Motoring
The pleasure principle
Alan Judd
Spectator readers being thinking hedo- nists with a lively appreciation of life's little luxuries, this month brings another in the occasional series of reports on prestigious luxury saloons. In The Spectator of 30 December 1995 I reported on the £73,450 BMW 750iL, while the issue of 23 March 1996 cast a caressing hand over Bentley's £143,268 snip, the awesome Turbo R. This month it's Toyota's £46,630 Lexus LS400, with Jaguar and Mercedes to come — If they dare. Inexperience of Lexus did not, of course, mean that I was at all lacking in preconcep- tions and prejudice. Rumour and report led me to expect something mechanically faultless but bland to look at and boring 63 drive, something entirely without that elu- sive quality 'character'. Well, I was right about the mechanics. The four-litre Vi! engine and the four-speed 'intelligent' automatic gearbox made for the quietest and smoothest ride of any car I've driven. It is so uncannily quiet that anyone with the slightest hearing defect would just have to trust to the rev counter to know it's going, while you can sit with your hand on the gear-selector and rev as much as you like and feel no vibration at all. There s nothing cosmetic or gimmicky about mak- ing a car as quiet as this; absence of noise and vibration means that all journeys, espe- cially long ones, are less tiring. After four hours of motorway driving I felt fresh and relaxed. Its claimed 155 mph top speed and 0-60 time of 7.4 seconds I take on trust but I can more or less vouch for its overall fuel con- sumption of about 25 mpg. I can't say how it takes corners at speed since I can't get out of the habit of slowing down for them, but its handling qualities would certainly exceed the demands of most drivers.
As for my other preconceptions, I didn't — contrary to expectations — find its lines boring and undistinguished. It is understat- ed enough not to be a vandal-magnet, yet its shape bespeaks quality and a quiet, restrained purpose. It grows on you, just like the driving of it. It's a large car (though smaller than the BMW or Bentley) that looks and feels compact. Inside, there is the usual plethora of adjustables that you expect with such cars but it did seem reasonably straightforward (unless I'm getting better at it). The radio, cassette and CD controls (all standard and very good) do not call for a degree in com- puting science or for 2.5 matchstick-sized fingers on each hand. Crucially, the Con- nolly hide seats can be easily adjusted to a comfortable driving position with variable lumbar support, though once again the car would not allow a hat (it might have, with- out the sunroof). There appeared to be no trip computer on the one I drove — unless I failed to identify it — but neither were there any distracting superfluities like tele- vision or radar. The dials were clearly illu- minated white on black and the cockpit as a whole felt ergonomically considerate. There was less room in the back than in the longer wheelbase BMW (no adjustable seats, either) and anyone of six feet or over who wants to be chauffeured might get a stiff neck. The main drawback of the interi- or, however, was that on the one I tested the grey leather (? — it was hard to tell) covering the dashboard was made to resemble the sort of dappled plastic you expect in an Astra van. It looked cheap and it jarred, because nothing else did. A rough harvest of knobs, dials, switches, buttons, levers handles etc., front and back, yielded 86 (excluding the radio), which compares with the BMW's 129 and the Bentley's commendably frugal 70. I soon became a convert to (and bore on the subject of) the outside temperature gauge. Depreciation, according to the books, is slight compared with the competition.
`Character' is an elusive quality in cars and I suspect it is born in the engineering imagination of the designer. It certainly cannot be added and is rarely achieved when striven for. To my surprise, I think this Lexus has it. I enjoyed driving it more than I'd thought; it feels absolutely trust- worthy and safe, but discreetly potent; it gives pleasure. If I had to sum up its char- acter in a word, it would be 'obliging'. It is likely to be better value for money than most (it is still unfair to say all) of its rivals. I don't know whether I'd buy it if I were in that league — I'd probably do something much sillier — but when they forgot to pick it up on the day arranged, it took some stern moral effort to remind them.
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