Lexus LS Review 2024

The luxury saloon car market has long been dominated by German models such as the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class. But the Lexus LS offers a unique, proudly Japanese take on the formula that is very compelling in many ways.

With its huge, spindle-shaped front grille and angular headlights, there’s certainly no mistaking the Lexus LS for any of its rivals. From there, the car’s body sweeps back into a rather elegant shape – and it’s a similar story inside. The whole interior looks great and you can specify some intricate patterns and gorgeous materials that are hand-crafted using traditional Japanese techniques.

The various high-quality plastics, metals and leathers feel lovely and are put together with absolute precision. The infotainment system has plenty of functionality and is easy to use, but the Lexus LS’s newest rivals are more feature-dense and have bigger screens.

There are quite a lot of buttons on the dashboard, but the layout is straightforward to learn your way around. Some models have a Mark Levinson audio system, which is among the best fitted to any car.

There’s generous space for four tallish adults inside the Lexus LS, if not quite as much as you get in long-wheelbase rivals. There’s a particular lack of headroom in the back, which isn’t ideal for anyone much over six-feet tall.

All the seats are deeply comfortable, though. The front seats offer up to 28-way electric adjustment, lumbar support and heating and ventilation. The top-spec model adds various massage programs and its back seats have all the same features as those in the front. 

The boot is on the small side for this type of car, but it can still hold four large suitcases.

There are three models to choose from: the standard Lexus LS, F-Sport and Takumi. Features additional to those we’ve already mentioned include sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, a digital driver’s display, a head-up display, two-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control and a surround-view camera system.

As the name suggests, F-Sport models have sportier styling, along with air suspension, a heated steering wheel and heated rear seats. The Takumi gets airline-style back seats, plus a rear-seat entertainment system and four-zone climate control. It can even park itself.

The Lexus LS is badged 500h, indicating that it is a hybrid. The engine is a 3.5-litre V6 petrol unit that works with an electric motor to deliver a combined 359PS. It’s reasonably quick off the mark, taking 5.5 seconds to  reach 62mph. However, it only has 350Nm of torque, so doesn’t feel especially punchy once you’re on the move.

The engine is usually almost silent, except when you floor the throttle – at which point the CVT automatic gearbox holds it at quite high revs, which can be a bit intrusive.

By most standards, the Lexus LS is a wonderfully comfortable car to travel in, yet the ride isn’t quite as silky-smooth as that provided by its rivals. Get used to the car’s size and it’s perfectly easy to drive around town – you can twirl the steering with one finger. There is a battery of sensors and cameras to assist with parking, too.

On the open road, the Lexus LS has accurate steering that you trust will position the car where you want it to go. But there’s noticeable body-roll and no real feeling of connection for the driver. The LS can maintain a swift cross-country pace, it just prefers to take things a bit easier. Turn on the massaging seats and you’ll barely notice several hundred motorway miles pass under its wheels.

At the time of writing, Lexus LS prices stretch from £93,000 to £120,000: similar money to its luxury alternatives. Only a limited number is brought into the UK every year, so your chances of getting a discount are low. Fuel economy of 30-35mpg is about what we’d expect, while general running costs are quite reasonable.

You’ll certainly be going against the grain if you buy a Lexus LS. There’s real distinctiveness to its look and feel, and that’s genuinely appealing. It’s not quite as good overall as some of its rivals, but it still has many talents.

What do owners think of the Lexus LS? Check out our Owners' Reviews from real people who live with the car day in, day out. 

If you’ve never been in a car like the Lexus LS before, the ride will feel incredibly smooth, especially in models with air suspension. Both front and back seats are as accommodating as a favourite armchair.

Compared to rivals like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Audi A8, however, the suspension is a bit unsettled. Even on a really smooth road, the car’s body feels like it’s moving around  a little bit. It’s not unpleasant by any means, but it’s a definite demerit when the Lexus LS’s rivals achieve such high standards of comfort and stability.

From the driver’s seat, the LS feels very light and you have a good view out through the windscreen. You quickly get used to the car’s 5.2-metre length and 1.9-metre width, and there’s an array of cameras and sensors to help out when parking. The top-spec model can even park itself.

On a country road, you’ll notice the steering is responsive and accurate, if almost entirely free of feedback. The body leans over quite a lot in corners, as well. F-Sport models have all-wheel steering that amplifies the car’s agility. All-wheel-drive models are also available, which provide better traction on slippery roads.

The Lexus LS can be driven rapidly along a twisting road, but it doesn’t encourage such behaviour in the way a Porsche Panamera or BMW 7 Series does. It’ll get a shift on if necessary, but is ultimately happier with a more relaxed pace.

Show it a motorway, though, and the Lexus LS will plough through several hundred miles in one hit without raising a sweat.

The current version of the Lexus LS is badged 500h – with the ‘h’ standing for ‘hybrid’. The engine is a 3.5-litre petrol V6, which works alongside an electric motor. Together, they generate 359PS and 350Nm of torque.

Acceleration is pretty rapid from a standstill, the Lexus LS taking just 5.4 seconds to dash from 0-62mph. But that torque figure is fairly low for a car that weighs well over two tonnes, so the Lexus LS can take its time when accelerating from, say, 40mph to 70mph. Rivals with turbocharged engines feel much more muscular in comparison.

There’s another issue as well. When you’re just cruising along, the Lexus LS’s engine is barely audible. However, it can become rather vocal under hard acceleration. That’s because the car’s CVT automatic gearbox holds the engine revs quite high while accelerating, disturbing the ambience in an otherwise near-silent interior.

More powerful rivals, and diesels in particular, just feel more effortless in comparison.  

The safety of the Lexus LS hasn’t been assessed by the experts at Euro NCAP, yet we’re confident it’s a very safe car. It certainly comes with an awful lot of safety features. Among these are automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, automatic high beam headlights and road sign recognition. 

