greg3852

Well, as most of you know, I totaled my LS in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...road-trip.html I bought a 2013 Camry XLE to drive back from Vegas. After driving it for about 3000 miles, I thought I'd do a little write up comparing some things.


RIDE

Camry - Ride is much louder than the LS. It has new Michelin MX4(something) on it. It rides smooth, and I don't seem to feel such a jarring hit as I did with the LS, but I feel a lot more bumps. I don't hear wind noise in it, but the windows are thinner than the LS.

LS-460 - I found the car rode incredibly smooth, and I barely felt any road imperfections. I did however feel that when I felt a bump it was hard and it made me take notice.

INTERIOR

Camry - XLE package with leather and nav. The leather is hard and rough. it is nothing like the soft leather in my LS. The seat is similar but smaller. It doesn't have all the adjustments either, but it isn't terrible. One thing I did notice right away was the fact that I actually had to move the seat forward a bit to drive. Weird. I'm 6'0" tall and I always put the seat as far back as I can. Not in this car. I have to move it at least 3 inches forward. The interior quality is poor. Rough leather, lots of plastic, and nothing real materials is a tough transition. The center console doesn't have a 12V plug in it. It is in a little storage area in front. I think I may add one. It does have USB and 12v Power up front.

LS-460 - I mean come on. It's an LS. If I had to complain, it was that the leather is too soft and damages too easily. Other than that it is fantastic.

AUDIO & ELECTRONICS

Camry - Has a smaller screen than the LS, but the rear view camera is better quality. The screen during normal mode doesn't seem to be as good. It looks pixelated. It isn't the JBL system, so it isn't that good. At low volumes, it sounds good, but once you turn it up forget it. The bluetooth is nice, and works great. The apps pretty much suck, and I just stream over bluetooth. Overall it is a nice update from the 07

LS- 460 - The LS was second to none. The Mark Levinson is fantastic. I loved it. People thought it was an aftermarket system. I wished it had bluetooth and to be honest I was worried about the hard drive dying. I wished it had usb. Overall it was a great system and by far the best factory system I ever heard.

TRUNK

Camry - The trunk is larger in the Camry than the LS or at least it feels that way. I seem to be able to fit more in it despite a smaller opening. Also the seats go down. It's great.

LS-460 - The trunk was great in it. I find myself trying to hit the power close button on the Camry and let out a tear when I find it isn't there.

ENGINE

Camry - 4cyl power. HAHAHA ok, seriously it has no power. 0-60 in 15min. It's terrible. But once up to speed, it's silent. Uses regular gas, and costs just over $20-25 to fill. Gets about 400-450 miles a tank.

LS-460 - 380hp from a V8. Great gas mileage, and plenty of power. I miss it. LOTS.


OVERALL - The Camry is a good car. Had I never been in an LS, I would think it was pretty damn good. It has nice tech, reliable, comfortable, and pretty quiet. I paid $17k for a 2013 XLE. Not a bad price, not a great price, but for a car with less than 30k miles, it was a great price. For the reliability, tech and ride, I don't think I would buy any other car. It's no LS in any way shape or form. The doors are thinner metal, the hood is thinner, the trunk is thinner. It doesn't feel solid when you shut the door. Its tinny. It is however a Toyota, and we all know what that brings with it. I've been getting a ton of grief about going from an LS to a Camry, but I don't regret it. It is a very good car, and has a lot of bang for the buck. As time goes on I hope it remains the same until I get back into another LS.

jtech

I had an 08' Camry Hybrid then an 01 740il and now an 08' LS460L. I can say that the 08' Camry was very similar to your description of the 13' and the differences between the two (Camry vs LS). I understand why you bought the Camry, but am a bit surprised that you did not spend an extra 10k and get a lower/average mileage LS instead. As you mentioned, the seats, the ride, sound system and the over all quietness of the cabin are worth every penny. Good luck with your Camry, I bet you get rid of it in a few years.

DarKnight

iTrader: (3)

Nice write-up. Why didn't you just go with another LS. I just bought a 2007 for about the same price you paid for the Camry. Even though the Camry is newer you sound disappointed.

Doublebase

I didn't realize you totaled your LS, man that sucks, glad you're ok. Are you the guy that did a write up about a cross country trip a while back? You'd have to be because not many people just drive to Vegas from Mass.

