Expanding its hyper-performance F sub-brand is an important step in Lexus’ continued progression as a Tier 1 premium brand,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
and while the Japanese luxury division has contracted this process somewhat with the (hopefully) temporary loss of its IS F sport sedan, it has certainly grown out F prospects in other categories, particularly the new RC F super coupe that I reviewed a couple of months ago (which even includes a race-spec RC F GT3 variant) and this mid-size GS F super sedan.
The GS F puts Lexus in rarified company, alongside the legendary BMW M5, Mercedes-Benz’ nearly as well recognized E63 AMG, Audi’s S6 and Cadillac’s less known but nevertheless very respectable CTS-V. Of note, Jaguar has bowed out of the mid-size uber sedan race by eliminating its XFR/XFR-S, but Alfa Romeo is just introducing us to its new Giulia Quadrifoglio, although it’s a slightly smaller model than
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
the usual E-segment competitor, yet a bit larger than the D-segment “compacts” occupied by the M3, C63, ATS-V, and (finger’s crossed) future IS F. I’d also be remiss not to mention Tesla and its outrageously powerful Model S P90D, as it easily out-accelerates all of the above.
I called this group rarified company because a number of premium models that would normally be considered competitors in the mid-size E-segment are glaringly missing from this list, such as the aforementioned Jag as well as a performance-tuned Infiniti Q70 (the Q50 Eau Rouge, which would’ve made more sense, never materialized), whereas Acura, Buick, Lincoln and Volvo don’t really have direct competitors in the E-segment at all (the RLX, LaCrosse, MKS, and S60/S80
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
are mid-size to large sedans based on front-drive architectures, more akin to the Lexus ES 350). It should also be noted that Maserati’s Ghibli, even in top-line SQ4 trim, just barely breaks the 400 horsepower threshold, whereas wannabe luxury hopeful Hyundai and its Genesis 5.0 Ultimate (soon to be rebranded as the Genesis G80) puts 420 horsepower down to its rear wheels; of note the Chrysler 300 SRT that died a quiet death last year (RIP) might have been considered near premium alongside that Genesis, although the platform sharing Charger SRT, even in outrageous 707 horsepower Hellcat trim, can’t really be considered a luxury model despite having most of the trimmings and a window sticker nearing $80k.
So where does this GS F fit in? By the numbers the $95,000 super sedan makes 467
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
horsepower and 389 lb-ft of torque for a 4.7-second sprint to 100km/h, from a direct-injected 5.0-litre V8, eight-speed automatic transmission with paddles and rear-wheel drive combination, easily meriting it inclusion in this ultra-quick four-door class. You can even get it in bright orange Solar Flare paint as can be seen from the photos, this notice-me hue doing its best to satisfy the Lamborghini crowd and certainly garnering its fair share of stares from passersby.
While wonderfully powerful and dutifully fast the GS F isn’t the quickest amongst its peers, this revered honour earned by that all-electric Tesla Model S P90D that’ll do the zero to 100km/h deed in 3.0 seconds flat thanks to 532 horsepower and 713 lb-ft of torque from twin motors front and rear (yes, that’s about the same straight-line performance as that insanely fast Charger Hellcat noted above). Of course,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
the top-line Tesla will cost you near $150,000 (before incentives), so let’s be fair in this comparo and keep the price closer to the $100k mark. On that note, Audi’s S6 manages a very sporting 4.6-second sprint to 100km/h due to comparably light weight combined with 450 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque driving all four wheels, impressively priced at just $88,500. How about that M5? It starts at $103,500 and requires 560 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque to achieve a 4.3-second dash to 100km/h, whereas the $113,800 E63 S AMG 4Matic gets under the four-second mark with a 3.7-second launch to 100km/h via 577 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of twist to all four wheels. Cadillac’s CTS-V will do the same 3.7-second sprint with only rear-wheel drive thanks to a 640 horsepower V8 with
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
630 lb-ft of torque, and only set you back $92,135, which brings us back to the similarly priced $92,950 Ghibli that’s still spirited despite its mere 404 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque, with a more than adequate 4.7-second charge to 100km/h. As for the not-yet released and therefore un-priced Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio (expect it to slot in somewhere between the $75k M3 and this GS F), it reportedly makes 505 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque resulting in a 4.0-second sprint to 100km/h, not to mention a self-claimed fastest four-door lap time on the old Nürburgring Nordschleife track at 7:39 minutes.