A towbar isn’t available on the Lexus LS. If you want to tow with a luxurious Lexus, dealers will no doubt point you towards the RX SUV.

Passenger space in the Lexus LS is a bit of a mixed bag – excellent in some places, less good in others. Let’s start in the front, where there is a vast amount of legroom, headroom and shoulder width. There’s a massive range of electric adjustment in the front seats as well. Pretty much anybody of any size should be able to get comfortable in them.

There’s ample room for two six-foot adults or tall teenagers in the back of the Lexus LS, although they can’t stretch out as much as inside long-wheelbase versions of other luxury saloons. Likewise, there’s not a huge amount of headroom, so anyone much taller than six feet will find their head touching the ceiling. That can be fixed in the top-spec Takumi model, however, which has electrically adjustable back seats that recline to a steep angle. On the passenger side, there’s also an ottoman to support legs, while the front seat can be moved forwards to create extra space.

The boot is on the small side for this type of car, its 430-litre capacity being about 100 litres less than that of most luxury saloons. A few large suitcases will fit, so long as they can get through the relatively small opening. Some models have a hands-free boot lid that can be opened by waving your foot under the bumper. 

The Lexus LS has a particularly handsome dashboard, with flowing lines that sweep from the driver’s side across to the passenger. User-friendliness hasn’t suffered in the name of design, either. There are quite a lot of buttons and knobs, but they’re easy to find and clearly labelled. The same level of attention to detail is applied to the rear seat area.

The plastics, metals and leathers that cover every surface are of the highest quality and feel great. There are several trim packages available on the top-of-the-range Takumi model that feature patterns and materials you won’t find in any other car. These are exquisitely made using traditional Japanese craft techniques.

It almost goes without saying that the Lexus LS’s interior is built extremely solidly, with an incredible degree of precision.

A 12.3-inch touchscreen display houses the infotainment system in the Lexus LS. It’s a decent system that looks bright and clear, and the screen responds promptly when pressed.

Standard features include sat-nav, DAB radio, Bluetooth and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto smartphone connectivity. You can also access various online services, such as traffic updates and parking space availability. The system can receive over-the-air updates, too.

The driver has a eight-inch digital screen supplemented by a head-up display. Between them, they show all sorts of driving data and vehicle info, along with sat-nav directions. You can access assorted infotainment features via the display as well.

The screen set-up in the Lexus LS is perfectly fine, but doesn’t have the wow-factor of the widescreen infotainment in the latest Audi A8 and Mercedes-Benz S-Class. On the other hand, if you’re not especially confident with tech, the Lexus LS is more approachable.

We should also mention the stonkingly good Mark Levinson surround-sound audio system fitted to top-spec Lexus LS models. Turn it up and the sound from 23 speakers is as good as watching a live concert.

The Lexus LS has a list price from around £93,000 up to about £120,000. That compares well with other large luxury saloons that have similar levels of standard equipment.

Only a fairly small number of Lexus LS saloons are allocated to the UK each year and Lexus has no trouble selling them. That means you are unlikely to find a discount.

Average fuel economy of around 35mpg is quoted for rear-wheel-drive Lexus LS models, compared with 29mpg for all-wheel-drive versions. That’s pretty efficient for a large luxury saloon with a petrol engine, although some way behind the numbers diesel and plug-in hybrid cars can achieve.

CO2 emissions are quoted as between 182g/km and 216g/km – also comparable to petrol rivals. First-year vehicle excise duty (VED, or road tax) reflects the car’s list price. Thereafter, it costs £180 per year, plus the £390 charge levied on cars that cost more than £40,000 when new – the latter applied from years two to six.

Company car benefit-in-kind (BiK) tax rates aren’t outrageous, albeit nothing like as low as for plug-in hybrid versions of the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

Servicing costs should be pretty reasonable in the grand scheme of things and the Lexus LS is covered by an industry-leading warranty that lasts for 10 years or 100,000 miles. It’s worth noting, as well, that the LS’s reliability record is unimpeachable.  

The Lexus LS is one of the best-equipped cars on the market. It’s crammed full of features to make travelling as easy and comfortable as possible. There are three models to choose from: the nameless ‘standard’ Lexus LS, racier F-Sport and limousine-like Takumi.

The list of standard features fitted to the standard Lexus LS is so long that we only have space here for a few selected highlights. These include a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system with sat-nav and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity, an 8.0-inch digital driver’s display, a head-up display and a 12-speaker Pioneer stereo.

The car’s front seats are electrically adjustable, including the lumbar support and headrests. They’re also heated and ventilated, with a driving position memory. Two-zone climate control, a glass sunroof and adaptive suspension are also standard-fit.

Driver assistance features include adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, a 360-degree camera system, blind-spot monitoring, lane-keeping assist, rear cross-traffic alert and road sign recognition.

F-Sport adds assorted styling details inside and out, and bulks out the equipment list with a 23-speaker Mark Levinson stereo, 28-way electrically adjustable front seats, a heated steering wheel, heated rear seats and hands-free boot opening. It also has adaptive headlights and air suspension that raises the car up a couple of inches when you open a door, making it easier to get in.

The top-grade Takumi is for those who prefer to be driven, rather than drive. The back seats are electrically adjustable, as is the lumbar support and headrests. The seats are heated and ventilated, have various massage settings and there’s an electrically adjustable ottoman that pops out from beneath the front seats. You can also enjoy electrically operated sunblinds, four-zone climate control and a two-screen entertainment system with headphone jacks and an HDMI port.

The people in the front aren’t forgotten, either. They also benefit from massaging seats, while the driver has a digital rear-view mirror, front cross-traffic alert and an automatic parking system.