At the opening of the 1990s, Japanese automakers were tripping over one another launching luxury brands—here’s how Lexus stood apart.
lived up to the hype, and the dealers' free breakfasts and loungelike waiting rooms became benchmarks. By the dawn of the millennium, Lexus managed to build itself a chairWe can't go back in time and scarf down the free croissants, but we can explore the significance of Lexus' launch by driving an original LS at Toyota's U.S. headquarters in Plano, Texas.
We pull away from Toyota HQ and onto Plano's wide boulevards, noting how adeptly the LS400 seems to simply absorb all external noise. Everything inside the car works, and the stereo even sounds decent. The V-8 never raises its voice. With 250 hp, it can't and doesn't whip the LS around, and the four-speed automatic transmission prefers second-gear starts and wafting the stately four-door up to highway speeds.
Of course, some perspective is required. The LS400 caught the W126-generation S-Class near the end of a long life cycle that spanned the entirety of the 1980s and then some, from 1979 to 1991. That Benz's formal chrome grille, hood ornament, and narrow body seem at least a generation removed from the LS400's more modern riff on luxury sedan themes.
The German represented engineering run amok, deploying overly complex solutions to simple problems. The older W126 had pneumatic door locks and a vascular hydraulic suspension setup for ride quality and height control, and the W140 doubled down and only somewhat modernized the same ideas, adding electrically operated soft-close doors and a new solenoid-controlled adaptive damper system to join the hydraulics for even finer ride control.
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