If all of this sounds like the silly schoolyard banter of 16 year old boys, I couldn’t agree more. Writing about such cars requires such performance details, but living with
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
one is an entirely different reality. Take the GS F that I’m reviewing here. If you look at the numbers it appears to be unpleasantly spanked by some of its key rivals, but get behind the wheel and put it to the test and I guarantee you’ll enjoy every second. You can feel its substantive 1,830-kilo (4,034-lb) curb weight at takeoff and in the corners, most of its challengers lighter or considerably more powerful, but it’s nevertheless a very quick and agile sport-luxury sedan that even makes very un-Lexus-like exhaust blats, burbles, gurgles and guttural secondary waste-gate grumbles, this partly due to active sound control that electronically synthesizes the engine and exhaust notes before funneling them through two dedicated speakers. If you think this is somehow fake and therefore uncool, consider that BMW does the same thing with its M cars, as does Ford with its Mustang, among others. Say what you want, but it sounds fabulous.
Something
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
very real positioned beside the GS F’s Drive Mode Select dial on the lower console is a “TVD” button that engages a standard torque vectoring differential, which replaces the regular GS model’s Torsen limited slip diff and thus allows the choice of Standard, Slalom (think autocross) and Track settings, all of which can be altered further via that just noted Drive Mode Select controller. TVD apportions engine torque to the rear wheel with optimal grip whether under power or not, a world’s first for a front-engine, rear-drive vehicle, incidentally. When TVD and Sport Plus mode are simultaneously employed, the latter found via Drive Mode Select, the stability and traction control systems get completely turned off (be forewarned) with torque vectoring the only gatekeeper maintaining rear wheel control, other than your quick reflexes and driving skill that is, which means the GS F is absolutely track ready if you’re so fortunate to have somewhere to legally abuse it nearby.
Power
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
through a tight twisting two-laner and the big sedan remains flat and poised, fully capable of near anything you can throw at it, while simultaneously it’s one of the most comfortable cars to drive at speed. Even when pitching it into 90-degree angles at outrageous speeds, its TVD and Sport Plus mode fully engaged, tail wagging in utter bliss and 255/35R19 front, 275/35R19 rear rubber shrieking in fits of joy, its massive 15-inch front and 13.6-inch rear rotors bitten by F-stamped Brembos providing even greater G-force shock to the system, the GS F’s heft defying agility produces those especially enjoyable slack-jawed, dumbfounded expressions of non-belief from passengers, which is once again so juxtaposed to the car’s incredible comfort.
Those still comparing numbers most likely haven’t continued reading this far, which is probably for the best as the GS F’s goodness needs to be measured by a more
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
traditional luxury car yardstick. Sure my tester’s deliberately shocking orange paint scheme, matching orange brake calipers, wide-body fender flares with sensationally long front engine vents, vertically angled triple-LED headlights and similarly positioned quad tailpipes, not to mention brilliant carbon-fibre lower grille trim and rear deck lid spoiler, made the GS F’s already eye-arresting bodywork stand out above even this over-the-top crowd, so therefore strong performance should be expected, although anyone climbing out of an M5 or S6 and jumping into this GS F will no doubt feel as if they’ve moved up a notch or two in interior design and luxury.
Truly,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
everything I already paid tribute to in my GS 350 F Sport review is carried over to the GS F interior, plus a lot more. Trying to find hard plastic surfaces is challenging, the GS F superbly finished with some of the highest quality soft touch synthetics in the industry, not to mention suede-like Alcantara across the top of the dash and instrument hood, softening each door insert, and pampering the armrests on the doors and centre console. Psuede covers the palm rest just ahead, this necessary for guiding the infotainment system’s haptic-sensing Remote Touch controller, while the rest of the cabin is finished in dark metals, gorgeous grey-tone gloss hardwood, de rigueur piano black lacquer, and leather of course, much of it perforated and stitched together with purplish-blue thread.
This would include the front sport seats along with their ultra-cool racing style metallic-edged four-way shoulder strap holes. They’re wonderfully comfortable and eight-way power-adjustable with three-way heat and ventilation plus memory for both,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
while even the rear quarters benefit from standard three-way heat as well as superb lower back support, not to mention the level of roominess granted by the GS’ mid-size E-segment classification. Unlike most in this segment that go minimal in back in order to save weight, the GS F boasts a flip-down centre armrest that’s nearly as complex as the LS 600h L’s massive fixed rear centre console, with switchgear for the heatable outboard seats, separate third-zone auto temperature controls and complete adjustability of the fabulous sounding 17-speaker Mark Levinson audio system plus a large monochromatic display for keeping tabs on both, as well as a button for powering the rear sunshade up and down; the side sunshades are manually operable. Speaking of not worrying about the GS F’s weight, Lexus even included a powered trunk lid that allowed ultra-easy access to its sizable cargo hold.
