What prince am I? As far as the car is concerned, I don't need a Kia Rio over $20,000 to travel. So, how does it feel to ride a Lexus LS500 that is almost six times the value to get from point A to point B?

This is the core issue of the largest and most luxurious cars Lexus will sell to you. After all, Lexus is fundamentally different from Mercedes-Benz.

Full disclosure: Lexus lent me an LS 500 for weekend road trips worth hundreds of miles. To be precise, being responsible for a car worth $115,175 is a bit sad. It didn't take time to park on my street near Brooklyn, with a tank full of gasoline.

No car works harder to convince you that it's worth it

If you drive an S-class car, or even a Maybach, as I did on a road trip to Maine a few years ago, you are really just an assistant, and the car is the boss. As you know in your heart, Mercedes is the top product of a professional luxury car manufacturer. It is the best. Its functions are carefully selected by the best German engineers and optimized to n-level. When you rest your head on the built-in pillows on the rear seat headrests, you will feel very comfortable, and you know that there is no way to make the built-in pillows on the rear seat headrests more comfortable than the one in this car . This is why you buy a Mercedes-Benz. You trust Mercedes because you know the same is true in other parts of the world.

But what if you kind of want it to be softer or harder? You are violating the entire myth. You were wrong, Mercedes told you.

When you realize that, in fact, it is not really the best of the best, the whole dream of the car is shattered at the seams. It is just another consumer product, just like anything else, even if the budget is high, it is manufactured on a budget. Even the Maybach has been slightly affected in every small aspect. Mercedes will not last forever, nor will it be the ultimate comfort. Nothing.

This is no problem in ordinary cars, but this is Mercedes. After all, what right do you have to question it? Look at the small wreath surrounding the three-pointed star emblem. Do you really think you are greater and smarter than the person who designed this thing? Because of its status as the top car of the top luxury car manufacturer, in Mercedes-Benz, the will of the car is the first; you are the second.

This is not the case with Lexus. After all, everyone knows that Lexus is just a luxury brand under Toyota. There is a quality of the weak, a kind of self-control energy. This is the best and highest quality product Toyota can produce. (That is to say, except for the Toyota Century, which is unique to Japan, it is not a luxury car, but a dignified car designed for conservative heads of state.) Essentially, even this Lexus LS500 is a Toyota Empire’s product, and no matter what, it will stay in your mind forever. You know that this car is 17 feet long, has the same basic functions as the Toyota Corolla, and fits the same company balance sheet.

So how does Lexus justify its price? Well, this is the interesting part. Every part of the car is screaming, and overwork tells you that you are not only in a car, but also in a luxury car. Every inch was spilled with Lexus fairy dust. The rear seat can not only recline, but also heat and cool, and has a massage function. Even with the help of three other people during a long weekend, I couldn't test more massage functions.

You can see Lexus Ls everywhere, as if this car has been reminding you that you are in a Lexus. They are in the headlights. They are in the taillights. Even the door is decorated in a ribbed fabric flap that repeats the Ls shape. Every minute inside LS500, there is another discovery of unexpected features. Almost all cars now have small icons of you and your car driving on the road. In LS500, the image is high-definition, and you can choose your own matching color.

This means that the LS500 is not the car you drive or the car you work for. LS500 is for you. It has a small chip on its shoulder, always trying to surprise you and make you believe it is worthwhile. There are some things in it. If in the final analysis, I would rather become a rich man with an aging LS500 in 10 or 20 years than an aging S-class car. I don't know if I can make it clear that one is more luxurious than the other; anyway, I am not a good judge. The last time I bought a car, I spent a total of US$2,500. I paid 50 dollars. I am not finally deciding which seat will most comfort the ass of the world's super-rich. But I can say that although I respect the S grade, I want LS.

With this in mind, let's look at every quality of this car, starting with the one that is most eager to lie to the face.

The shame of the new LS 500 is that you generously gave all the money to Lexus and you did not get the V8 in return. Instead, you only need a twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 that can produce 416 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque. According to the specs, this is good and uninteresting. Pedestrians, almost. Of course, this Lexus must work very hard to convince you that it actually has no pedestrians, lest you start to question why you need to pay six figures for it. (The absolute cheapest LS 500 starts at just $76,000, but you have no choice and RWD.)

