Review: 2008 Lexus LS600hL

Radar-based adaptive cruise control. Advanced three-mode active suspension. State-of-the-art hybrid drive assist. These are just a few of the Lexus LS600hL's technophilic charms, and already I'm giddy with the heady rush of silicon chips and gold-plated connectors.

OK, so that's a bit hyperbolic, but the LS600hL's spec sheet reads like a nerd's wet dream, and that's not a bad thing. Mercedes Benz has made it a point of pride to stage its S-Class as the most technologically advanced vehicle in its lineup, offering its wealthiest and most demanding customers the very latest in cutting edge automotive convenience and functionality. BMW has adopted a similar approach with its 7 Series and Audi's A8 has made a push to similar ground in recent years. Even Jaguar's XJ features many of these goodies, despite the somewhat outmoded shell encasing them.

So if tech-heavy executive limos are the way to go, and Lexus' LS600hL is the motherlode, it ought to be the very definition of motoring sophistication, no?

Well, no. But not for the reasons you might think.

Equipment and Features
The LS600hL might be expected to feature a bizarre juxtaposition of Toyota switchgear and fine wood trim, and it does, but that doesn’t really disappoint, at least in comparison to the competition. Even the top-end offerings from Mercedes and BMW feature buttons that look like they were lifted straight from the C-Class and 3 Series.

In fact, the Lexus offers a features list that’s impressive even when considering the car’s $112,569 as-tested price. Mercedes’ ostensible competitor to the LS600hL, the S550 4MATIC, features similar power output and AWD, and though it will dig a slightly smaller $100,000 hole in your wallet for a very similarly-outfitted vehicle, it will come up about 50hp and a few gadgets short of the Lexus.

And the Lexus features are more than just window dressing. The radar-assisted cruise control offers ‘set it and forget it’ ease on the highway, the park-assist feature makes it easy to settle the 17ft-long car into your local supermarket’s parking grid and the navigation system’s large, easily readable screen will get you to and from that important meeting without incident.

Absent on the car Lexus provided us was the rear-seat package that makes the LS line into a true executive limo. With this $12,500 special-order-only package, the car adds such impressive features as rear-seat infrared temperature sensors tied into the four-zone climate control system, a power-reclining right-rear seat with built-in massager and leg rest and a full rear-seat entertainment system with power 9in screens and wireless headphones.

Leg room in the rear is fantastic with or without the executive package, and though the leather doesn’t feel as high-class as some German or Italian cars, and the carpet is several leagues below the fabulous wool in the Jaguar XJ, it’s a tidy, spacious, and efficient office on wheels for those that need exactly that.

In the trunk, however, space is severely limited. The hybrid battery pack takes up so much space here that getting in a full-size suitcase or a week’s worth of luggage might be impossible. And that simply won’t do when heading to the airport for that last-minute trip Nice.

Technical
With a hybrid drive train, you might expect the LS600hL to be more about efficiency than power or performance, but you’d be wrong. Lexus’ hybrids aren’t about efficiency per se, but about efficiently adding power without increasing displacement. It’s a high-tech way of turning a V8 into a V12-rival, or so the company argues.

In reality, there is a great deal of torque down low, and the 438hp 5.0L V8 engine arguably feels even more well-suited to the task of hauling the big sedan around than it does doing high-performance duty in the non-hybrid IS-F. And at the end of the day, the combination of a small hybrid system and a big V8 is probably a bit more fuel-efficient than a 6.0L V12 would be.

But that’s not to say it’s objectively efficient. The EPA rating for the car is 20mpg city/22mpg highway. With some judicious and traffic-maddening hyper-miling techniques, you can even get that up to about 28mpg city and 30mpg highway. But drive the car like it’s meant to be driven, or like any normal person would, and you’ll quickly be back down to the figures provided by the EPA, or worse.

The three-mode air suspension system works quite well, absorbing the bumps with aplomb and transmitting almost no vibration into the cabin, but it does leave the car feeling a bit over-engineered and numb in the driver’s seat. Not that this car is in any way about the driver.

Mating the big V8 with the hybrid power train and delivering power to all four wheels is an E-CVT transmission with ‘Sequential Shiftmatic’ - doublespeak for a very smooth but essentially computerized and characterless gearbox. Getting anything other than pleasingly brisk acceleration and buttery smooth shifts from the device is impossible, and even trying to do otherwise gives the prickly feeling of a normally stolid Japanese engineer looking on with a very disapproving facial expression.

On the Road
The one really useful and pleasing function of the hybrid drive system isn’t it’s power-adding or its (in)efficiency. It’s the low-speed electric-only cruising you can do in parking lots, in your driveway or in crowded downtown areas. The silence, the smoothness, and the generally futuristic feeling of driving such a large vehicle under electric power alone is actually enticing.

As for AWD, the system is hardly noticeable. It may as well be a pure FWD or RWD, since the car will likely never be driven hard enough to tell the difference, though it could be useful in bad weather. Under aggressive maneuvers, the chassis is stable and composed, tending generally toward under steer, though grip is massive thanks to the optional 19in wheels wrapped in sticky summer tires that come with the Active Power Stabilizer
package.

The active power stabilizer is really an electronically controlled anti-roll bar system, which dynamically stiffens or softens to control body roll while still delivering a plush ride. As with most modern Lexus vehicles, the car also has a switch to adjust ride comfort and engine/transmission responsiveness. Selecting ‘sport’ and ‘ECT’ modes will give the car a bit more bite, but it’s still a big, cushy limo at heart.

Styling and Exterior
The LS600hL’s design is best described in a negative sense. It doesn’t have the flowing curves of the S-Class, the controversial lines of the 7-series, the classic - if somewhat dated - good looks of the XJ, or the reserved but handsome unity of the A8.

Composed almost exclusively of smooth surfaces and the simplest bends and folds possible to encase the structure, the car appeals to a more minimalist ethic. Like the inside of the car, the LS600hL’s exterior is more reminiscent of an office building than a $100,000+ executive sedan, but the businesslike folks likely to buy one of these cars probably won’t mind a bit.

The car does present the same basic face and profile found throughout the LS and GS lineup, so brand identity at least is guaranteed. By stretching the car out to such huge dimensions, however, the little character present in those other cars is diluted here to an almost imperceptible concentration.

Final Verdict
I want to like the Lexus LS600hL. I really do. The computer-geek in me thinks this rolling gadget showcase ought to be the finest thing in the history of motoring, with the possible exception of the Jackie Chan-piloted, super-computing, rocket-powered Subaru GL 4WD from the legendary Cannonball Run. But the car utterly fails to inspire any sensation more substantial than indifference. From its bland exterior to its all-too-obvious Toyota roots inside, the LS600hL comes up short of the competition and fails to deliver the promise of its spec sheet.