Check Drive: 2023 Lexus LS 500h | The Each day Drive
6 min read
2023 Lexus LS 500h AWD
Class: Premium massive Sedan
Coloration: Dusk Mica
Miles pushed: 207
| CG Report Card | |
|---|---|
| Room and Consolation | B- |
| Energy and Efficiency | B |
| Match and End | A |
| Gas Financial system | B+ |
| Worth | B |
| Report-card grades are derived from a consensus of test-driver evaluations. All grades are versus different autos in the identical class. Worth grade is for particular trim degree evaluated, and will not replicate Shopper Information’s impressions of your entire mannequin lineup. | |
| Huge & Tall Consolation | |
| Huge Man | B |
| Tall Man | B |
| Huge & Tall consolation scores are for entrance seats solely. “Huge” score primarily based on male tester weighing roughly 350 kilos, “Tall” score primarily based on 6’6″-tall male tester. | |
| Drivetrain | |
| Engine Specs | 354-horsepower 3.5-liter |
| Engine Kind | Turbocharged V6 |
| Transmission | CVT computerized |
| Drive Wheels | AWD |
Noticed gas financial system: 23.2 mpg
Driving combine: 65% metropolis, 35% freeway
EPA-estimated gas financial system: 22/29/25 (mpg metropolis/freeway/mixed)
Gas kind: Premium fuel
Snow Efficiency: N/A
Base worth: $112,785 (not together with $1295 vacation spot cost)
Choices on take a look at car: 19-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels (changing 20-inch wheels) (-$920), door edge guards ($155), rear-bumper applique ($95), illuminated door sills ($450), sprint digital camera ($375)
Worth as examined: $114,090
Fast Hits
The good: High-notch meeting high quality, long-trip consolation, quiet cabin
The nice: Excessive-value pricing, gas financial system, Snow Belt winter functionality
The not so good: Hybrid solely supplied in more-expensive totally loaded trim
Tom Appel:
Ask round. Ask somebody with ever an informal information of the auto world which Mercedes-Benz is the model’s flagship, and odds are the reply you obtain would be the S-Class. The massive, luxurious sedan has for years represented the best in consolation and know-how. That mentioned, the S-Class doesn’t truly promote all that effectively. No fault of the automotive, however the market as shifted, and large European sedans are not in vogue. By the primary six months of this 12 months, Mercedes has bought simply 6000 S-Class sedans, roughly a sixth the quantity loved by the model’s GLE midsize crossover.
That is true throughout the board, because the Audi A8 and BMW 7-Sequence massive sedans have suffered even better gross sales retreats as luxurious customers more and more go for crossovers as a substitute of old-school sedans.
This defection isn’t restricted to German-brand luxurious sedans. Genesis, the Korean luxurious model owned by Hyundai, builds a superb massive sedan, and actually can’t give it away. Gross sales although the primary six months of 2023 got here in at round 700 items, making the fashionable sedan the slowest-selling car within the model’s lineup.
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Then there’s Lexus. First seen in 1990, the LS 400 was the model’s inaugural mannequin. Together with a Camry-based sedan dubbed ES 250, the massive, V8-powered LS actually launched the Lexus model, and performed to media reward and robust gross sales.
Now deep into its fifth era, the LS remains to be an excellent car, albeit an excellent car in quest of an viewers. Redesigned for the 2017 mannequin 12 months, the massive Lexus was considerably freshened for 2021, and was handled to suspension updates that improved each dealing with and experience high quality.
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For 2023 the LS is obtainable in 500, 500 F Sport, and Hybrid trim ranges. The Entry 500 begins at about $80,000 and is powered by a turbocharged 3.4-liter V6 mated to a 10-speed computerized transmission. Subsequent up is the five hundred F Sport ($84,000), which incorporates distinctive trim, bolstered entrance seats, and distinctive instrumentation. The F Sport options the identical drive prepare as the bottom 500.
