Take a look at this article in the last issue of Road & Track last month, and I was really challenging myself to come up with an answer as to WHY they hadn’t added the 2004-5 LS430 with the UL package? Why I ask?



We all know the LS as won numerous prestigious awards from many magazines, we also know that the 2001 LS430 won the best luxury car in North America, so why did the guys at R&T magazine not acknowledge this type of accomplishment?

They tested the A8 and Phaeton, two luxury cars from essentially the same company but didn’t even bother to add the LS into the comparison? Is it because they THINK the LS isn’t worthy of such test? Or not on par with these cars? Because I know many, including myself that would take an LS over any car in their test. Is it due to price? We all know the UL LS430 is MSRP'ed at around $75K, in par with the others.

Has anyone emailed them by the way? I would be particularity interested to hear what they have to say.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article....rticle_id=2151

 

My best guess is that Road & Track know a new LS is around the corner. Don't want to test the current one; instead do extensive tests on new one???

 

If that was the case, then it would apply to the S class, as well as the refreshed 7 series.

 

If they included the LS in the line up, that will take all the excitements out of the compo... . They still need to sale the magazine and by withdraw the LS from the line up is the best way to make the another feels good... my .02 cent.

 

Maybe they are doing a European luxury sedans only comparison ? The LS430 is placed first & second in comparisons with these cars in 2 other car magazines' comparisons (C& D and MT) so it did very well against them. Anyway, these comparisons' results are pretty subjective & mostly worthless anyway IMO.

 

its because those are performance oriented luxury sedans. Typically the lexus doesnt fall under that catagory. It is in my opinion the best car out of all of those however because of its fine mix of luxury, safety, performance, and most importantly RELIABILITY. Something none of the germans have. I say let them compete, the Lexus is out of their league.

 

As frustrated as you and I might be over the absence of our favorite luxury marque in this comparo...HELLO...read the title!! The comparo is not just about luxury, but about LARGE, hence long-wheelbase, sedans. The LS simply doesn't qualify with its currently relatively short wheelbase of 115.2" when the average wheelbase length of the cars in this comparo is 121.7"!

But as I said in the previous post regarding this comparo, Lexus will soon be regarded as one of the top contenders in such comparos in the future when it releases the LWB version of the next-gen LS in fall 2006. Just be patient.

 

I think they were just testing large expensive long wheel based European luxury cars. The title was living large and they used long wheel based or long wheel based sized cars. They did not include the Lexus LS430, Infiniti Q45, and Cadilac DTS because they are not European and don't fit the size requirements. It is strange they did not include the Maserati Quattroporte but it may not of been large enough or unavailable. I do not think the LS430 is obsolete yet since the S500 is fairly old and ready to be replaced but they did critisize it for having an older feeling cabin. I have notice that auto mags stopped using the Lexus IS300 and the last GS in the comparo's for the past couple years. I felt the A-8 should have won though and they seemed to prefer it overall but the BMW performed better even though it had alot of critisism over exterior, interior, and the i-drive.

 

Come 2007 and the LS460L will be here and they will have NO EXCUSE!!!

 

that's true, the new upcoming LS next yr that's going to be one sick car to wait for. i know i am waiting

and i am not sure about the "sporty" sedan theory.... i don't see anywhere where they market the s class or 7 series as the "sport sedan", so i don't see where they can cut the fine line about the sportiness of the car. don't underestimate the handling of the ls430. the car might be floaty, but its handling is pretty surprising

 

New 7-series commercials do.

 

It sounds like it was a european vehicle test only to me.

 

I think XeroK00L has the key here......these are ultra-long-wheelbase sedans. It is also probably the reason they didn't include the Infiniti Q45 and the new Acura RL...or any of the current non-limo Cadillacs or Lincolns....though the DeVille and Town Car would have been close. It is also possible that R&T also wanted only German cars.

 

Yes it's a German thing and each one of those cars can't compare to Lexus reliability. There is no paragraph in that article that talks about reliability.

 

It can't be just German cars because they have a Jaguar XJ8 which is British. It was just long wheelbase European cars.