Wooing and winning over significant numbers of upscale-car buyers has been a successful venture for Toyota’s premium brand and the latest GS series should literally accelerate this trend despite being down a couple of cylinders.
Why? Well, for one thing the 2013 GS, which is slated for a February debut, is leading Lexus out of the design doldrums where, along with many of its stable mates, the car has been.
Nothing overly radical mind you, since the 2013 GS shares a number of physical and mechanical components with its 2012 counterpart, but at both ends the revisions are obvious. The reshaped nosepiece displays a large air intake below the grille with additional side intakes that also serve as fog-light housings. The confluence of shapes and angles at the business end might not rank as an artistic tour de force, but it’s certainly character building and that will help you spot the GS in a parking lot.
The starting-point GS 350 rings in at stout $54,000, including destination costs, which is about the same as the outgoing model, while the F Sport will likely sticker in the vicinity of $61,500.
The hybrid is estimated in the mid-$70,000 range to start.
That’s a lot of cabbage, but this is still life in the fast lane with the GS well within sight of other luxury competitors and their six-cylinder offerings.
Out with the V-8
What will likely go unnoticed is the lack of a V-8 option, leaving the GS 350 and the gasoline-electric hybrid GS 450h as the only models. The V-8 GS 460 cost an additional $11,400 over and above the GS 350 when it last appeared in Canada for the 2010 model year and was never a big seller. Its relatively poor fuel economy also didn’t help. Replacing the GS 460 is the V-6 F Sport that has its own front clip, mesh grille, body trim, 19-inch wheels and variable suspension and steering systems that continuously adjust to road conditions and driver inputs.
In with the V-6
It might have a V-6, but the GS 350 is hardly slow. It can scoot to 100 km/h from zero in a Lexus-reported 6.3 seconds, which is a tick more than the second-generation GS 450h that arrives later in the 2012 model year. That model should be the undisputed hot rod in the bunch. What V-8?
The V-6 has been updated with direct fuel injection whereby gas is more accurately metered directly into the combustion chambers.
Transmission
The F Sport uses the same carryover 306-horsepower 3.5-litre V-6 as the standard GS 350. It’s connected to a six-speed automatic transmission that “blips” the throttle for smoother downshifts (called rev matching). Compared to the GS 350, the F Sport adds a level to the standard driver-selectable operating mode that firms up the suspension and sharpens the steering.
