What is it they say in that beer commercial? It does not get any better than this?
Well the Lexus LS 400 isn't exactly a car you'd associate with beer - Dom Perignon is more like it - but that's what we thought about the original LS 400. For the money, luxury cars do not get much better. And it was also hard to see how the Lexus, from Toyota's luxury-car division, could get much better.
But the Lexus design team found all sorts of ways to improve on the original.
This is no mere face-lift. Toyota claims that 90 percent of the 1995 LS 400's parts and components are either all-new or completely redesigned.
And even though the original LS 400 was world-class in just about every respect - smooth power, quiet operation, meticulous fit-and-finish, velvet ride, top customer satisfaction - the all new one is, yes, better.
It is not easy to see this at a glance. The new car does not really look much different - There is still that same suggestion of derivative styling, borrowed from the
Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans. And even though the wheelbase has been stretched by 1.4 in., the outside dimensions are the same.
Nevertheless, the skin is virtually all new, and the shape is far more aerodynamically efficient. Aerodynamic efficiency generally equates with a quiet interior and good fuel economy, and the all new LS 400 is improved on both counts.
Although the library hush of the original LS 400 seemed almost beyond improvement, the all new one is even quieter. Similes fail here. Cathedral quiet? Silent as sleep?
Perhaps an operational example is better. At 120 mph, we were able to converse in normal living-room tones with a Lexus engineer. And all the better to appreciate the subtleties of the excellent sound system.
Before you pick up your pen to tell us that this kind of driving belongs on a racetrack, that's exactly where it took place. Toyota gave us a preview of the all new LS 400 late last summer, which included a day of driving in Quebec, and a day at the Ste. Jovite road racing circuit. More on that later. Meanwhile, our report focuses on the standard LS 400.
