Lexus GS 350 F Sport Quick Review

Lexus has long-promised an alternative to European luxury sedans, but never quite delivered in terms of styling and performance. With the GS series, however, they’ve made great inroads in winning over the biggest badge snobs, particularly with the gutsy features packed Lexus GS 350 F Sport

TELL ME ABOUT THIS CAR

Lexus totally ditched the beige and turned heads with its F Sport series including the IS F sports sedan and the brutish RC F V8 coupe. It now offers an F Sport version to most models across its range, including its large sports sedan, the GS, which combines big-car luxury with ‘race-inspired thrills’. First introduced in 2012, the second generation GS series has had a bit of a refresh and comes with four engine types including a 2.0-litre four cylinder turbo, a 2.5-litre hybrid, 3.5-litre V6 hybrid and the 3.5-litre V6 found in the GS 350. Of the four, the GS 350 F Sport probably best lives up to Lexus’ goal to produce a ‘fully-fledged grand-touring sports sedan’.

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STRENGTHS

• Lexus’ 3.5-litre V6 engine direct injection petrol engine produces 232kW with 380Nm of torque and does 0-100km/h in 6.0 seconds. It’s tried and tested but by no means tired.
  
  
• Multiple driving settings including Eco, Normal. Sports, Sports +, Customised Sports and Snow which change
  
  
• Eight-speed automatic transmission with sequential and paddle shift
  
  
• Active variable suspension
  
  
• Dynamic, rear-wheel steering that reduces steering effort at low speed while increasing stability when you put the foot down.
  
  
• A full suite of active safety features including radar active cruise control, lane keeping and steering assist, pre-collision braking and blind spot monitor with rear cross traffic alert.
  
  
• A comprehensive multimedia system featuring a panoramic 12.3-inch multimedia display, advanced Bluetooth™ capabilities* and music pumped through an epic 17-speaker Mark Levinson sound system.
  
  
• Head-up display featuring navigation instructions.
  
  
• Quality and aesthetically pleasing interior finishes
  

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WEAKNESSES

• It’s a little thirsty. Lexus reckons it averages 9.7 litres/100kms, but we nudged 12.0 litres/100kms with a lot of freeway driving. You wouldn’t spend more than $100,000 to then drive around in Eco mode.
  
  
• The screen controls are a little cumbersome and fiddly.
  
  
• The back seat is a little tight for anyone on the tall side
  
  
• From behind it looks like a Camry
  
  

ANY RIVALS I SHOULD CONSIDER?

The $104,000 drive-away price includes everything, with Lexus believing a car like this should require no further enhancements.

It is in the same league as the Audi A6, BMW-535i and Jaguar XF-S but none of them can offer this much in terms of performance and technology for the price.