Touch and talk
The Lexus LS also gets Lexus’ new infotainment system and says goodbye to the touchpad on its center console. You can now operate the system with your voice or by touching the new 12.3-inch screen. In addition, the LS gets more USB ports and the wireless version of Apple Carplay and Android Auto.
Lexus has held on to infotainment control from the center console for quite some time. Previously you had to do it with a movable ‘mouse’, later a touchpad replaced it. But that too disappears in the current batch of Lexuses. The new system of the brand, which debuted in the NX, recently also came to the UX and which is expressed through a 12.3-inch screen, you operate by touching the screen or by talking to it. For the latter you need to address it with ‘hey Lexus’.
Because the touchpad on the center console thus becomes superfluous, space was created for physical buttons. If you order an LS from now on, you will find the new controls for the seat heating, among other things. You previously switched it on or off from that place (with a few buttons below the touchpad), only the layout and the number of buttons for it were different.
Model year update
The new infotainment system also offers access to Apple Carplay and Android Auto, just like before, but can now connect wirelessly. Nevertheless, Lexus chose to equip the car with more USB ports: from now on you will find six.
That’s all that changes with this mild model year update. The rest of Lexus’ top sedan remains unchanged. The car was originally introduced in 2017 and received a facelift in 2020, so we expect it to be with us for a few more years in its latest non-touchpad form. Prices for the Lexus LS start around €140,000.
From now on no touchpad under the stick, but a slightly more extensive button cluster than before for, among other things, the seat heating.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl