The ultimate in motoring luxury

Lexus, for all its sloganeering about its "Passionate Pursuit of Perfection", clearly has a flaw: that slogan.

Wiser heads may have prevailed at the Japanese luxury marque as now I see just "Pursuit of Perfection" appearing on billboards advertising the new longer-wheelbase 460L alongside the 405 Freeway. Less alliteration is more, after all.

I'd have none of it. Judging by the incredible 460L I drove recently for a bliss-filled week, I'd call it "Lexus' Lap of Luxury", which I think is much catchier and more adequately sums up what this car company is all about: Overtaking BMW and Mercedes. I'm just kidding.

Lexus's lap is a particularly luxurious place to be and the 460L flagship sedan does not disappoint  - praise that I remember lavishing on its sister models 430GS Hybrid and 350IS in reviews gone by. This Lexus is no different, from its ridiculously roomy and near silent cabin to its acceleration and accomplished ride and handling, a joy to step in and out of in every way.

Wow. So what's wrong with it?  Apart from the slogan?  Well, for now, I couldn't seem to get the much-hyped self-parking system to work. Which means I. Had. To. Park. Myself. Oh the horror.

That the car's natty rear-view camera by way of a technological marvelosity steered me into a tricky reverse park guided by red and green lines and an object-sensing bleep is beside the point. I couldn't just pull the car alongside where I wanted to park, press a button and let the car do it for itself in about 50 seconds or so.

But assuming the self-parking  does work as touted, it looks like   it won't be the last in these technical innovations as more upscale marques seek innovative  ways to attract the massive amounts of liquidity freely floating around the economy.

Longer wheelbase means more luxury

Looks good from front and back

So I took the Lexus everywhere that I possibly could, squeezing enjoyment out of it much as the slightest prod of the accelerator was met with punchy acceleration delivered in smoother-than-smooth increments through the gears.

It didn't seem as quick as the lightning-fast 430GS, though their 0-60mph times are  the same at 5.4 seconds. But this is luxury, after all, and why should the chauffeur benefit from any more speed? Seeing as he now doesn't even have to trouble to park it.

On that note, some have questioned whether the 460L is all that fun to drive but here the argument is self-defeating. You've generally gotta be pretty well on to be able to afford the near $90,000 price tag (including tax and most options) for the 460L and I'm just not sure the average buyer has performance or super-sharp handling in mind.  Save the GS series for that.

This is an 8-cylinder, 380-horsepower tank that moves seamlessly through its, count 'em, eight gears, a production-car first, and straightens out the worst of your ingrained bad driving habits with its myriad electronic gizmos from stability control to multi-link suspension to its vehicle dynamics system (VDIM).

Beautiful ergonomics

We think this picture says it all

I saw a good few of these on LA roads, perhaps not surprisingly, standing out with a gorgeous back end with great-looking dual exhausts and, from the side, a rear pillar that seems to take the famous BMW Hofmeister kink and curl it upwards with a devilish tweak.  Headlights from the side also look distinctly like a BMW but from the front they hold the line from  the number plate and front grille and snap it round into the swooping sides. It even has the tail-lift from the 5-series. Maybe.

I only saw the car in pearl, gray and black but it looked fantastic each time out.  It could be the elongated wheelbase that gives a an extra six inches back legroom compared with its predecessor. There are vanity mirrors and little airline tables and footrests in the back, which you can enjoy from one of the most well-appointed interiors out there. All of the wood, Lexus boasts, comes from the same tree to assure sameness of trim.  There's also DVD in the back and a thumping 450-watt Mark Levinson sound-system. There's also live traffic update on the sat-nav.

And you can store more than 10,000 songs or 8GB - on the in-car  memory system. Why, why why hasn't this reached mass production yet? It's ultra-cheap to insert and can attract new buyers to forecourts.

Gas is good at 18 and 27 town and freeway and its basic four-year, 50,000-mile warranty sits nicely alongside its six-year 70,000-mile powertrain guarantee.

That ought to keep you feeling snug in your Lexus' lap of luxury.

All-new redesign and longer wheelbase

Parked alongside a Grand Prix sign in Long Beach

Wraparound headlights and grille