Having owned an LS400 and an LS430 for 17 years, I was tempted away from the brand by a Range Rover Sport HSE. After 17 months I am now back to a 2009 LS600hL with which I am delighted apart from the integration with my phone and iPod.
I paid £200 to have an iPod connection installed by the Lexus dealer in Southampton but am now being told by the Bradford dealership that the connection will basically charge my iPod Touch and little else. I am unable to control the player from the car and in fact I can control it better from the AUX input in the central glove box. To pay £200 for something that could be done by a £15 aftermarket power connection is ridiculous.
The bigger problem is connecting to the iPohone (4S) Whilst it connects via the Blutooth and can receive and send calls, it doesn't load the phone directory so calls have to be initiated from the phone itself (not really handsfree!) it doesn't display the identity of incomming calls, it doesnt store recent numbers, etc., etc. All of these functions and more were abley performed by my Range Rover of exactly the same age. As the Range Rover is almost 1/2 the price of the LS600 I am very dissapointed. Surely the LS should be better than this.
Otherwise I am happy with the LS which is an amazingly comfortable car and even coped with the recent snow thanks to the 4 wheel drile (unlike the LS400 and LS430 previously!).
Any suggestions to improve the iPod/iPhone situation would be gratefully received.