The highest-of-the-line 500h (the “h” is for hybrid) begins round $114,000, and includes a 3.5-liter V6 mated to a pair of electrical motors and a CVT computerized transmission. The five hundred and 500 F Sport can be found with commonplace rear-wheel drive or optionally available AWD. The 500h is obtainable solely with AWD.
Shopper Information lately spent every week behind the wheel of a 2023 500h in Dusk Mica. The well-equipped 500h consists of as commonplace the Luxurious Package deal optionally available on different LS fashions. The bundle, which fits for $12,460, is chargeable for a lot of the 500h’s bump over different 500 fashions.
The indulgent bundle consists of such options as 28-way adjustable massaging entrance seats, a great deal of semi-aniline leather-based trim, Extremely Suede-brand solar visors and headliner, heated rear seats, leather-based center-console trim, and a rear-seat heart armrest touchscreen.
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The Luxurious Package deal affect on cabin ambiance is profound. Although there may be at all times a restrained dignity to Lexus interiors, the opulence of the premium leather-based and high-gloss wooden components is undeniably premium. Likewise, the overall cabin design is fashionable in a muted means. Not as daring as an Audi or Volvo cabin, the LS inside is each natural and mature, and the parallel dashboard strains, which start on the instrument panel and circulate to the passenger facet door, work as a component to tug the cabin motif collectively.
Entrance seat occupants sit low within the automotive, and stepping into and out of the LS is difficult considerably by the drop. That mentioned, there may be loads of long-leg house up entrance as soon as seated, and tall-guy headroom is greater than ample. The identical may be mentioned for the rear-seat lodging, although getting into and exiting is just a little simpler.
A cabin word: the white inside on our take a look at automotive was already exhibiting some indicators of use fatigue, we’d go for a special inside coloration.
Price noting, too, is that whereas all good luxurious autos function high-quality trim components, there may be, and at all times has been, one thing particular about Lexus meeting high quality. The LS particularly feels as if it was carved from a strong ingot of metal, and the tight tolerances contained in the automotive go a great distance in the direction of constructing purchaser confidence.
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As for efficiency, you may neglect the phrase “hybrid.” The beefy V6-centric drivetrain launches with strong authority, and packs loads of reserve energy for passing and merging. Although the hybrid drivetrain is rated at solely 354 horsepower, in comparison with the five hundred and 500 F Sport’s 416, the additional torque offered by the electrical motors compensates with loads of further low-end muscle. As an added bonus we averaged a reported 23.2 mpg throughout our analysis week.
Our sole powertrain criticism is an occasional shudder felt throughout coast-down deceleration. The impact shouldn’t be pronounced, although of us finicky about refinement could take discover.
Round city the LS handles effectively. Thought not truly sporty, even within the most-aggressive S/S+ drive mode, the massive Lexus holds its personal. Lean is corners is effectively managed, and brake really feel is great.
As a premium massive sedan ought to be, the LS 500h is a freeway star, settling in comfortably on the open highway. At pace the experience high quality is great, and cabin noise effectively squelched. Price noting, too, is that the 23-speaker Mark Levinson audio system is top-notch stuff, and superb for the mid-century jazz favored by this creator.
Customers on this class in search of sturdy worth are prefer to eschew the German manufacturers, which leaves the simply the Lexus LS and the Genesis G90. Cadillac and Lincoln ended large sedan gross sales within the U.S. years in the past.
We’re large followers of the Genesis, with its recent design, refined energy supply, and its culturally cutting-edge graphic shows and digital management interface. Although we named the G90 a 2023 Shopper Information Finest Purchase is the category, we wouldn’t hesitate to advocate the Lexus LS in its stead.
The Lexus LS is a high-value different to the massive German sedans that boasts comparable dynamic qualities, and construct high quality that might the world’s best watchmakers. The automotive is lush, roomy, highly effective, and to some extent predictable—in the absolute best means. Whereas the 500h will get just a little dear, the bottom 500 is an impressive worth within the class. We’re sort of bummed that there aren’t extra LS examples on highway, because the crossover craze has diverted too many would-be-customers away from this wonderful sedan.
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2023 Lexus LS 500h Gallery
(Click on under for enlarged pictures)
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