In the April 2009 issue of Consume Reports the LS 460 was rated Best Overall Vehicle for 2009. Out of possible 100 points the LS earned 99. points.

rgrds

phil j

They must not have tried to use the Nav while rolling, or voice recognition, or didn't mind wind noise, or....

;->

Whit

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They must not have tried to use the Nav while rolling, or voice recognition, or didn't mind wind noise, or....

;->

Whit
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Hi Whit,

I do not know what to say about the wind noise because we do not have any but I did make a post about a work around on the NAV. Here it is:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=53767

I had a Me/Bz and there are little things i liked better about the S over the LS and things I liked better about the LS over the S car. I went with the LS because I believe it will require less service. I hope I am right.

I miss the lane changing turn signal, and the speedometer that tells you your speed in numbers, the Me/Bz cruse is less complicated and the steering wheel controls and easier to use on the Me/Bz. But the LS is put together better and the touch screen controls are nicer. The break on the steering wheel is a great feature in city traffic and the phone quality is better.

I think the point of the Consumer Reports story is that when you add up all of the pluses and minuses that the LS is better according to the survey. Neither car is perfect but the LS is a little better.

All of us who purchase the LS before the results of the CS story can feel just a little better about the decision that we made to buy the LS. I know that I do.

Please buy and install the override. You will be so glad if you do. If I can do it anyone can.

phil j

Agreed, overall, the car is great. I like the way it runs and handles for the stratolounger that it is.

BUT, I think there are a BUNCH of features they dropped the ball on.
These are so obvious, I can't believe they missed them. I suspect they want to keep 'something better' for the next year's model.

Whit

Like what features?

Like making the existing 'features ' work. Like fixing all the problems:

My biggest complaints on my $70K 2008 LS460 are:

1. NAV LOCKOUT - On my road trips there is usually someone sitting in the passenger seat that is perfectly capable of any enroute rerouting, the stuff now denied me. I bought the damn car because I wanted the Nav features, I think I should be able to use them when I want to.
Getting rid of the "I agree" button is a nice touch. Seems this same caveat could be integrated to let occupants use ther Nav whenever desired.

2. Same with some phone functions.

3. The trunk lighting is a joke...even a bat would get lost.

4. The glove box lighting doesn't exist unless the headlights are on. And then only one little enemic lamp for the lower shelf.

5. The is no underhood light. (Even though fuses lurk under there. Even the lowly Yugo had an under hood light)

Maybe all the Lexus engineers and Marketing wonks carry little flashlights around in their pocket-protectors...ya think? I've resorted to carrying one of those little 9-led flashlights in the overhead pocket.

6. Defogging the windshield seems to be a bigger deal than it has to be.

7. The 'jacking points' underneath seem ill thought out. The barrier that the jack pad is supposed to engage/straddle seems quite restrictive to any other kind of lifting pad. I have my wheels off often and had to cut a channel in a hardwood block to allow a regular floor jack pad to be used.

8. Also the 'jacking points' aren't very well defined for the tire shop dropout that doesn't have the Owners Manual and/or proper adapter.

9. "ALL" of the Owner's Preferences should be configurable on the dash.

10. There should be a multi-Memory Seat Position on the passenger side door too. (My '06 GS430 had it)

11. The center rear-view mirror should respond to the Memory button too.

12. Adjustable foot pedals would be nice, like the Hyundai's and others have.

13. The option to retain the compass heading in the mirror would be nice.

14. I know the OEM tires are only to provide the smoothest ride possible for any demo rides to make the sale, but they are really short-lived for the eventual owner.

15. Decoding the TPMS signal to indicate 'which' tire is low would be helpful. Others are doing it.

16. The dual TPMS option should still be on it, my GS430 had it.

17. The voice recognition sux.


One of these days someone is going to devise a chip that will allow all the things Lexus doesn't personally approve of, like rolling Nav, Phone, DVD, etc. This might even also include an internal OBD-II diagnostic reader with trouble codes and operating parameters displayed on the console.

That 'someone' is going to make a mint of $$.

Whit

So they should combine every single feature available to every car and make sure it works forever and still sel for under 80k ?
Some of those features you mentioned are nice but if you want them then customize your car and get additional lighting. I know you paid X amount and expect it ,like so many things in life you don't always get everything you ask for .
For $100 you can add all the lights you could need .
The car is made for dealer servicing so it will not include many of those features by it brand level as 99% of the owners can afford to get it fixed at the dealer who is the ones jacking it up and looking under the hood.

I agree that you get a lot of car for the money and i hope that it is as reliable as my friends tell me. I tested the car and made my decision to buy with my eves open.

Still, it might be possible to add some features without spending much in the way of extra money.

For instance;

To use the sound system you must use a combination of buttons on the dash and buttons on the touch screen. It is a small thing but it would be nice if we could do it all from the touch screen.

Also in the sound system you have to forward and you can not go backwards. If you are on Sat 1 and you want to go to AM you must go to Sat 2, Sat 3 and then AM. Again it is not a huge problem but it would be nice if you could go backwards and do it on the screen.

I knew this when i bought the car and bought it anyway but still both changes would be simple changes that are more user friendly and I suspect cost nothing.

I really would like to see the European turn signal where you touch it and it stays on for 3 seconds. If you had that feature you would love it. I would pay extra for it.

Above I mentioned the steering wheel controls that i think are not user friendly.

None of this is a deal breaker for me because i bought the car but some of the changes might make the car better without much cost.

For the record the NAV and Radio lockout is one thing that I think is a mistake. To remove that would cost nothing.

I bought the override so it is a non issue for me.

One thing i will say... the Satellite phone that you pay Lexus for has better voice recognition than the steering wheel phone interface. So far it has never failed me.

I wish Lexus had a way for us to share our suggestions.

One more thing.... I am happy that the car I picked to buy was rated number 1 by consumer reports. All of us should be happy!

rgrds

phil

I'll say it again, Lexus is never going to do away with the nav lockout, nor are any of the other companies that have them. You can use the voice commands or install a Prestigious Society upgrade. Those are your only options.



Is the trunk lighting LED on the 460? I don't care for the new LED interior lighting...



Really? The glove box lighting works all the time on my ol' ES.



Lexus vehicles have never had underhood lights...no idea why.



Not a lot of LS460 owners take their own wheels off. I never would.



I don't know why these come and go. The 05=06 ES330 had this also...then the ES350 does not.



No vehicle manufacturer's rearview mirror is linked to the memory system. It would have to be power operated which would make it overly large and heavy to hang on the windshield.



With an adjustable seat and wheel, adjustable pedals are superfluous. The ES300/330 had a power pedal system that was removed when they came out with the ES350 because it has the power tilt/telescoping wheel.

I personally don't want "features" for the sake of having features. I want features that work.



If you want to hold your breath go ahead, I'm not going to.

I think you over-emphasise the number of people that seem to find it an issue like you do.

No car is perfect, and if you expect a car to be perfect and have EVERY feature you possibly could want and still not cost $100,000 you're setting yourself up to be dissapointed. The LS460 is a great car that is extremely well built. If you look past your very minor (and some really silly IMHO like power pedals and a memory rearview mirror) issues your LS460 will be a friend that will actually get better with age unlike most cars.

OR you can pay $25,000 more for an S550 and still not have a lot of the features you mention and have a car that is going to need a lot more maintenance and repair throughout its life. I'd rather buy an LS460 and another little car to zip around in for fun than buy one S550.