how many people were in on this? what a wicked present
congrats to your dad! i hope i'm able to do something special like that for mine

 

now he can feel like a real 60 year old.

 

By the way, awesome ride.

I love the LS. Easily the best all-around car on the road.

 

Congratulations on the addition of the flagship to your family's cars!

 

I agree the LS is a great all-around sedan, but they don't offer the correct pkg for me to consider one (yet). To upgrade from my GS, I'd need a base 460 (non L) with touring pkg (air susp, 19" rims) and ML/Nav. Don't want the rear seat pkg (since I drive 99% time) and the L is too big and lofty as my everyday commuter. Once Lexus builds this pkg, I just might be tempted. . .

 

ha, believe me, starfire pearl/black interior is our first choice, but it was pretty much non existent, we hated the cashmere on the LS, so going with our preference of black interior, we went for our second choice for exterior.


base LS doesn't even come with rear seat package even if you want it. if my mom didn't fall in love with the rear seat, we would've settled on the touring LWB, the rims sure is much better looking!

I always thoughts the SWB would be enough, but after sitting in the LWB, there was no way we could go back

Thanks guys.. it truly is an awesome car

 

touring and rear seat upgrade both aren't offered on lwb

in japan, you can get touring on swb

 

Thats what boggles my mind - N American market for the LS is several times larger than Japan, so why are pkgs limited to NA ? Price point is key, and I'd be willing to step up to a 70k msrp upgrade for my GS, but not 85k+. That and special orders from Lexus is like pulling teeth and amputating a limb. . .

Just how hard is it to build a swb LS w/touring pkg, ML & Nav

 

you tell me. that seems to be typical japanese auto industy culture. not just toyota, but that's also on honda and nissan. they kind of leave "better" stuff to themselves

in japan if you get a lexus it's very much customizable down to a lot of details, sometimes you get options that aren't available elsewhere. like you said the US market is here, but they just aren't as flexible. i still think cost is part of the issue, but at the same time i also wish they can open up the door more

oh well

 

Lexus plans its assembly lines weeks or months in advance. They know that 2 weeks from Tuesday, the plant will be building 950 Starfire Pearl ES 350 Premium Package cars. It's an effective way of cutting costs, but it also means the cars are not very customizable.

 

damn, I would have done that in a heart beat too!

 

Yes, its Toyota's production philosophy, well documented and very effective. But that's not my issue. The week that they build LS swb w/touring pkg ML & Nav for JDM at the Tahara plant, they should crank out a few for NA as well. The line is already tooled and set, so doesn't it make sound economic and marketing sense. . .

 

Congrx my friend enyoy that machine !!!

 

Great minds think alike, that's the exact package I was looking for but it just wasn't possible. On the bright side, I'm glad I got the rear seat package because everybody that sits back there loves them.

 

congrats car looks beautiful!