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Living it up in the luxurious Lexus LS430

Few of us will ever or be able to afford the 2004 Lexus LS430 at its as-tested price of $70,000-plus. But sometimes it’s fun to drive these expensive cars and share the experience, as well as the practical knowledge for those with the do-re-mi.

So understand: This luxury sedan is among the finest cars I have ever driven, combining rear-wheel-drive power, luxury, smoothness, comfort and quiet in as subtle a package as I have seen.

From its newly raked front grille to the whispering twin exhausts, the 430 takes a quietly aggressive stance that only hints at its power and belies its interior comforts. This is a car to go head to head with the best from Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Jaguar, and BMW.

And, 16 years after the LS first came to these shores, it comes with a virtually unrivaled reputation for reliability, having been top ranked, for nine years running, in the J.D. Power and Associates Vehicle Dependability Study for premium luxury vehicles.

It is powered by a 4.3-liter, 32-valve, V-8 aluminum engine that delivers 290 horsepower and a truck-like 320 lb.-ft. of torque. It gets very respectable mileage and earns a green badge for its ultra-low emissions vehicle rating.

The power plant is hooked to a six-speed sequential shift automatic transmission — one more gear than in the past — that was wonderfully smooth in automatic form, fun to drive when I chose to ride the ratios by hand. Its logic control system senses climbs and descents and holds gears when needed, downshifts when necessary.

The power train delivered a quiet, smooth, powerful ride. At stops, it was hard to tell the engine was running. The car does 0-60 in under six seconds and this two-ton sedan, in hard acceleration, bolted forward, pushing the driver back into the seat.

And what was perhaps most remarkable about this car was that it was all done in wonderful quiet. A gentle burble from the twin exhausts here, a whisper of wind there, and that was it for noise.

The steering was light and surgical. Gentle touches on the wheel would yield soft drifts, easy lane changes, whatever was demanded.

In highway passing, there was absolutely no body roll. In hard cornering, seat bolsters to keep occupants from sliding sideways seemed to do more work than a suspension system keeping the car hard and flat through the arc.

The suspension is a double wishbone all-around, tuned for anti-lift up front, anti-squat in the rear. Both ends get coil springs, monotube gas-filled shocks, and anti-roll bars. Emergency stops are no problem for disc brakes more than a foot in diameter.

Inside, the Lexus is a den of delight. Rich leather seats, precise stitching, glistening walnut, and lots of head and leg room give it a luxo-limo feel. The driver’s seat has 14 power adjustments. Electronic memory takes care of the driver’s s eat position, steering wheel position, shoulder belt, and outside mirrors.

Standard safety features — you wouldn’t want to leave an estate beholden to payments on this buggy — include dual front air bags, front seat-mounted side impact air bags, front and rear curtain airbags, and front knee airbags. Set these off and you’ll feel like you’re on a date with the Michelin man.

The 430 also comes with ABS with electronic brake assist, traction control, and side impact door beams.

In addition, its Pre-Collision System detects objects that threaten the car and, if it decides a collision is coming, tightens the front seat belts before impact and readies the brakes to apply extra force as soon as they are touched.

And all of this before we started getting really, really expensive, jumping to $71,000 from $55,000, mostly by opting for a package ($11,320) that includes the Mark Levinson audio/navigation system, hands-free telephone technology, r ar camera, dynamic laser cruise control, air suspension, manual rear door shades, power rear seats with slide adjusters and memory, a control panel in the center arm rest, parking assist, front and rear climate control with heated/cooled seats, separate rear air conditioning, headlight washer, and swiveling rear reading lamps.

When one of my kids yelled from the back seat that they had just pushed a button and the seat was growling, I thought it was a joke, then realized it was just the built-in back massager.