My new GS

[Shahpor]

Hey,

I recently upgraded from a IS220d, so without further ado, the pics:

 

A 2013 GS450h Premier

Bought from Lexus Sidcup with 71,000 miles and a full Lexus history.  I did pay a bit over the odds, but I managed to get 3 years warranty and a discounted service plan.

I have only had it 3 days, but here are my impressions so far:

 

THE GOOD:

The most obvious one first - performance.  I admit I was a little underwhelmed with the speediness at first, but then I discovered I had been a bit silly today;  I didn't realise the car had a 'kickdown' accelerator   I put my foot down properly and damn did it shift!  The acceleration above 60mph is especially good.

Next we have comfort.  The 18 ways adjustable seats are supremely comfortable and supportive.  I also cruised to work this morning and the suspension rode the bumps very well.  It does have AVS fitted, but I've yet to try it properly to see if it makes much of a difference.  What I can say is that in normal mode it holds the road well.

As you can imagine, it has plenty of toys.  The 12.3 inch display is very nice although I wish you could have the modes full screen.  All the usual refinements, and I find the powered boot lid quite amusing.

I haven't gone through a whole fuel tank yet, but it is looking promising.  I have been exploring its performance potential somewhat, and it still looks to be on target for high 30's mpg.  Not bad for something as quick and heavy as this is.

Also, something un-Lexus like for its non F brand, but the noise of the V6 when going full pelt is quite nice.  It has quite the growl when pushed. 

One other thing that occurred to me on the way to pick it up - the rarity.  GS's are seldom seen on the roads, whereas I saw countless BMW, Audi's and Mercedes on the trip.  I like being different, so this is something that is often overlooked as a nice bonus.

THE NOT SO GOOD:

Lets get the inevitable one out of the way first - the gearbox.  I really wish it had a normal automatic gearbox.  I'm sure I will get used to it eventually, but I am not a fan of the drone that permeates the cabin when you accelerate hard for longish periods.

On a similar note, the lack of sense of speed could be a problem.  Maybe it is because there are no gear changes, but I am having trouble determining how fast I am going without constantly looking at the speedo.  So, since the car can gain speed so quickly, it is difficult to modulate the performance.  What I really miss is a feature my old IS had - the light ring inside the speedo that lights up orange at a pre-determined point.  I found it very useful and it would have worked well here.

The heated seats have an annoying feature; they turn themselves off.  I am not a fan of the car deciding when they are warm enough.  I like them quite toasty, so their performance isn't fantastic.

 

So, in conclusion, it is a brilliant car that is perfectly happy cosseting you to work on a cold morning, and then launching like a scalded cat when you mash the accelerator before refusing to give up grip around the corners on the way home.  I can certainly appreciate the lamentation of the salesman at the dealership that there is no 450h variant of the ES.  If you are ever in the fortunate position to be able to own one, I highly recommend it.

[steve2006]

Ohhhhhh.... very nice 🙂

Don’t misfuel going from diesel to petrol although the nozzle won’t fit into the filler.

[ColinBarber]

Do you seats have an auto mode for climate? There should be a setting to adjust how long they stay on for.

[Shahpor]

@steve2006 Thanks.  Yep, I had to be careful the first time I filled up, but like you say, it shouldn't fit anyway

@ColinBarber  There is no auto button for the seats, which is strange because I thought it was supposed to have one?  I have read the manual which does say they will turn themselves off, but perhaps the interval can be changed.  I will have to get it hooked up to TechStream to see if it is possible   On a similar, I am assuming the car will still interface with TechStream?

[steveledzep]

Lovely car Shahpor.  When I upgraded from my IS250 I considered both the GS and RX,  The RX won because of my sore back.

 

I'm sure I could have struggled with the GS for a couple of years before retiring gracefully into an RX, hindsight is something I have A levels in.  Enjoy your new motor 

[Normski]

Love it 

What are the buttons in the rear armrest for? Rear climate?

[royoftherovers]

That is a lovely looking car Shahpour. Many congratulations and welcome to the world of rare and superlative motoring.

THE CAR WILL ONLY ACCELERATE BECAUSE OF THE PRESSURE OF YOUR RIGHT FOOT !

If you wish to remove the noise of the gearbox, then try shifting down one gear for smooth silent overtaking.

Anyway, enjoy it and have along and happy relationship with her.

