Lexus LS460 goes beyond luxury to even park itself
DEARBORN, MICH. — We have come to realize that automobiles have gotten out there toward the horizon of future technology, but that doesnÂ’t mean we canÂ’t still have our minds boggled by something new, and farther out there. The 2007 Lexus LS460 is the best case in point, because it not only will get you to your destination in luxury unmatched except by a precious few prestige cars, but once there, it will park you by itself.
ThatÂ’s right. Put it in reverse and the LS460 will either back you straight into a perpendicular parking stall perfectly positioned between the lines, or, it will steer itself into a no-hands perfect parallel park.
Without question, Lexus has the Mercedes S-Class directly in its sights with the new LS460, so we’re talking a category that is somewhere north of $70,000, and probably closer to $85,000 – unless you dip too eagerly into the option bin.
It was the 2007 Mercedes S-Class that first introduced an exotic, radar-guided system to guide you to the perfect parallel parking job. It uses rear-view video, which comes on the navigation screen as soon as you shift into reverse. Three colored grid-guidelines appear, starting from off your rear bumper. One, in blue, as I recall, goes straight back; another grid shows an artfully arcing path that projects where you should go to perfectly back the S into the parking spot, close to the curb and close enough to the car parked behind the open spot, while also gracefully missing the rear fender of the car ahead of the open spot. The third grid adjusts and changes according to where you steer. So turn the steering wheel and keep the steering grid aligned with the perfect-parking grid, and you can park without ever looking out the window.
It is now several months later, and several other competitors have systems similar to the Mercedes back-up concept, although a bit short of the Mercedes precision.
Now comes the Lexus LS460, with the new number rising on the fourth generation from the original LS400 of 1989. It was introduced to the automotive media last week in Dearborn, and among the features of the total redesign are an all-new engine – 4.6 liters with enough camshafts and valves and electronic wizardry to extract 380 horsepower and 367 foot-pounds of torque – and a unique 8-speed automatic transmission with a manual selector mode. The big sedan, which also comes in an elongated “L†version, will hustle from 0-60 in 5.4 seconds, and will zip through a quarter-mile in 13.8 seconds from a standing start.
I recall when 14 seconds was out of reach for the best stock eliminator drag racers.
The LS460 also projects 27 miles per gallon on the highway, and 19 in city driving, according to the much-maligned EPA estimates. The V8 also meets ULEV-II status for low emissions.
The body, all new inside and out, is redesigned but retains the familiar LS look. It is shaped to cheat the air, and its 0.26 coefficient of drag is better than almost any sports car, let alone any sedan or luxury freeway cruiser.
Inside, you also can enjoy your choice of color-coordinated stuff. Such as, grain-matched wood by Yamaha that ranges from medium brown walnut to dark grey birdseye maple, to dark brown ash, and leathers that can be alabaster – OK, white – or black, or grey, or cashmere.
The rear seat of the LS460 L is spacious enough for a small convention, and a special package will get you a right-rear seat that reclines 45 degrees and even has a little ottoman-thing that comes up to give your calves a rest. And massage.
You get nine airbags, or 11 if you choose the ottoman feature. A Mark Levinson audio upgrade runs you up from “only†10 speakers to 19 speakers and a 450-watt punch with 7.1-channel surround sound. You can even punch a button to record anything you’re listening to and happen to like.
We got a chance to drive the new LS460 briefly around the frontage roads of our suburban Dearborn hotel gathering spot, but it was far from sufficient to delve into the road manners of the big sedans. Besides, we can leave that to a longer road-test session in the near future.
For now, letÂ’s get down to the feature attraction of the LS460.
Right outside the hotel, Lexus folks had parked a couple of RX350s with an ideal parking spot in between them.
Lexus offers Intuitive Parking Assist, a stand-alone option that has six sensors across the front bumper and four across the rear, which measure and alert you if you get too close to any object at least 4 inches wide. ThatÂ’s handy as a guide for parking yourself, and it works either in reverse or at slow forward speeds to prevent parking-by-ear. Or thump.
On top of that, there is the Advanced Parking Guidance System, which requires the navigation system as an option, and which includes the Intuitive Parking Assist. With all of that in place, get ready for some real magic.
