UDel

A 4 cylinder S class would never fly in many markets, especially the US. Even if the majority of S class buyers might not know that much about the basics of the car they are going to know it only has a 4 cylinder and 4 cylinders are economy car engines that don't belong in flagship luxury cars, you don't spend $85K+ on or aspire to own.

AJT123

Ha! If you weren't a mod I'd joke about reporting this post lmao. I got slack for it when I first got the car, haha.

I'm 37 and bought it when I was 30, and I did trade in a sweet black on black '06 6spd Acura TL actually because it was too sporty and I wanted luxury. Old man car or not, LS430 is the finest car I've ever experienced....hands down one of greatest cars of all time and I'll tell you why IMO: 430 was Lexus' W140 except everything lasts. The budget must have been enormous, bc Lexus took everything that made the original 400 killer and amped it up pretty big time with the 430. It's been argued that the late 90s to early 00 was Lexus' "golden era" in terms of quality and original Lexus ethos, and the cars from then show. Especially the LS.

coolsaber

If the E-Pack is good enough to make the performance figures make up for the lost cylinders I think they should be fine. In terms of NVH, I would think if anyone knows how to make a vault its Mb

AJT123

Yeah but there's nothing that can stop the god-awful sound 4 cylinders produce.

I drove a Lexus NX with the 2.0t, they pretty much nailed the NVH part but I still can't get that sound out of my head.

In an S-Class you've got to be kidding me.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I recognized that line. It's from Dr. Dre's Still D.R.E.

I'm not a fan of the giant screen.

AJT123

Crossovers don't bother me but I'm not a fan either, as long as BOF truck SUVs remain. They drive quite nicely, but I like a real truck if I'm buying something higher off the ground.

My problem, however, is what internal combustion is turning into. For example, one of the only vehicles you can even get with a NA V8 anymore is a GM SUV. Or an F-150 with the Coyote. I don't care what people say, I do not like turbocharged downsized junk. THERE IS NO REPLACEMENT FOR DISPLACEMENT!

I miss the 90s when there was an S320, 420, 500, and 600. The bigger the engine, the badder the car. Gas mileage be damned. We are not running low on oil, and gas is cheap; can we not bring some of the great engines that have disappeared back?

V6 only in an LS is pathetic, and from what I'm hearing the economy isn't great around town, at all. Seeing as the last two V8 equipped LSs can reach upper 20s MPGs and were SULEVs (430 was I assume 460 too) on the highway what exactly is the damn problem?

Dave600hL

Here, here. I agree totally!!!

MattyG

Benz does not sell a 4 cylinder turbo in the US/Canada. So much angst about the impending demise of the V8s. And there is still the M256 question. Will it end up in the S Klasse at some point? MB is not going to keep a 3.2 biturbo V design, if it has newer better tech with an inline six.

And after that you can get your V8 fix on the wilder models, with all that turbo power. The vast majority of Benz people, in their own way are like old guys driving Vettes. They're not really going to act out like "old men gone wild" on ya on the streets are they? This is about class, dignity and projecting money.

Lexus has never done a V8 biturbo in the LS has it?

Johnhav430

I agree 100%. imho fuel economy is not the only motivation, it's the ability to use the design in more vehicles, when a mfg. uses a compact V6. When a 2 liter 4 cyl. is pushed to say 280 ft. lbs. all day long, why didn't they do it in 2000? The software wasn't really there, and people were still buying cars and cared about longevity.

On the LS430, I have no idea why Lexus shot itself in the foot, unless it was the EPA (I have always heard only 15% of vehicles are tested by the EPA, the rest are self-reported numbers). The EPA was 16/23 if I'm not mistaken, and my car, a 2006, gets 28+ all day long in 2019, when measuring only the highway component and cruise is set to ~ 72 mph. It gets 19.x on my commute which I've done for 8+ years, which is a 2 mpg penalty over a V6 maxima and I6 BMW. Sure 2/21 is something, it's 9.5%. But it's NA and has 107 more ft. lbs. than the Maxima, and 12 ft. lbs. more than the BMW. I would say it's more complex than the 1998 Maxima, and less complex than the 2007 BMW which is a N54 (on this one I have to believe two small turbos each coming off of a separate manifold, is better than a larger 'twin scroll' single turbo off of one manifold).

edit the LS430 is SULEV? Sweet thanks for teaching me something about my own car! That is pretty good on Toyota's part.

edit 2 the only thing I could find on the web says ULEV...

AJT123

EPA was 17/25 just FYI. But 27-28MPG is easily attainable in an LS with a steady cruise. The V6 Acura I mentioned I had prior got no better highway gas mileage. And maybe 430 wasn't an SULEV, I could have been mistaken, but still ULEV still proves my point.

And I've seen guys reporting 30mpgs on their 460s, on a V8 with 90 more HP. Is that not enough? Why all this downsized crap? (I know it's a rhetorical question.)