The Lexus LS 500h is a brilliantly crafted car. But even in its segment, it is far too pricey

World over, the concept of luxury is not a uniform one. Every nation has a very different idea — one that is crafted in that nation’s own history. That is other than the United States, which doesn’t have that history. Having said that, there are some similar threads, but when it comes to culture, history and thus, luxury, Japan is a slight outlier. For me, as amazing as London and New York are as cities, no other large metropolis on earth is quite like Tokyo. And this allows me to dovetail to the Lexus LS500h. Lexus, for those of you don’t know, is a luxury marque established by the Toyota Motor Company in 1989 to compete with the likes of Mercedes-Benz. These are not Toyota’s in a fancy dress as some earlier models were called. New Lexus vehicles are cars that are independently engineered, designed and have an aesthetic that is completely unique.

While on the LS500h, the ‘h’ standing for hybrid, means that it does share hybrid technology from its parent as well as other elements of the engine and transmission, everything else about the interiors are unique. The quality of craftsmanship is utterly brilliant and the way you could always check that is by running your fingers through the stitching. Believe me, I have driven a couple of luxury brands where the stitching is worse than on some mass-produced cars but this one? Wow! The fabric works on the doors with their perfect geometric fabric patterns, you will not see that on a Rolls-Royce, let alone the kiriko glass ornamentation. Heck, the geometric pattern on the grille came thanks to some complicated design work and not drawing lines with a ruler. You feel as if you are sitting inside a vehicle designed with mathematical equations, and I mean that in a very good way. With the headlights, for example, you think of the design as the perfect slashing of a katana by a samurai master.

Now to the driving, I have never really enjoyed driving cars in this category because honestly, nobody who acquires such a vehicle would ever drive it themselves. This is a car that one is driven around in, just like its competition the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7-series, Audi A8 and Jaguar XJ. Getting into the ‘luxury seat’, diagonally behind the driver, you get to push back the front passenger seat and use an ottoman as well as get all the other nice features such as a massager, screen et al. From a driving point of view, the 354 horsepower engine can drive the car very fast but when you are sitting in the driver's seat, you wish you had white cotton gloves because you do feel like a chauffeur. The hybrid system ensures that you get amazing fuel economy as well, despite having a big, fat V6 motor under the hood.

If you have to arrive in style, this is a great car. The problem is that it is twenty lakh more expensive than its sole competitor in the market, the BMW 745Le, BMW’s hybrid 7-series. Yes, the Teutonic sense of luxury and aesthetics are very different, weirdly enough in terms of modern technology the BMW is slightly better off, the LS500h feels slightly dated. Even a chauffeur would like Apple CarPlay I guess. The combined power output of the BMW is superior and unlike the LS500h, it is a plug-in hybrid.

This is a car you buy because you admire the Japanese aesthetic, because you have walked the streets of Akihabara, because you have experienced both — the practicality and the sensibility of a bento box. There may not be a practical reason to buy this car over the competition, but at `1.82 crore anybody considering this car does not necessarily have practicality on their mind and the aesthetic sense and practical sense are independent of each other. This is a vehicle you buy if you love anything and everything Japanese.