The Lexus LS600h L is the most complicated, most elaborate machine ever to take to four wheels. What "Ulysses" is to light reading and Confucianism is to the simple declarative sentence, this hybrid-powered limousine is nothing less than everything Toyota has ever learned about cars poured into one stupendous, stupefying, "because we can" performance piece.
Some features:
-monitors the driver's face with infrared beams and detects if he or she is nodding off
-parallel parks itself
-sweeps the road ahead with millimeter wave radar and stereoscopic cameras
-monitors passengers' body temperatures and adjusts climate accordingly
-rated at 21 miles per gallon combined
-has an electric-only mode button that will allow it to move at speeds up to 25 mph on all-electric power for six-tenths of a mile
-much of this car runs off of high-energy circuits fed from the big battery, replacing noisy hydraulics with the whispering of electronic gear
Some of the Lexus' features would be completely invisible to owners but are the sort of things that make automotive engineers run naked through hotel hallways. The car has a hydrocarbon absorber and catalyst system; this device absorbs cold-start hydrocarbons (catalytic converters are inefficient at low temperatures) then releases them when the cats are up to speed. That's one reason why this 439-hp (combined gas and electric), 5.2-second-to-60-mph, 130-mph Pullman car gets a SULEV (Super Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle) rating, best in class by a mile.
The Lexus pairs a 5.0-liter direct-injection V8 (389 horsepower and 385 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm) with a great water-cooled electric traction motor (221 hp), channels both outputs through a three-mode continuously variable transmission (with a two-stage reduction gear for the electric motor output), then sluices the resultant twist through a limited-slip center differential that ciphers optimum power sharing between front and rear axles. Not that the car has axles, really. The Lexus is crammed to the gills with batteries, electric motors, converters and cooling systems to keep it all from going pop.
What's charming about the LS600h L is that, even after all these years of class-leading quality and sales, Lexus as an organization still feels the need to try this hard. There's no sense of complacency in this car, no inkling that the brand will allow itself to be carried along by goodwill in the marketplace. The LS600h L competes with marquee players like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi as if no one had ever heard of Lexus. This 202.8-inch, 5,049-pound flagship is the first Lexus product with a sales price north of six figures ($104,000 base MSRP). But the company's long history as a value-luxury proposition is still entwined in its psyche. Indeed, the car seems practically desperate to justify its price point. I actually find it hard to believe this car could even be remotely profitable for Lexus (shades of the 1989 LS400 for $35,000).
The hybrid model comes only in stretch, and the company expects to sell about 2,000 of them per year. Those numbers and the market position put the LS600h L up against six-figure executive mind-blowers like the BMW 760 Li and Mercedes-Benz S600, both 12-cylinder cars, and the Audi S8, a 10-cylinder car.
Source: The Los Angeles Times
