LS 400 a Great Car
The Lexus LS 400 was one of the most well-known and respected luxury vehicles of the early 90’s. It was the car that Lexus launched their brand with, and it is still being made today. Learn a little more about why the LS was such a respected vehicle, and you will develop a whole new level of respect for the company that produced it.
The Goal of the Lexus LS 400
Since Toyota was focusing the launch of their new luxury brand “Lexus” around the LS 400 it had to be advanced enough to convince people that Lexus was one of the best luxury brands out there. In order to achieve this they set four different goals for themselves. The car had to be much quieter than the competitors while reaching a higher top speed, being better on gas, and even more aerodynamic than other premium offerings. The company picked Mercedes Benz and BMW as their two primary targets to beat.
Succeeding
The first Lexus model was supposed to be faster, quieter, more aerodynamic, and more fuel efficient than the Mercedes Benz and BMW competitors that they fought against for customers. Through all of the company’s hard work they managed to succeed on every one of those areas. Their car was more aerodynamic than the competition with a coefficient drag rate of an impressive .29. The car featured a slew of technology to keep the cabin as quiet as possible and it was noticeably quitter than mid-level offerings from either of the two competitors. Thanks to a clever engine design the vehicle was also more fuel efficient and more powerful than the flagship cars from either Mercedes or BMW.
The Engine and Transmission
The engine of the Lexus is what allowed it to pack so much power while being relatively fuel efficient at the same time. It features a 32-valve, V8 engine with 250 HP. The 4.0 liter engine was built in an oversquare design, making it very powerful and relatively reliable as well.
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| Lexus LS 400 |
The Transmission was based on a brand new design that was an electronic automatic with four different gears to shift through.
Other Technical Revolutions
Being better than the other manufacturer models in those four key areas was not enough for Lexus, they also added in several features that weren’t seen on many luxury vehicles at the time. An electrochromic rear view mirror is one of those features. The mirror senses the amount of light coming in through the back window, and it will tint the mirror when there is a lot of light shining in to prevent glare.
There was also a very classy electroluminescent gauge, that was backlit for easy viewing at night, and it used a holographic effect to display the information out onto the dash of the vehicle.
Another feature that buyers really took note of was the automatic tilting and telescoping steering wheel. The wheel was much easier to adjust with the automatic features. Although it wasn’t a major factor on driving performance, it is a small feature that made it more pleasurable to own.
The LS 400 was wildly successful in the United States, and the model surpassed the sales of both BMW and Mercedes Benz a little over a year after the vehicle began being sold in the country. That original model later became one of the most reliable, and sought after used cars in the country, and it was included on several lists of reliable vehicles that are known to drive well past 200,000 miles.
There has been four generations of the LS since it was originally released, and there are plans for future generations to be developed as well. It is still one of the most popular models that Lexus has although they have released many other models in the last 20 years.