I went to the Taste of Lexus event yesterday, and had the chance to drive the new LS460L, as well as every other Lexus model except the LX470 and GX470. Man what a beauty!!! Too bad the course was so short, and they only had the ones with regular suspension available to drive. There was one with adjustable air suspension and active roll control on the floor, but it wasn't available to test drive. Never the less, the car is gourgeous. Everything is so well done and straight forward, all the controls, everything. I love the fact that you can actually use every interior feature, including radio, ac, seats, transmission mode, etc, etc without using the navi screen, and complicated i-Drive like controls. In fact, you can have the screen completely turned off, its required for navigation only. They had a 750IL and S550 there for comparison, and their systems are just plain confusing. The i-Drive is bad, but the MB system is even worse. And I love the fact, that LS460 retains an actual transmission shifter unlike the BMW and Benz.
Anyway, to the driving, like I said the course was disappointing, it was too short, and barely had any straight portion to test accelearation very well. When I floored it, and the car took off smoothly, didn't quite have a torque surge I was expecting, but as RPM rose the thing propelled like a jet!!! In comparison the S550 takes off the line with much more torque, but doesn't have the high end like the LS460. The 750 was dog slow and dated in comparison to both. I wish they would have an Audi S8 there for comparison, it is one gorgeous car, but they didnt
Handling wise, the LS leaned and rolled in your typical Lexus fashion, but gripped the road very well. The S550 and 750 felt much more in control, but it wasn't really a fair comparison because S550 and 750 were equipped with air suspension and active suspension, while the LS had base suspension.
The one thing that kind of let me disappointed with the LS, is that it very reluctant to downshifting. I took it around a curve, and floored it, and it took a while for it to decide to downshift. While the shift itself was instaneous and smooth, the delay before the downshift is annoying. I thought with the 8 speed transmission it would downshift more often and much faster. It also allows you to shift manually - an option that I didn't have enough time to explore, but it seems that manually you can only use four gears, not eight. But like I said before, the course was damn short, and If I wanted to drive the car again, I would have to wait in line again, and the lines were kind of long. So I only had the patience to wait twice.
On the other hand the course for GS and IS models was great, it had a long stretch followed by some sharp curves. The IS350 was a total friggin blast, I came out of it with my brain spinning backwards, I pulled some major G's around the curves. And the GS450h is just badass fast, its freaking hilarious to watch it take off, it's whole front lifts up from all that torque. After I left the even, I lined up my GS430 against a GS450h, just outside of the gate, parallel to the course, and we both gunned it, and I got my ass spanked, lol.