Lexus is a world-famous luxury car brand under the Toyota Group of Japan. Lexus was founded in 1983, launched its first model in 1989, and in just ten years, it surpassed the sales of Mercedes-Benz and BMW, the hegemon of the luxury car market in North America, and since 1999, Lexus has been the No. 1 luxury car sales in the United States for 11 consecutive years. At present, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz BMW together constitute the top three "BBL" in the U.S. luxury car market, although the overall sales are slightly overtaken by Mercedes-Benz BMW, but Lexus is still the No. 1 luxury car in the U.S. market with new car licenses. In the Chinese market, Lexus is often regarded as a "Japanese car", but in fact, the United States is the base of Lexus, and it was not until 2005 that Lexus entered the Japanese market.
 
If the biggest feature of Mercedes-Benz is luxury, then the characteristics of Lexus are undoubtedly service and quality reliability. Lexus' customer service is based on the "Lexus Promise" they make to their customers: "Lexus treats every customer as if we were at home. The earliest test of this promise was in 1989, when Lexus recalled the all-new LS 400 model due to a wiring problem with the brake lights, and the owners were surprised to find that their cars had been thoroughly cleaned inside and out and had been filled with gas.
 
New York's Luxury Institute ranked Lexus No. 1 based on a survey of more than 2,100 high-income households on the customer service offered by luxury car brands. Based on Lexus' rigorous pursuit of high customer service standards and high customer satisfaction, Lexus has the highest customer loyalty in the industry. In 2005, Lexus won the first place in the "UK's largest independent car satisfaction survey" on the famous British car TV show "Top Gear". Lexus has also been ranked first in the service satisfaction survey of Auto Express, a well-known British automotive magazine, for five consecutive years. In a J.D. Power survey that invites more than 79,000 U.S. car owners and dealers every year, Lexus has ranked first in the customer service index for 11 consecutive times.
 
The Lexus LS is Lexus's only large luxury sedan, which has been produced for five generations since its introduction in 1989, and each LS after production is assembled in Tahara City, Japan. When Lexus did not enter Japan, the LS in Japan was all imported in reverse, and it was sold under the name of Toyota CELSIOR, and the equipment was also different from the overseas version, and it was not unified as Lexus until the fourth generation. The chassis number of each generation of LS is unified as UCF, the first generation is UCF10, and so on, and every mid-term facelift, the "II" is added to the back, and the fourth generation LS 600h/600h L has another UVF45/46, and the launch in 2017 is the long-awaited fifth-generation LS, after all, the release of the previous generation LS was already in 2007.
 
The fifth-generation LS is generally divided into three configurations, LS 350, LS 500, and LS 500h, and domestic sales are mainly based on 350 and 500h. Although they are all LS, but the powertrain is all different, the most entry-level LS 350 is a special model for China, equipped with an 8GR-FKS 3.5L naturally aspirated V6 engine, matched with a 10-speed automatic manual transmission, 500h is an 8GR-FXS 3.5L naturally aspirated engine with an E-CVT analog 10-speed gearbox, and uses the same Multi Stage Hybrid System hybrid system as the LC 500h. The engine has a maximum power of 295 hp and a combined power of 354 hp.
 
The most noteworthy is the LS 500, which is also a version that has not been released in China, it uses a new twin-turbo engine codenamed V35A-FTS, note that this is a real twin-turbo, not just a simple twin-scroll, this engine has a maximum power of 416 hp, and can maintain a maximum torque of 600 Nm at 1600-4800 rpm, which is also the first time that a twin-turbo engine has appeared on a Lexus model, and LS 500 F The Sport version will also be powered by this engine.
 
The fifth-generation Lexus is also based on the Lexus GA-L (Global Architecture) platform, with a reduced height, a forward-shifted suspension, a rear-back engine and driving position, and a more uniform body weight. Despite this, the weight of the vehicle has not been reduced compared with the previous generation, the previous generation of 460L is 2100kg, and this generation of 350 also has 2075kg, and 500 is basically above 2200kg, the heaviest 500h even reached 2370kg.
 
The driving experience of this generation of LS is actually still many aspects, because different powertrains will bring a very different driving experience, and the 350 and 500h versions are smooth enough to drive, because whether it is a 10AT or an analog 10-speed E-CVT, the performance in terms of smoothness of gear shifting and gear selection is very good, so that the manual mode is extremely chicken. As for power, 300 hp doesn't make a big difference for a car weighing more than two tons, except for the LS 500.
 
The steering feel of this generation LS is a big surprise, thanks to the use of a variable gear ratio electronic power steering, it does not feel like a D-class car in daily use, and it can feel relaxed and confident in corners, in general, even if the driver is on leave, the boss can get enough driving pleasure in the driver's seat.
 
In terms of NVH, LS is almost flawless, wind noise and road noise are very well suppressed, the only bit of tire noise comes from Bridgestone's run-flat tire, although it is specially customized for LS, the sidewall is much softer than the general run-flat tire, but it still brings a small amount of tire noise. The air suspension and electronic suspension keep the grooves smooth, but the overweight body can still feel the roll in the corners.
 
The interior of Lexus does not have a consistent design language, each car series is a new look, LS workmanship and materials are very in line with people's expectations of Lexus's "humanistic atmosphere", and the rear seats are also designed as "walking single beds", but because they are all rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, the bulge of the rear central platform is very high, and it will be more reluctant to sit three people.
 
The multimedia system still uses Remote touch, to be honest, it is really the most difficult central control system in the luxury brand, and it is basically an impossible task to blindly operate during driving, but fortunately, the dashboard design and function of this generation LS are very good, and it can clearly display all kinds of information, and this generation of LS is equipped with a very information-rich, large enough head-up display, this head-up display may be the best in its class.
 
Lexus's car-making technology has always been a textbook in the industry. According to JD Power's 2017 annual number of failures per 100 new cars, Lexus was 110, the lowest in the year, and the industry average was 156. The five-year-old LS will have some problems with suspension and braking, but overall, the ten-year-old Lexus LS won't cause too much trouble for owners as long as it is well maintained. As a result, Consumer Reports concluded that LS's quality was top-notch.
 
Due to the low number of vehicles, test institutes in both the automotive and insurance industries generally do not conduct crash safety tests on large luxury cars. The Lexus LS is one of the few cars in its class to have taken part in the IIHS crash test, but it only took part in 2007 with "excellent" results in the frontal moderate overlap collision, headrest and seat tests - while there is no data to prove its overall safety, there is really no reason to think that this type of car will be less safe than the average sedan, which is much cheaper to build.
Lexus LS test report