Self-parking Lexus?

By: Joe Ratzkin

Even the best drivers find it a challenge to do a parallel parking. So how about a car that promises to park itself? Toyota's Lexus Division claims that its new $75,000 Lexus LS can do just that. Auto experts at Consumer Reports sized it up to see if it can get poor parkers into a tight spot.

The new Lexus LS guarantees to come to the rescue when it is time to do a parallel parking; thanks to its feature that claims to let the car virtually park itself.

Jake Fisher of Consumer Reports checked out the automatic parking feature. His feedback was that he first got lined to the front of the car like one would normally in parallel parking; then he put it in reverse and chose the parallel park feature. He pointed the place where he really wanted to park. And he was amazed that he hit okay using no hands when the screen turns green.

The feature is definitely designed for people who have trouble parking. So Consumer Reports signed up Ina Gozenpud, a self-described "parallel-parking disaster," to do some attempts on it.

According to her, she really could not park her car. But after 20 minutes of maneuvering, Jake decided that it was time for Gozenpud to do parking attempts to the Lexus.

Initially, they find it hard to put the car's relative position to the curb. But the Lexus did deliver, after Gozenpud got the hang of it, easing into the spot just inches from the curb.

Gozenpud told Fisher that the Lexus feature definitely helped.

However, Fisher said that using the electronics is a bit difficult. He commented that the self-parking feature is really for someone who is more comfortable in programming their iPod than backing into a parallel spot.

And of course, expect a price as mush as $75,000.

According to Consumer Reports, the $75,000 Lexus LS has still more to offer other than just an amazing self-parking feature. It got excellent ratings in tests; thanks to its 380 horsepower and the first eight-speed automatic transmission.

The Lexus brand was established in the early 1980s and launched in 1989. It soon became associated with quality, luxury and superior customer satisfaction. The brand reliably grew quickly until (barely 12 years after it was founded) Lexus became America's best-selling line of luxury motor vehicles.

Lexus belongs to the global Toyota family, whose members together form part of the world's third-leading automaker.

The marques make top of the line .

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