Interior Features

Both of these vehicles use premium materials on the inside, and it shows. Both are available with leather or cloth interiors standard, depending on your tastes, and a variety of lovely woodwork trims. The surprise, at least to us, is that the Mercedes runs about $30,000 more than the Lexus, yet offers only three standard interior materials: black, brown, and macchiato leather. If you want one of the 8 other options, like Nappa leather or upholstery, you have to upgrade. Meanwhile, the LS offers you 13 different standard interior material choices, from black stitched leather to palomino leather to white quilt-stitch and more. For space, the Mercedes has marginally more head and legroom in the backseat, but not enough that most people will notice. What we did notice, however, was the way that extra inch came at the expense of cargo space. You'll get 16.9 inches on the Lexus and only 12.9 on the Mercedes, despite the fact the Mercedes is slightly longer and taller than the Lexus. We can't help thinking of this as an issue with careful design. As a driver (or a passenger), you'll enjoy HD radio, bucket seats, leather steering wheel, and many other comfort features standard on both sedans. However, with the LS you get a few extras as standard that aren't available on the Mercedes, like a hands-free liftgate, A/C for your backseat passengers, and a heated steering wheel.