base model but, for families and businessmen I strongly recommend the L instead since the rear passengers get a bit more leg space and the seating tracks are a little more generous.

The dealer I went to gave me a final price of $73,702 for an LS460 [including Navigation, Park Assist and MarkLevinsonAudio]

The dealer also gave me a final price of $80,977 for an LS460-L [including Navigation, MarkLevinsonAudio and Park Assist]

If you want the Executive Package added to an allready loaded model, it will cost an extra $6000
[for that magic fingers shiatsu]
The Executive package will take you approximately 2 months of waiting to pre-order.

{these prices neglect your local/state taxes}

In my analysis the LS460 is a $70,000 car which needs to be purchased with about $8,000 in options to be appreciated. If you are one of those suburb-to-city drivers who spends over an hour driving to/from work, I highly recommend the Mark Levinson surround sound system and to a lesser extent the pre-collision safety option if you really feel you are at risk for accidents – it is over priced.

There is also an available Touring Package which includes Lexus’ aformentioned air suspension and variable gear ratio steering. The air suspension option, as indicated by the dealer, will give the driver of the LS460 far superior roll stability and driver comfort through cornering.
But shouldn't this already be included - standard?


There is a sound package for $5700 which features the Mark Levinson sound system as well as the Navigation system. $5700 is a bit steep but I can’t imagine buying the car without the Navigation system anyway so you might as well spring the extra $2500 for the 19 piece speaker set if you can afford it.

If you are however, one of those people who absolutely must have every major bell and whistle for your new luxury ride, Lexus offers a package which includes the Lame “Advanced Park” Assist, The HDD Navigation system and the Mark Levinson Surround sound speaker system - for about $7000 If this is too steep for you to stomach you can simply negate the Mark Levinson and get the Navigation plus advanced Parking package which offers you the Navigation computer with the aforementioned park assist feature for just $4000. Levinson is really expensive.

As for the Lexus Park Assist I suggest you leave that exactly where it is. Considering how much easier it is to simply park manually, this device does not justify its cost and is one of those “single use novelties” you use the first couple of times you enjoy your new car – or use when someone asks you: “isn’t that the car that can park itself?” at which point you have to actually bother to explain to them all the system’s limitations and shortcomings like I have for this review.
The parking assistance ultrasonic sensors are an $800 option but most likely the dealer has already factored them into the price of their loaded floor models. This option must be purchased if you want to purchase the “Lexus Advanced Park Assist”.

If you frequently must entertain business colleagues (i.e. car pool) or want the best for your family then I recommend you consider the rear seat upgrade packages which come in the form of the $3000Comfort Plus Package and the $4000Navigation plus advanced parking assistance.
The Comfort Plus Package offers you power rear sunshades; headlamp washers, power rear seats with memory and power headrests, and the climate controlled front power seats.

There is also a $13,000 Executive Package to consider (available by special order) which splits the rear seats into four (rather than 5 passenger seating) comes packed with the aforementioned DVD player, a swiveling tray table that pops out of the center console for writing documents (like the one in the Maybach 62), and the aforementioned rear seat shiatsu massage system for the back and the neck.
For $13,000 though?
Only one rear passenger gets the full treatment!
You must really love your rear-right side passenger !



OVERALL

Until now, the "big body" Luxury car market has been dominated by BMW, MERCEDES BENZ and AUDI. Now, Lexus seems intent on capturing as much of the market as they can with their aggressive marketing campaign. The Ls460 is fast, powerful and for only about $75,000 (or $81,000 for a loaded L model) it is a hell of a lot cheaper than the $100,000 Benz or the $85,000 BMW 750Li.

I definitely like the Lexus more than the similarly priced Audi A8 and the 750Li with its puny interior and I-Drive, but, I was very disappointed that the car that “virtually parks itself” really cant, and has so many limitations and disclaimers.

Why is it when a Luxury car manufacturer reaches too far, you always end up with an expensive vehicle that doesn't really do what it is suppossed to?
The poorly executed Night Vision system on the 7 series and the S550 is a perfect example of these single use novelties.
Now you can add the Lexus Advanced Park Assist to that list.
It isn’t parking itself if you have to control the speed with the brake pedal – and then have to correct the lineup after it has “finished”



Though, I am kicking the Japanese around for making a faulty parking system, and a selfish Shiatsu,
I can however, wholeheartedly recommend the Lexus LS460 to any luxury car buyer currently in the market for a low priced super sports/luxury car. Also look forward to the Lexus LS 600 hybrid to be released in the next year as the first full bodied V8 Hybrid. The fuel savings alone will make the vehicle worth the “Luxury” pricetag upwards of $80,000.



OTHER INTERESTING WHIPS


MERCEDES BENZ S550 http://www.epinions.com/content_252095073924

BMW 750Li http://www.epinions.com/content_252534754948

AUDI A8 L http://www.epinions.com/content_254135406212

CHRYSLER 300C http://www.epinions.com/content_249811668612


Amount Paid (US$): 79,000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2007
Model and Options: LS460-L