From the Hollywoodextra.com...

http://www.burlappcars.com/2009/02/2010-lexus-ls.html

Looks plausible...

As for the V6, wouldn't surprise me. I'd buy a V6 LS as long as it wasn't a dog...

Agreed Steve....should be interesting.

Agreed Steve, should be interesting.

I don't know...a V8 is so much more smooth running than a V6 in my experience. To me the LS should remain as smooth and luxurious as possible.

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I thought they only thinking about it, it's not official yet. Plus, even if they are going with the plan, the V6 LS is going to be just in Asia Pacific, and maybe in Europe...but not North America.

It may come here eventually though. They do make a 6cyl S class in those areas and they sold it here breifly in '05, the S320.

They used t sell 6 cyl S classes in previous generations here all the time and they were very popular, before the LS made a V8 standard equipment in a high end sedan.

from the picture it looks like a LS600hL. or are they making the LED headlight available for the regular LS? Would be a nice upgradeable option.

Mercedes put 2.6 liter six cylinder engines in S-class cars (the 260SE) sold in some countries through the 1980's. BMW was putting 2.0 liter engines in the 7-series (the 720) sold in some markets earlier in this decade.

BMW didn't even offer a V8 engine in the 7-series until 1993 -- three years after the LS400 was introduced. Except for 6 cylinder engines, only the "nose bleed expensive" V12 was available in the 7-series before 1993.

We've gotten spoiled -- which has been kind of nice.

The new 306 horsepower V6 should be a real "screamer" and provide plenty of power for an LS350. It will have more power than an 06 LS430 engine.

Yeah but a V6 never feels as effortless as a V8...

I doubt they'll sell the V-6 here. The V8 already gets (for it's class) pretty good fuel economy; and I'm sure they fear a V6 LS might cannibalize GS sales; unless the price drop is small (in which case one could argue spend a little more and go for the V8). The V6 also doesn't have nearly as much torque as the 4.6 (or 4.3) V8s so it's probably going to feel strained moving a 4,200 pound car.

In other markets Audi, BMW and Mercedes all have 6 cylinder (and diesel) versions of their large cars but they haven't been sold here for at least 10 years. MB dropped the S430 (which I think is now the 450) from the US market for 2007; and very briefly sold the S350 here at the end of the W210 run (I think it was for like 4-5 months). So I think an LS 350 is probably a lock for Europe; they need it there.

Most of those cars are sold primarily because the taxes on large engines are very high in some parts of the world. Japan for years had a huge tax on anything larger than 3 liters which is why it was so rare to see anything larger than that in an Japanese car. In other parts of Asia and Europe the taxes can be as much as half of the MSRP of the car itself; these are partially driven by engine size.

Never say never though; the BMW 740Li (with a twin turbo 6) looks very interesting and should gas top $4 a gallon again they might bring it stateside; ditto the Audi V8 diesel. I'm not sure if the S400 hybrid diesel will come to the US or not. I might buy it if I was looking for a new S class. Both BMW and MB have great CDI V-8 diesels in Europe (450+ lb/ft of torque) but we've never seen them here in sedans.

I still think a really cool option would be to drop a V-6 hybrid powertrain into the LS and create an LS 400h. It would still get pretty good (if not great) performance and probably see a combined FE rating in the high 20s. Again though query as to if the additional cost of the hybrid powertrain gets you back to the 460.

I still think that the cost of fuel for anybody considering a $90k car is immaterial; unless you're a very high mileage driver. I'm far more excited about the Generation 6 Nav system; finally a real ipod jack and possibly A2DP bluetooth streaming.

I've always said both of my Dad's LS's, his 98 and his 04 have always gotten better mileage than my ES...

I dont think the LS would cannabalize GS sales though, the GS and LS are too different. ES sales maybe.

I suspect there is voodoo involved somewhere: my dad reports that the turbo-4 Forrester he uses for work guzzles more gas than my LS; which I find amazing. My mother even reports 26+ mpg in her Camry...with the 3.5L V6.


I predict that for '10 Toyota will drop it's new Valvematic technology into the LS; giving the LS 460 420+ HP with a 10% FE boost.

I get 17-19 around town, 26 on the highway at best in the ES. He has always gotten 18-20 around town and gets up close to 30 on trips in the LS, both of them. We have very similar driving styles.

The Turbo Forester indeed can be thirsty......it's difficult to resist using the turbo.....but the fun was worth it when I had my 06 XT.

My son's Avalon gets 21-22 is town, and on highway with a bit of in town get 30-31,, Is one reason to buy My LS... Avalon has more room than some of the smaller Lexus,, esp the IS models, Ride about the same as the ES.. but much better than Honda.