2024 Lexus LS 500h AWD: The Price of Anonymity 

My freshman year at the University of Michigan began in 1983, back when Cadillac and Lincoln still resided at the top of the luxury-car pecking order. One of my abiding memories of move-in weekend was when a W126-generation Mercedes S-Class, the first I’d ever laid eyes on, pulled to the curb outside my dorm and disgorged Mark S., who’d just arrived from Pittsburgh and quickly became a pal. 

Paul G., another guy on my dorm floor, and I bonded over our outsider status. I was from rural Michigan, where a ride in any Cadillac was a rare treat indeed; Paul hailed from the South, and we’d both landed at a school dominated by kids, like Mark S., from the affluent suburbs of the Midwest and East Coast. During one of our many long late-night conversations about socioeconomics and culture, Paul described the delicate line his father, a manufacturing executive, straddled as the manager of a factory in Alabama. “He absolutely cannot drive a Cadillac,” Paul told me, emphatically. “Let alone a Mercedes. They would send the wrong message to the hourly workers.” Instead, his dad drove a Buick.

The Lexus brand and products were barely a twinkle in the collective eye of Toyota at that time, but I recalled Paul’s story after recently spending a few days in a 2024 Lexus LS 500h AWD. If you direct a cursory glance toward the LS, particularly from the rear-three-quarter angle, you might mistake it for a bloated Nissan Altima or Toyota Camry. Which means this sleek but confusingly styled car is just the thing for someone who wants a maximum luxury sedan that doesn’t telegraph Big Money in quite the same way as a Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7-series, or Cadillac Escalade.

Yes, the LS 500h is the perfect car to pull into the executive parking spaces near the factory entrance, or to anchor the lot of your dental practice. Employees and patients will recognize that success leads to a substantial luxury automobile, but they are less likely to perceive that you’ve spent $120K on said car, at a time when you might have just delivered meager annual raises or bumped up your rates on root canals.

2024 Lexus LS 500h AWD

Price: $114,210/$119,380 (base/as-tested)
Powertrain: 3.5-liter, direct-injected, 24-valve DOHC V-6; Hybrid Synergy Drive (two lithium-ion permanent magnet motors)
Output: 354 hp @ 6600 rpm; 257 lb-ft @ 4900 rpm
Layout: Front-engine, 4-door, 5-passenger, all-wheel-drive sedan
Weight: 5093 lbs
EPA-rated fuel economy: 23/31/26 (city/highway/combined) mpg
Competitors: Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7-series, Genesis G90

If, like many Americans, you’re perfectly pleased to allow your automotive choices to reflect your status, there are far better places to drop six figures on a large luxury ride. In terms of driving pleasure, aesthetics, and prestige, this $119,380 silverfish comes up short. As we pointed out the last time we tested an LS, the big Lexus sedan is still most attractive in its entry LS 500 trim, at about $82K. The hybrid LS used to also be in the $80,000 range, but for the 2022 model year, with the introduction of Lexus Teammate, a semi-autonomous driver assistance system, Lexus jacked up the hybrid model’s price by nearly 30 grand, putting this flagship sedan into territory dominated by more attractive options from the usual German suspects.

Nevertheless, if you drive away from your Lexus dealership in a new LS 500h AWD, you will probably do so with a grin on your face, secure in the knowledge that most people, perhaps including the police, will barely notice your existence. Nearly eight years after this fifth-generation LS debuted, its cabin is still as sumptuous and uniquely Japanese as ever. It is a fine place to spend time, whether you’re behind the wheel or in one of the two reclining rear seats. Horizontal metal trim moves across the instrument panel like a peaceful wave. Haku foil trim, a take on an ancient metal-hammering technique, adorns the interior door panels. The carefully pleated and stitched leather is deeply inviting. 

Indeed, the cockpit is designed with elegance and purpose, plus a touch of creative flash, such as the two knobs sticking out of the driver display surround, one of which controls the drive modes. A Hagerty editor likened them to the electrodes protruding from Frankenstein’s head. The speedometer is presented as a digital image, and the colors surrounding it change based on drive mode: comfort, sport, sport plus, and so on. The steering wheel itself is substantial, nicely shaped, and not too thick. 

The hybrid powertrain, consisting of a 24-valve 3.5-liter V-6 and a pair of electric motor generators, delivers total system output of 354 hp through a multi-stage hybrid transmission that mates a four-speed planetary gearset with a continuously variable gearbox to effectively replicate the feel of a 10-speed automatic. The result is a powertrain with surprising verve. Of course we miss the sweet sounds of Lexus’s long-running naturally aspirated V-8, but there’s no denying that the new setup is refined and seamless. Under full-throttle acceleration from 0 to 100 mph, the electric motors wheeeeing for all they’re worth, you might even think you’re driving a sports sedan. 

Pitch this 206-inch-long, 5000-pound beast into a corner, though, and you’ll remember you’re not. The nose is sluggish on turn-in and the steering response from the electric rack is slow. Hey, canyon carving in an LS is best left to the much less expensive ($86K) LS 500 F Sport, anyway. (The F Sport, like all non-hybrid LS models, has a twin-turbo V-6 with 416 hp and 442 lb-ft of torque on tap, not too shabby.) In the LS 500h AWD, it’s all about the quiet cabin and the supple ride, which beats Michigan’s pockmarked pavement into submission. 

During lunch outings in the LS 500h, Hagerty Media colleagues who usually ride shotgun instead made a beeline for the rear of the cabin, there to luxuriate in the sumptuous reclining seats, explore the display screen that unfolds from the center armrest, and bark commands at the chauffeur. If the rear compartment isn’t quite as plush and pampering as the back seat of a Mercedes S-Class, ain’t no one gonna complain. Nor will most passengers quibble about the standard Mark Levinson stereo, which produces rich, all-encompassing sound, in any musical genre, no matter where you are sitting in the car. Too loud, in this case, is just right.

We concede that the trademark Lexus spindle grill has aged well, but have we mentioned that there are prettier executive sedans out there? Including the slinky Genesis G90 which, like the base LS, has lost its naturally aspirated V-8 for a twin-turbo V-6? Yes, the Lexus is exquisitely well made, the quality of its materials evident to the eye and the touch. For a buck twenty, however, there are two other models in the Lexus portfolio we’d much rather have: the deliciously divine LC 500 convertible or the sybaritic new LX700h SUV, which provides all the advantages of the Lexus hybrid powertrain in a more useful and attractive package. But if you want to fly under the radar, the Lexus LS might be your cup of Sencha tea.

2024 Lexus LS 500h AWD

Price: $114,210/$119,380 (base/as-tested)

Highs: Exquisite build quality. Sumptuous materials in the cabin. Killer Mark Levinson audio system. Quiet and supple ride. Confident straight-line acceleration. 

Lows: Too expensive. Not pretty. Lacks prestige. Embarrassingly small trunk.

Takeaway: Subtle it remains, but the Lexus flagship sedan has lost its luster. If you want to buy a six-figure Lexus hybrid, you’ll probably be happier with the new LX600h SUV.