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"  On-Sale Date: October 2012 Price: $68,000 to $120,000  Competitors: Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7-Series, Cadillac XTS, quadruple-bypass heart surgery. Powertrains: 4.6-liter V-8, 386 hp, 367 lb-ft; 5.0-liter V-8, 389 hp, 385 lb-ft with two electric motors for 438 total hp; 8-speed or CVT auto, RWD or AWD EPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 16\u201319/23\u201324 What&amp;#039;s New: The structure, most of the sheet metal; the suspension; and the basic powertrain carry over from the last LS. But all the plastic parts (such as the bumper covers and front grille) and interior have been redesigned. The result is an updated luxury barge that carries Lexus&amp;#039; current design cues, has a more sweetly detailed and technologically advanced interior, and has exactly the same character as before. Tech Tidbit: A new Advanced Pre-Collision System uses radar to detect obstacles in front of the LS and, if the car is moving at less than about 25 mph, apply the brakes to prevent a collision. The braking force applied can be up to a full g of deceleration with no action whatsoever on the driver&amp;#039;s part.  Driving Character: Short of floating in a sensory-deprivation chamber, you&amp;#039;d be hard-pressed to find a more soothing experience than riding in the updated 2013 Lexus LS 460, the longer-wheelbase LS 460 L, or the hybrid LS 600h L. This is a luxury car in the old-school sense, not a spiffy sports sedan or high-performance four-door with some fancy flourishes. Lexus will try to plug the new F-Sport version of the car as the most driver-oriented, but you won&amp;#039;t notice its slightly lowered air suspension, 19-inch wheels and tires, Brembo six-piston front brakes, and Torsen limited slip differential unless you push the car well beyond its real-world comfort zone. The big LS now wears the new Bold Signature Lexus design elements, but underneath that superficial revision it&amp;#039;s very much the same car it has been since 2007. The 4.6-liter, direct-injection, DOHC, 32-valve V-8 is now rated at 386 hp (up 6 hp over the 2012 edition), and it&amp;#039;s still backed by an eight-speed automatic transmission whose shifts can be detected only by specially trained German shepherds. All-wheel drive is available, but that option drops the engine&amp;#039;s output to 360 hp while increasing the claimed curb weight by about 400 pounds. The hybrid, all-wheel-drive LS 600h L uses a 5.0-liter 389-hp version of the same V-8 but adds two electric motors to the mix for a system total of 438 hp. It all operates seamlessly, but its lackluster EPA-rated 19 mpg in the city and 20 combined make the hassle and expense seem silly. Favorite Detail: Inside is where the updated LS is in its glory. The leather is supple; it&amp;#039;s all stitched together perfectly. The wood trim\u2014in Walnut, Shimamoku Espresso, or Matte Brown Bird&amp;#039;s Eye Maple\u2014is exquisite. Lexus&amp;#039; traditional Optitron electroluminescent gauges are now supplemented by a huge 12.3-inch high-definition nav screen. The Remote Touch system that controls the display isn&amp;#039;t perfect, but it&amp;#039;s more intuitive than what you&amp;#039;ll find on a BMW or Mercedes. Driver&amp;#039;s Grievance: The LS&amp;#039;s steering is nicely weighted, the ride is brilliantly smooth, and the V-8 engine makes nary a sound. But there&amp;#039;s nothing interesting or engaging about how it drives.  The Bottom Line: When Lexus introduced the fourth-generation version of its large LS luxury sedan as a 2007 model, the big news was that the car could automatically parallel-park itself. The heavily revised and updated version of the LS that&amp;#039;s coming for 2013\u2014call it Generation 4.5\u2014has dropped that technology. It seems LS drivers were comfortable parking the car themselves, and few of them were actually asking the car to do the chore. That says plenty about the state of the LS. It&amp;#039;s been updated for 2013, but in character and substance it remains what it has been\u2014and the car that it has been seems to be fading in popularity. Perhaps Lexus should pay attention to those drivers who rejected the automatic parking system and build more personal involvement into the next generation of this car. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/reviews/a8080/2013-lexus-ls-test-drive-11678255/>