I want to say it was about a year ago I entertained thoughts of selling my LS and buying a newer ES350. I liked the way the newer 350's looked...I figured newer technology, nice looking car, good size v6, takes regular fuel, practical, parts are cheaper, reliability of a Camry, but with Lexus style. Wrong. Took one for a long test drive and I was shocked at just how slow and boring the ride was. There just wasn't any power. You had to mash the thing all the way to floor to get it to go, meanwhile the LS just has this abundance of torque waiting to be unleashed in all driving conditions. I turned to the salesman and said...this thing has no ***** whatsoever...he said, perhaps you'd be interested in a GS350.

I ended up putting thoughts of the practical ES350 to bed. I did like the interior - thought it was nice looking and high quality - although I found it really really strange that it lacked charging ports up front. I believe the only spot is in the console. Kind of strange for a modern car.

I did like the thought of being able to save around $60 bucks a month on gas. Plus I'd probably be able to get 50,000 miles out of a set of tires...whereas I can't seen to get 30,000 on the LS. But other than that? The LS so far has been ridiculously reliable, and a great car to drive.

greg3852

For those asking why I bought the Camry instead of another LS, the answer is I tried. Unfortunately I was in Las Vegas when this happened. Read the thread I added in the original post. Las Vegas does not have a lot of used LS's for sale. I spent a night in St. George Utah to look at another LS, and upon checking it out, I found the control arms needed to be done, and it didn't have enough features for the price they were asking. They refused to budge on the price, so I walked.

Faced with either a $2000 rental fee to drive home or buying a low mileage Camry, I bought the Camry. I'm in the process of putting a custom stereo system in it which will keep me busy for a while until I can grab a 2013+ LS.

satiger

iTrader: (1)

Sorry about your loss of LS.

Even though Camry is very reliable and low cost maintenance car, it can't be compared against LS. Lexus/Toyota used to share Camry platform with ES and switched switch to Avalon / ES. Avalon is a very comfortable and low road noise car with many options that aren't offered in Camry line.

Kennyr44

You could of stepped up and bought a 2016 LS for 85k for the ride home. That way one of us could have picked it up in a half a dozen years for 28K.

Rhambler

Yeah, still bummed about your car, but the Camry is a great car that should give you a lot of trouble-free miles, that's for sure.

I actually thought they were surprisingly quiet. I couldn't believe how quiet the 2010 with 125k miles on the clock was when I sat in it. It just didn't compute in my head that this car, that didn't look very well cared for, was this quiet and smooth even after being neglected.

Wandl

Actually considered a 2012 (or newer) camry as my DD, but after renting a 2016 one earlier this year (LE trim), couldn't ignore the main differences in the ride quality. While I would have loved the fuel economy, that compromise was too great. Great write up.

Duck05

On a business trip in July I "lucked" into a new 2016 Camry with only 5 miles on the odometer as a rental. We had a Camry in '86 so obviously not the same car.

However, I am spoiled rotten with my DD being an LS430 and once in a while get to drives the wife's 460 (I prefer the 430).

So that 2016 Camry had some tough standards to live up to.... It didn't. It is a very nice car but not an LS460 (let alone a 430) and for a rental it was great having a new car for several days but once back home the drive from the airport in the 430 reminded how spoiled we are.....

Nospinzone

Well you were between the proverbial rock and a hard place, and you did what you had to do. Stuff happens. Very sorry what should have been a fabulous trip was a little less so.

Enjoy your new car and I wish you good luck with it.

mdpresco

We recently had a 2017 Camry as a rental for 9 days while the dealer had the LS460L doing repairs. The Camry was okay - just okay. All the controls were basically the same so we didn't have to learn a different car. The ride, interior, ML sound, acceleration, comfort and everything else the LS has over the Camry was sorely missed. Ducks05, yes, we are spoiled.

greg3852

Agreed. We are spoiled. I'm already looking at 2013 LS's. Hahahahaha.

SW17LS

Are we surprised a Carmy at 1/3rd the price disappoints compared to an LS?

i give it 60 days and you'll have another LS LOL

superdenso

The unbelievable part of the story is the dealership that wouldn't get the deal done between 17 and 19k. No they aren't in business to lose $$, but they lose a $1,000 and have Greg telling his outstanding customer service story from Vegas to Venice Beach and back to Nantucket. Instead, another post detailing the unfortunate circumstances