Pinball

Enigma - Just curious about the air cooled seats. Our LS430 has never been much of a performer in this regard. Is the LS460 substantially different? Did he give you a demo?

encore888

We got a demo of the 4-zone climate control, not the cooled seats -- except a discussion of the heated and cooled features now on front and back. He said the system is basically the same as the LS 430 system.

In my experience the 430 system works ok, although I feel the cooling feature was more noticeable than the heating feature. In the past family members have tried to surprise me by turning on the heat/cooling of my seat (when I was not looking), and I noticed the cooling more than the heating (but it may have to do with the SoCal weather or the fact that sitting down for a long time traps heat already).

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Excellent write-up, excellent WRITING, period -you write for a living?

Thanks for sharing.

Nextourer

Thanks for the write-up! It was quite detailed! So many questions, so little time. (esp. for the food haha).

gs400jon

My salesperson called me this afternoon to tell me they have a standard and long wheelbase for test driving. I just drove the short wheelbase and liked it very much. I ordered a SWB, Mercury Metallic with light gray interior and dark gray bird's eye maple. The salesman checked and they have one arriving on a ship in Long Beach and should be here in four or five days. They said I would be the first to take delivery at their dealership. I sure hope the factory took extra care in building these first run cars .

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Well done indeed...

Thanks for the review!

encore888

Congratulations! It's pretty good you were able to get one without waiting too long...other places have long lists but it depends of course on what package you are getting. The impression I got from the Lexus rep was that you can have optimism/confidence in the build quality of these new LS 460s. Of course, if any issues come up, you can expect that Lexus will take care of you--I imagine they will want to keep the first year customers happy in order to further the reputation of the brand.

Thanks for the compliment! To answer your question, I did dabble in journalism while in college, but not anymore. Although my 'review' was in 'messageboard mode.'

encore888

Heheh, it was great. Lexus of Glendale (the CL member) has posted a better pic:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...34&postcount=2

Basically there was a circular arrangement of large shrimp tails, with the traditional red dipping sauce. On both sides, there were at least 3 kinds of vegetable dip (celery, carrot, pepper maybe?) with different sauces. Then above that, on both sides, there was the smoked salmon and other kinds of fish. Actually I didn't get to try them all.

My favorite actually turned out to be the curry dumplings, which were actually better then the ones at Taste of Lexus last year (which unlike Taste of Luxury was about snacks not a full buffet).

My one big regret about the party was that I had gone for my second round on the treats and snacks (the first 'pass' was just a light sampling), and I had to leave the food and drink. I was a bit sad for that plate to go to waste, and especially as some of the food on the plate was the stuff I hadn't tried yet (at buffets, I make it a point to try everything--even if just a tiny bite). Oh well.

..the car was the fun part anyway.

AsianGirl007

iTrader: (1)

Nice write up.

Those curry chicken dumplings were my favorite too. I had second helpings of those.

flipside909

Good review. Just to add to this note...one thing that the actual Lexus Product Planner told me when we saw the LS460 up close and personal earlier this year, the main reason why an AUX-IN was chosen over an IPOD interface was to keep options open for the consumer to use any type of portable audio component. Lexus felt it was best to keep the option open instead of forcing people to buy an IPOD just to enjoy audio in their vehicle. Since the IPOD phase is a "fad" technology, they felt it was necessary to keep it universal. I definitely understand their long term reasoning for this.

encore888

^^^
That completely jibes with the impressions/info I got last night. Based on what I heard, most everything on the LS is carefully thought out to the nth degree. And they spared no expense on the car, so it was not at all a matter of cost-cutting. The decision not to include the iPod interface makes sense for the long-term view they are taking with the LS. They did not want to be tied to a particular technology which could be surpassed or superceded quickly. The car is supposed to last for a long time, and it needs to have a 'timeless' quality to its design, unlike the more faddish Scion designs which change rapidly anway.

Helmar

It would seem to me that while the connecter itself is hardware, everything AFTER the connector is software and could easily change as technology changes. For that matter, designing an easily replacable connecter would be smart too.

I listen to a lot of audio books, and many of them are on tape, so the aux in jack will be welcome to me. I assume it'll be the same on the LS600hL.

By the way, the answer to the title of this post (How many programmers does it take to change a lightbulb?) is: None, that's a hardware problem.

HBH

encore888

I think it would be interesting if future LS versions offered software updates in addition to the hardware...but the new LS only offers the HDD NAVI updates IIRC. One of the things about the cabin systems architecture on the LS is that it is designed to be utterly simple in ways that some of the more technically-interested and other technophiles might find too simplistic. For instance the HDD for music, which doesn't have any specialized smartcard or other input space, but rather records off of your Audio CDs. Designed to integrate seamlessly, but also to reduce any complexity.

Wow and I didn't realize that the tape player has been dropped...unlike ES (GS?) which still have them.

Like the lightbulb quote!

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Looks like fun! Quite a nice production.

gs400jon

The car has Navigation/Levinson, XM, Bluetooth, NavTraffic Real-Time Traffic Capability, Intuitive Parking Assist, one touch open/close power doors and trunk, Comfort Plus Package, Preferred Accessory Package. The MSRP and destination charges come to $72,102.00. Then, there's state tax and license fees on top of that.