Dan Neil really is my favorite writer. Who else could begin a car review with:
PROPOSED: The Lexus LS600h L is the most complicated, most elaborate machine ever to take to four wheels. What “Ulysses” is to light reading and Confucianism is to the simple declarative sentence, this hybrid-powered limousine is nothing less than everything Toyota has ever learned about cars poured into one stupendous, stupefying, “because we can” performance piece.
I’m willing to entertain contrary opinions. Is a Formula 1 car more high-tech, more highly engineered? These are extraordinary confections, it’s true — all aero-optimized carbon fiber and ballistic engines — but in terms of the sheer number of parts, subsystems, processors and electronics, an F1 car is a Babylonian goat cart compared to the mega-Lexus. The LS600h L, just as a for instance, monitors the driver’s face with infrared beams and detects if he or she is nodding off. This system seems prudent, since the car is so smooth, so honeyed with refinement, with such a gliding, lighter-than-air ride, that a deep coma only ever seems just a few exits away.
The car has everything: “You can fine-tune the loudness of the Lexus’ door lock-unlock beep;” or “rear seating with a climate-controlled ottoman recliner with shiatsu massage function.”