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The Lincoln MKT I drove last week parked itself, and the Lexus LS600h L I’m testing this week does the same. The difference is the Ford system only could do parallel parking while the Lexus’ can do regular “parking lot” parking as well. The Ford system is easier to use, though, while the Lexus system has limitations and is more complex; the winner here is the Ford system, and hopefully Lexus simplifies its self-park setup.
But you do not buy a car like this because it can park itself, you buy it to drive or to ride in, probably on longer journeys and on the highway. The highway is really where the LS600h L shines as you soak up the miles in comfort. Travelling 60km/h or 120km/h, the noises heard inside the cars are identical — there simply is no road or wind noise.
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At 120km/h the engine turns a paltry 1,100 rpm, barely enough to keep it idling. In the city, once the car is warmed up you can sneak along easily on battery only and achieve excellent fuel consumption in this rather large and heavy sedan with a 5.0-litre V8!
There are three available suspension settings: normal, comfort and sport. I have been leaving the vehicle in comfort for the most part. A quick switch to sport proved to me that the suspension became stiffer and potholes and cracks in the road were felt, while in comfort mode, which feels slightly softer than normal mode, those same manhole covers I ran over in sport mode seemed to disappear — the suspension is one of the softest I have ever enjoyed.
Acceleration and braking in this big sedan are achieved much like everything else is done in this vehicle — with zero drama. None of the quirks from less expensive hybrids exist in this vehicle. The engine starts and stops unbeknownst to the driver or passengers and the braking system feels “normal” with no way to discern regenerative braking from friction-based braking.
No drama certainly is the name of the game here: mash the accelerator to the floor (which by the way is hinged at the bottom so it cannot get stuck on a mat) and the LS600h L just marches forward, no jerky downshift and surges of noise and power, just smooth push-you-back-in-your-seat acceleration as you watch the speedo swing around the dial and a little touch of V8 roar soothes your senses.
