2019 Lexus LS F Sport Review - Luxury With a Twist

The days of the stately, sedate, and silent luxury provided by the Lexus LS are over.

As it’s done with virtually every vehicle in its lineup, Lexus has made an F Sport trim available. Whether this is done to combat the stereotype of Lexus as staid or to give well-heeled buyers a chance to have their cake and eat it too, or both, I don’t know. I do know that whatever spring the F Sport puts in the LS’s step, it’s still more of a luxury cruiser than an all-out flagship sports sedan. And that’s not a bad thing.

Take the key to a so-equipped LS, and you’ll find that the initial experience is still what one expects from this car. Quiet interior, smooth-as-silk ride, artificial and light steering.

A switch of a knob to put the car into Sport S or Sport S+ livens things up, and suddenly the LS becomes moderately fun to dance with an on-ramp, though it doesn’t fully change the car’s character. It’s still a mile-eating freeway machine, just with a bit of a wild side. The ride gets a bit firmer, the steering a little tighter, the throttle slightly more responsive, but you never forget it’s a nearly 5,000-pound luxury machine.

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No matter what mode you pick, acceleration isn’t much of an issue, thanks to a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 making 416 horsepower and 446 lb-ft of torque. There’s a 10-speed automatic transmission getting that power to all four wheels via an AWD system with a limited-slip center differential.

There’s more to freeway cruising than just big power or a mostly supple (but occasionally firm, especially in the Sport S modes) ride. Noise, or lack thereof, plays a big part, and like many an LS of yore, the modern car is nice and isolated from outside racket, even with the F Sport intent.

Plentiful legroom, check. Plentiful headroom, also check. Comfortable back seat that almost makes you wish you weren’t driving? Oh yeah.

Flagship luxury cars are expected to be well-equipped, and the LS F Sport is no exception. Standard features include rain-sensing wipers, Lexus Safety System Plus 2.0 (cyclist/pedestrian detection, lane-keep assist, lane-departure warning, and automatic high beams), road-sign assist, 19-inch wheels, LED lighting, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, navigation, Apple CarPlay, Lexus Enform apps, Wi-Fi, satellite radio, leather seats, heated steering wheel, wood interior trim, power trunk, moonroof, and Bluetooth.

The F Sport package adds a rear diffuser, various styling cues, six-piston front brake calipers with 15.7-inch rotors, four-piston rear brake calipers with 14.1-inch rotors, adaptive variable suspension, “ultrasuede” headliner, interior F Sport badging, aluminum pedals, and “sliding” gauges.

Other options included 20-inch wheels, a F Sport version of the heated steering wheel, head-up display, and Mark Levinson premium audio.

All this, for under six figures!

For the well-heeled CEO who wants a luxury cruiser with true attitude, I’d recommend the BMW M8. That’s because, as of now, there’s no Lexus LS F. The F Sport doesn’t truly get down and dirty at the flip of a switch, but it does become more entertaining.

It’s notable that F Sport’s only mechanical changes are the adaptive variable suspension, the 20s, and the beefier brakes. This car remains the choice of the more buttoned-down. It’s just better at letting its hair down than the regular LS is.

That will work for some of you C-suite types. The ones who want to be coddled while commuting but who occasionally need to blow off some steam on that one on-ramp, right before settling down in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

If the mission is luxury with a twist, Lexus has done well. We’d still love to see an LS F, though.

[Images © 2020 Tim Healey/TTAC]