Similarly, the comedy in LS 500 tries to make this V6 special. You have the paddle shifters, which is fun in a 4,905-pound car. If you really switch to sport mode, when you step on the gas pedal, the car will enter the cabin with ridiculous engine noise. PHWOOAAAAAR It yelled through the speakers, and you did a pretty terrible 4.6 second 0-60 run. It's not that it's not fun; it's funny. The last thing anyone hopes for a full-size Lexus luxury sedan is to make the revs red and the car pretends that it actually sounds like a Le Mans prototype, which is really stupid.

I must also mention that this car does not have a "sports" mode, it has a "sports S" mode and the above "sports S" mode. What does the extra S stand for? Sports plus? This happens when you are superfluous.

Just as new automakers like to talk about how their minivans or electric cars have some kind of "living room concept" that mimics the family, the interior of the LS 500 is indeed a good place. Several times during the weekend, I found myself just... hanging out there. The $1,000 double skylight keeps the black interior not too dark, the seat is more comfortable than your sofa, the sound system is good, and the dashboard with grooves is beautifully decorated. This is a nice place.

Lexus also decided to break into a restaurant in New Jersey, steal some of their mirrored metal exterior walls under the glass, and stick them on the door handles. I don't know why Lexus would do this, but it feels very warm. This brought me back to my childhood, visiting my grandparents in Fort Li, and drinking some unleavened bread soup.

The front is pleasant and the back is spongy. This is not a luxury car; you are not at a Bentley. It is not entirely elegant or stylish. The pipes in the seats are far from simple or modern as I call them. However, this is a very relaxing place, with acres of space even for people over 6 feet. There is also a comedy where you can scroll through how many features.

I made excuses to drive people to perform any errands they needed to run, just to see if they could run out of different modes to try. Every time someone is surprised at something. My girlfriend's mother's dog eventually changed the radio station, and a paw was placed on the centrally mounted touch screen.

All of these are not cheap. The massage function and the hand-pleated interior are all part of the "executive package", priced at US$23,580.

This Lexus is equipped with optional 20" wheels for $920. Is it really much better to ride than Corolla? It is! It is true. This is not the soft, elegant quality of the worn Crown Victoria, nor is it easy to ride. Slaughter, but you do feel completely cut off from the business of tires touching the ground.

This car allows you to take full advantage of its capabilities. I'm not looking for potholes, but I like cruising on rough roads, just like I like looking for country roads, having the opportunity to hear the roar of fake engines and being pressed behind my huge leather seats.

The EPA's evaluation of this matter is rather inconspicuous 21 MPG, which must be attributed to the 10-speed automatic transmission. You can choose to get this thing as a hybrid car, if you get an RWD model, it can get you up to 26 MPG or 28 MPG. I don’t know why you worry about fuel economy when you need a premium. I am not the target market for this car.

Let me add that the trunk is huge.

Just like the car itself cannot escape without reminding you, it is different, special and fully worthwhile in all aspects at all times, so the design of the car can also justify its name and price. Each panel has creases, and each character row has chrome accents. This is not the most introverted car, but it is also not the most introverted car.

I don't want it to pretend otherwise. The whole look works for me.

All I can say is that I was fascinated by the LS 500. I have never taken a car that works so hard, telling me it's worth it. Rolls-Royce feels less committed to this. You may buy more luxury cars, I'm just not sure if there are more attractive cars.

In 2021, a car worth $115,000 will be equipped with this instrument cluster. In 2021, a car worth $115,000 is equipped with a gooseneck suitcase. In 2021, a car worth $115,000 will be fitted with a grille.

That grille, on a car worth $115,000, forever.

I don’t know who is this car for. After getting off the Harley car, the successful dentist in PT? The owner of a successful mattress franchise?

In this review, you mentioned Maybach, Mercedes S-Class, Rolls Royce and Toyota Corolla. Only one of these cars had a grille close to the vulgarity of the one on this Lexus, and it was not European.