You pull up to parallel park, and you must be close enough, within one meter, to let the sensors note the car behind the open space, as you pull ahead and just past the car ahead of the open space – again, within one meter, which gives you hope somebody inside the parked car doesn’t throw open the driver’s door. You stop there, and put it in reverse, activating the rear view video on the nav screen. At the bottom of the screen, there is a code button you push to activate the system.
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At that point, you’ll see a grid outlined inside the open parking slot, and four arrows behind the car, which you can tap to make sure the gridlines are big enough, and in the parking slot rather than on the sidewalk. Then you hit OK – and you take your hands off the steering wheel.
The car starts creeping backwards, by itself, as the wheel spins, and the rear end of the car angles into that spot. You must keep your foot riding the brake to prevent the car from backing up faster than 2.5 miles per hour, or it will stop and alert you that youÂ’re moving too fast. Otherwise, let it go, and, sure enough, it angles in, then straightens out, as you watch the grille of the car behind getting larger and closer on the screen. When you are close enough, you hit the brake.
You will want to straighten the wheel and pull ahead just a bit to center the car. Otherwise, itÂ’s done.
Now, personally, I enjoy the challenge of parallel parking different cars every week. ItÂ’s part of my test to appreciate a carÂ’s ergonomics. But I know some people who are terrified of parallel parking, and some who simply canÂ’t do it. There would be no price too steep for those folks to pay to get a car that will parallel park itself.
The LS460 is so loaded with features that, as I mentioned, a longer road-test will be required to describe everything. But for now, in the battle of prestige luxury-car battleships, the Mercedes has been king, but itÂ’s an election year, and Lexus has filed to run on a different ticket.
Honda restyles CR-V from cute-ute to cuter-ute for 2007
VANCOUVER, B.C. — Honda has redesigned its CR-V for 2007, equipping the compact crossover SUV for another generation of maneuvering deftly through the competitive battleground against all sorts of competitors, both old and new.
Wearing an entirely different appearance, the new CR-V looks a lot more like a compact MDX, from upscale cousin Acura’s styling chambers, than a progression from the existing 2006 CR-V – which met every user-friendly target, but left styling to more upscale models. Uncharacteristic though it may be for Honda to make major styling changes for the sake of style, the CR-V is a bold departure from the pragmatic, form-follows-function approach.
The best thing the recent gasoline-price scare did was to cause a dramatic turn away from large, oversized, overpriced, and overpowered SUVs. Sanity apparently has taken hold. Consumers are well aware the next fluctuation might take us up toward $4 gallons, but even if prices drop to $2, it simply makes good sense to find a family-hauler vehicle in a more cost-effective manner.
Honda resisted the urge that caused Toyota to lengthen the RAV4 by 14 inches, stuff a third-row seat in the rear, and add a V6 under the hood. Honda chose to keep the CR-V where its compact roots were planted, with two rows of seats, and with fully adequate 4-cylinder power. In fact, the new CR-V is actually 3 inches shorter than its predecessor, just by moving the spare tire off the rear door.
The automotive media assembled a couple of months ago in Vancouver for the CR-VÂ’s press introduction, then we were ordered to withhold our opinions for nearly six weeks, so that the vehicles could start heading for dealerships before our opinions stirred up potential demand. The previous CR-V appealed to young families, and to the wives/moms most of all because of its easy and sure-footed four-wheel drive handling in foul weather.
The first version was Honda’s first SUV attempt, and it became a universal success as it went through one modest styling revision, selling over 2.5 million copies altogether in 160 countries, while being built in seven different countries. In fact, it led the segment with 15,000 unit sales for July. Honda officials foresee a 119 percent increase in the “CUV†– for Crossover Utility Vehicle – segment by 2010, at which time it also suspects it will be second only to the large pickup trucks in the non-car side of the market, as usual segment-leaders such as Escape and Jeep Liberty are joined by the Jeep Compass, Dodge Caliber and Nitro, the Ford Edge, and a fleet of other newcomers.
Christina Ra, CR-V project manager, said that buyers of the previous generation CR-V responded to market research by saying they thought the vehicle was just right, and were indifferent to its styling. “But those who didn’t buy it said that styling was a drawback that caused them to look elsewhere,†Ra said.
