The F Sport perhaps handles marginally better, its still a big, softly sprung car. IMHO the F Sport on this car is just an appearance package.

 

Thanks.

I test drove a '16 S550 yesterday. WOW! Feels like driving a BMW 3 series or an IS350. Great handling and torque. Interior looks great (esp. the nut brown seats on the one I drive) but..........IDK......... on 2nd looks there's just something about the MB interior that feels cheap. Maybe it's the slightly outdated software and user interface of the nav/audio controls... or maybe it's just the strange looking silver vent *****. It's almost like MB decided to sprinkle in some European/Ferrari/AMG type racing flavors in an ultra luxury car.

Now I hope to test drive the FSport and compare....

 

Theres nothing about an S550 interior that feels cheap to me LOL, its the highest quality interior south of $200k.

If you think the software and user interface is outdated in the S550...I can't wait to see what you think of them in he LS lol

I love my LS, but the S550 is undoubtedly the superior car.

 

They are both good choices.

 

If you can spend $100,000 though, either physically or psychologically the S550 is a lot more car. The LS is a great option for $80-90k considering that you can get $10k off of one especially, its a ton of car for the $70k I paid for an $80k example.

BUT...when you start talking about $90,000+ you can get a pretty nicely equipped S550 for just over $100k...to me that decision is a no brainer.

If you can spend $100k, you should seriously consider the S550 or the new 7 Series over the LS.

 

The S550 and BMW 7 Series in my opinion are superior and more expensive. The LS 460 reliability and durability makes it superior to me. The S550 and BMW 7 series would be great to lease but the 460 is great to own for years to come. The MB and BMW have always had mechanical and electronic problems and extremely expensive to maintain after a few years. My opinion is based on my personal experience from owning all three makes.

 

When you're spending $100,000 though, reliability and durability are not at the forefront of buyers minds. Look at Range Rover sales, look at S Class sales despite these reputations.

All of these cars are going to be fine in the first few years of ownership, and thats all the longer most new buyers keep them.

 

The OP is coming from a GS owned for many years and stated he was concerned about resale value.

Neither a BMW or MB will hold the resale value from the prices out there. And, too many problems even if covered by a warranty.

The confusing exchange is on handling - the LS is a big car and while the F Sport has a fun suspension hard to imagine it would out perform a GS-F or an RC-F.

Tough comparing across the models when they offer different features. Wait a year and get the LC500????

 

The resale on either of those cars isn't going to be as good as the LS, but you gotta pay to play. The LS' resale isn't as good as several cheaper cars, the same argument applies.

 

Shambler: What color are you looking for?

 

I am often puzzled by this: Assuming wealthy folks are financially savvy, who in their right mind would purchase a German 100K+ car only to see it depreciate to 30% or more of it's original value in 5 years and break down multiple times over the course of those 5 years, needing vastly expensive repairs which oddly enough all happen on the day the warranty runs out?

I have leased a 120K+ German cars, but I would never purchase one...

 

A majority of these cars are leased, not sure where I said they weren't.

 

Correct, you didn't. It's a little late here, need to read more carefully...

 

I'm not looking anymore. I already purchased a non-sport one. However, the one I saw was black and I'm getting too lazy to keep such a color clean.

Kind of wish I waited a few more weeks as now Lexus of Sacramento has a brand new Atomic Silver LS 460 (non sport). Personally, I would have preferred that color, although hey, I'm not complaining. The pearl white is great, too.

Frankly, if my garage was longer, I would have opted for a LWB too. I put in shelves in the front of my garage that ate two feet. Kind of regret doing that now in hindsight as I can't park a LWB in there at all now and still be able to walk in front of my car.

In any case, you really can't go wrong with any LS 460 imo. F-Sport, standard or LWB. All variations of the same, great theme. I love my car!

I never test drove an F-sport so I cannot compare the ride myself. The SWB is comfortable and really does block out almost all road imperfections. I don't slalom or drive like I'm an indy-car racer anymore so this suits me just fine. The only reason I wanted the F-sport was for the wheels and slightly lower stance, but how much I would have sacrificed in ride may or may not have been desirable for me depending on the extent to which it tightened things up.

 

Yeah I LOVE Atomic Silver! It wasn't available in 2015 in the US.