A full-size luxury car is the pinnacle of prestige automobiles. Luxury car manufacturers reserve their best and brightest to craft what most will call the “flagship” model in their lineup. At Lexus, their flagship vehicle is the LS model. While most luxury brands reserve their top-level cars for executives, diplomats, and other high rankings officials, Lexus brings their top model to everyone regarding price point and accessibility. Many people give high marks to Mercedes for setting the standard in the luxury category, but in recent years, Lexus has cemented itself among the greats. Here are five reasons the Lexus LS is one of the best-used luxury cars.

1. The Lexus LS is exceptionally reliable

A fear for many, buying a luxury car usually comes with the headache of replacing and maintaining the expensive machine. Some vehicles have outrageous replacement part prices, like the VW Phaeton and its $1200 timing chain tensioner. But the Lexus brand is backed by Toyota bulletproof reliability. Lexus is a luxury brand of Toyota and was launched with the debut of the LS400. Knowing that your high-dollar luxury vehicle has the same dependability and parts cost as a Corolla brings you peace of mind. The dependability of the Lexus LS is shown by examples like Road&Track’s own Matt Farrah and his million-mile LS400.

2. Price point is unrivaled for its class

It is hard to imagine that cost comes to mind when purchasing a luxury car, but the LS is an incredible value for what it is. Rivals like the Mercedes S-Class start at a steep $111,000 new, while the Audi A8 starts at $86,500. The Lexus LS, on the other hand, starts at $77,535. For this price, you get a vast amount of features as standard, including a heated steering wheel, heated and cooled front seats, a power trunk, and adaptive cruise control. For an additional $17,000, putting it just above the base cost of an A8, you gain heated, cooled, reclining, and shiatsu massaging rear seats and other great features.

3. The Lexus LS provides style without compromise

Many automakers have taken a more subdued approach when it comes to luxury cars. Mixing in a slew of lighting resembling a futuristic movie-esque design is excellent, but something is usually missing. The Lexus LS breaks away from the pack in the design department. Its Spindle grille is rather polarizing amongst the community, but the rest of the car makes up for it. Flowing lines, a classy side profile, and a commanding look set it apart from the S-Class or A8.

4. A warranty that seems far fetched

The Lexus LS reliability means that you are going to avoid making constant trips to the dealer. However, if you happen to run into an issue, there is a great warranty still available on the newer cars that you should take advantage of. Lexus’ powertrain warranty covers the vehicle for 70,000 miles. This type of coverage is unheard of for a luxury car, and BMW or Mercedes will offer a fraction of that. So while the LS isn’t usually your first choice, it is hard to ignore when shopping around for a luxury car.

5. Ahead of its time, the history of the LS

Aside from the Mercedes S-class, the Lexus LS series broke onto the luxury scene with incredible development behind it. Toyota developed the first Lexus LS car, the LS400, with a blank check. This blank check meant the car could (and did) go through 25-plus chassis designs to get the structure right and minimize cabin noise. Each little detail was poured over and redesigned if there was a minor improvement to be made. For the time, the LS400 was a technologically advanced car with a power-tilt and telescoping steering wheel, power-adjusted seatbelts, and even an optional car phone. Unfortunately for the competition, the LS400 brought Lexus to the scene with an explosion rather than a bang.

The Lexus LS defines Japanese luxury

Bringing the Lexus LS to light shows that there are reliable, valued, and respected luxury vehicles out there from automakers aside from Mercedes or Audi. Lexus is in the business of leaving customers with a car they can depend on while also getting the same features as ones that are much more expensive. Therefore, it is almost always worth buying if you can find a used Lexus LS within your budget. Even the first-generation models as they are made to last a lifetime.