The newly top-hinged tailgate acquires some tastefully contoured creases and bulges. Same for the side silhouette of the car, where the roofline tapers at the rear, and encases the rear side window outline, which now is something of a hairpin-shaped oval. I suggested to chief engineer Mituru Horikoshi that before his time, we had something called a 1953 Buick coupe that had a similar rear window curvature. Poor fellow. He never knew whether I was praising, joking, or just being properly cynical, and I wasnÂ’t about to try to break down the language barrier as regards sarcasm.
“The old model appealed mostly to stylish young moms, whose major concerns were her personal career, her family, and her husband and friends,†said Horikoshi. “We wanted to expand the appeal of the new CR-V by making it more advanced and emotional – a ‘coolÂ’ SUV that is fun to drive and fun to use – with a more dynamic stance.Ââ€
To do that, the new CR-V got more than a new look. Positioning the engine and transmission lower, relocating the spare tire underneath where it no longer blocks any rearview mirror view, and widening the track, all contribute to a lower center of gravity, which aids handling agility and safety.
Safety is a high priority item at Honda these days, and to achieve the five-star crash-test ratings it seeks, the new CR-V construction boasts of 58 percent high-strength steel, giving it the rigidity of the larger Accord. HondaÂ’s ACE (advanced compatability engineering) crashworthiness allows the new CR-V to stand up well even in severe impact tests with HondaÂ’s Ridgeline pickup truck.
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While the more rigid structure improves safety characteristics, an obvious exponential benefactor is handling. Front suspension is a MacPherson strut design similar to the new Acura RDX sporty-SUV, while the rear suspension has a larger stabilizer bar and a rear multilink suspension similar to the very impressive Civic. The combination means the CR-V sweeps around the tightest curves and responds precisely to steering and swerving input. We drove a couple different CR-Vs hard through some seriously tight curves up through the mountains from Vancouver to Whistler and back, and power and handling were improved from the previous CR-V to a firmness that almost qualifies as sporty.
The 2.4-liter 4-cylinder has HondaÂ’s iVTEC variable-valve-timing technique in place, maximizing power and efficiency. Its 166 horsepower is up 10 from the old one, and peaks at 5,810 RPMs, with 161 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 RPMs. The 5-speed automatic transmission reads driving habits as it decides on shiftpoints, and cruising speed in fifth gear has been lowered from 2,758 to 2,162 revs, which will improve gas mileage. The revised all-wheel-drive system is primarily front-wheel-drive, but can shift up to 70 percent of total torque to the rear wheels whenever traction gets dicey up front.
If I had a complaint, it would be that there is no available auto-manual shift gate, or steering wheel paddles, with the automatic. Honda apparently wants to make it sportier, but doesnÂ’t want to make it too sporty. The first two versions of the CR-V had a manual 5-speed as a base implement. That is no longer available, simply because fewer than 3 percent of buyers chose it.
The front-wheel-drive base model LX gets the same drivetrain as the upscale EX, and has EPA estimated fuel economy of 23 miles per gallon in city and 30 mpg highway. The all-wheel-drive models are estimated at 22 and 28. Compared to the well-equipped LX, the EX adds a sunroof, alloy wheels and an upgraded audio. Above that is the EX-L, which adds leather upholstery to the EX, and the top model is the EXL-Nav, which adds a navigation system. Prices are in the “low-$20,000 range†for the base model, up to about $26,000 for the EX, with the navigation system, and backup camera video readout, a $2,000 option.
A redone interior takes on the attractiveness first shown in the 2006 Civic models. Larger and more comfortable seats give the driver a height adjustment, and are aimed at reducing fatigue, it creates a pleasant occupant environment. Typically, Honda finds clever ways to use space. The second-row seats, which now fold down in 40/20/40 thirds, can fold and tumble down to a flat floor, and the center backrest folds down independently to be an armrest for the other two. The rear floor lifts and can be reinserted as a shelf, for convenient loading ideas, with the lower part being out of normal view. A 270-watt, 7-spearker audio upgrade is available.
Honda is as good as any company at walking the tightrope between keeping satisfied customers and attracting new ones, and thatÂ’s a major achievement when the existing model already sets such a high standard.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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