Back
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
to cabin switchgear, it’s the best you’ll likely see in this segment, with excellent materials quality, near perfect gap spacing, and ideal damping for a quality feel, while the electronic interfaces many of these buttons, knobs and toggles connect to are also second to none. Ahead of the driver is an LFA-inspired primary gauge package that’s almost purely digital and therefore multi-configurable depending on the drive mode selected from that handy rotary dial already mentioned multiple times. It’s a Lexus so you get an Eco mode for those times when going fast isn’t an option or you’d otherwise prefer more relaxed performance, this feature toning down the GS F’s inherently aggressive nature and therefore easing up on its thirst for premium fuel; it’s rated at 14.9 L/100km city, 9.7 highway and 12.5 combined, which really isn’t too bad. I left it in Eco quite often as it still provided plenty of punch off the line and suitable passing performance
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
when required, but of course default, Sport and Sport Plus modes are more conducive to hard charging. When so set the gauges replace their soft blue glow along with the centre dial’s turbine-like background for a machiavellian red surrounding an apropos tachometer, while the eco-oriented features previously making up the left-side multi-information display get replaced by loads of useful performance info. Even if you’re a purist who prefers the white on black simplicity of a BMW gauge package I can almost guarantee you’ll like what Lexus has in store, because along with all of its eyeball-searing glitter there’s a just-the-facts nature to the way everything comes together.
Ditto for the 12.3-inch widescreen infotainment display that dominates the upper instrument panel. First, its screen resolution and graphics are among the best in the business, while its various functions are intuitively organized and work well. Lexus’
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
joystick style controller sits atop the lower console as noted earlier, and while not as up to date as the newer touchpad design it gets useful “Enter” buttons on each side so that choosing a function is a lot easier than before.
I’ve mentioned a lot of GS F features already, and take note that all are standard as there are no options with this model. This is why it’s priced higher than the S6, which is comparatively spartan, and is an even better deal when putting it side-by-side with an M5 as well as most others on this list. Rather than run through them all again I’ll keep the GS F’s standard list “shorter” by only mentioning those items not yet covered, which include 19-inch forged alloys, full LED headlamps with automatic high beams, auto-leveling and washers, LED DRLs, LED taillights, proximity-sensing access with pushbutton ignition, LED ambient lighting, LED map lamps,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
a powered tilt and telescopic leather-wrapped multifunction heatable sport steering wheel, intermittent rain-sensing wipers, dynamic radar cruise control, a head-up display, a universal garage door opener, a powered moonroof, navigation, a reverse camera with active guidelines, auto-dimming rearview and side mirrors, the latter two also heatable and power-folding, plus clearance and backup sensors, intuitive parking assist, blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure alert with steering assist, pre-collision system, tire pressure monitoring, front and rear seatbelt pre-tensioners and force limiters, all of the usual airbags plus two blockers for the front occupants’ knees and two rear side-thorax airbags, plus more.
Go ahead and compare this standard list to any rival’s base equipment and you’ll quickly
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
see that Lexus wasn’t trying to compete head-on with the S6, M3 or E63 AMG, but rather chose to provide a luxurious comfort- and convenience-oriented alternative to the usual ultimately edgy super sedan. In this respect I like what Lexus has done, as the GS F combines rare refinement with a level of performance that’s still heart pounding enough for most peoples’ wants (forget their needs as they’re not relevant in this class), all combined within a daring looking package that’s actually sensibly priced for what you get.
It’s such unorthodox thinking that’s boosted Lexus into top-three luxury sales status in the U.S., the Japanese brand oh-so close to taking second in overall sales away from BMW, with 346,023 units for BMW and 344,601 for Lexus last year
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
(Audi was nowhere near with just 202,202). Lexus’ Canadian sales sit fourth here in Canada, just behind Audi, but Germany’s number-three premium brand will have to work very hard to stay ahead.
Of course, the GS F’s limited numbers won’t do much to topple Audi in Canada or BMW in the U.S., but along with the equally tantalizing RC F, the much-lauded IS F and beautiful LFA supercar that came before, as well as the gorgeous LC 500 that’s on the way, which most certainly will include a special F model of its own, it certainly casts a formidable image over the entire Lexus brand.
Lexus has matured as a luxury brand, and the expansion of its F sub-brand is a clear sign that it’s starting to flex its newfound muscle. I doubt it will find as many homes for this GS F as BMW sells M5s or Mercedes E63s, but those who opt for this provocatively designed, imaginatively engineered super sedan will be rewarded with one of the best combinations of performance and luxury money can buy. That it will without doubt be bulletproof reliable is just a bonus.
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