[Shahpor]

Thanks chaps, appreciate the nice comments

@Normski The buttons on the rear armrest perform a couple of functions - like you say, the car has 3 zone climate control.  In addition, it has heated rear seats as well as radio controls and a button to operate the rear blind.  It also has blinds for the rear windows, but these are manual.

Lastly, in the pictures you can see some buttons on the inside of the front passengers seat.  This is so the driver or rear passenger can move the seat forward for extra legroom in the back.

I just need to find someone to drive it so I can relax in the rear now.

[Guest]

Great looking GS,congrats on your purchase.

[Chris111]

Lovely looking car Shahpor. That's the exact model and colour I'll be looking for. Interesting to note you mention the lamentation of the salesman that there will be no 450h version of the ES.

[Farqui]

Well done Shahpor, it looks like you've snagged yourself a very clean GS - it looks great and seems to have plenty of toys 

Has it got tinted rear windows?

Do try and go steady until you get used to the quiet speed, when I first got mine it wasn't long before I got a ticket.  I wasn't racing the disconnect from gears, engine noise and EV soon had me over a town limit without realising it  - which really annoyed me as I make a point of sticking within the limits especially within urban areas.

I found the gearbox operation odd at first too, it's not like anything I'd experienced before.  But after a while I soon adapted and now I find that 90% of the time it's great.  With so much power on tap full chat blasts are short lived (for me) so the high engine rpm doesn't become intrusive for me anymore.  I do like the instant kick though, it's a real sleeper and often surprises folk when you decide to stab the gas.

What's the boot like in yours? - any chance of a pic?

How are the brakes?  Mine were pretty tired but since refreshing them the anchors are quite impressive for a big motor, a car of your should be to top-notch.

Do you have any trips planned?

Meanwhile enjoy your new-to-you sleeper 

[Shahpor]

Thank you for the kind words

@Chris111 Have you seen this one?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201809240812435?year-from=2012&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&sort=price-asc&make=LEXUS&advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=rg248jt&model=GS%20450H&radius=1500&page=1

Same colour and spec as mine.  There is also a black one available on Autotrader.

1 hour ago, Farqui said:

Well done Shahpor, it looks like you've snagged yourself a very clean GS - it looks great and seems to have plenty of toys 

Has it got tinted rear windows? I am not sure if the windows themselves are tinted, but in those pictures the blinds are up hence the darkness.

Do try and go steady until you get used to the quiet speed, when I first got mine it wasn't long before I got a ticket.  I wasn't racing the disconnect from gears, engine noise and EV soon had me over a town limit without realising it  - which really annoyed me as I make a point of sticking within the limits especially within urban areas. Will do

I found the gearbox operation odd at first too, it's not like anything I'd experienced before.  But after a while I soon adapted and now I find that 90% of the time it's great.  With so much power on tap full chat blasts are short lived (for me) so the high engine rpm doesn't become intrusive for me anymore.  I do like the instant kick though, it's a real sleeper and often surprises folk when you decide to stab the gas. Hopefully I too will get used to it in time.

What's the boot like in yours? - any chance of a pic? The boot isn't bad and will do well for most things.  I don't have a picture at the moment, so I will grab one and post it soon.

How are the brakes?  Mine were pretty tired but since refreshing them the anchors are quite impressive for a big motor, a car of your should be to top-notch. I haven't really used it that much to be sure how the brakes are performing.  I have done a few heavy brakes and it does seem to stop well.  It is going into Lexus Reading on Friday for a visual safety check, so I should get a better idea of their current state then.

Do you have any trips planned? I'm afraid not.   Between wedding preparations and buying a new house, there isn't much time at the moment to go away anywhere.  Perhaps next year.

Meanwhile enjoy your new-to-you sleeper   Thank you

[Farqui]

Ah, I didn't realise it had blinds...another 'toy' to add to the list 

Congrats on the wedding and house move, they're both mighty time consuming!  The only way to top that is a 'Grand Designs' build and to get prega's 

[Vlady]

15 hours ago, Shahpor said:

 

THE GOOD:

The most obvious one first - performance.  I admit I was a little underwhelmed with the speediness at first, but then I discovered I had been a bit silly today;  I didn't realise the car had a 'kickdown' accelerator   I put my foot down properly and damn did it shift!  The acceleration above 60mph is especially good.

Next we have comfort.  The 18 ways adjustable seats are supremely comfortable and supportive.  I also cruised to work this morning and the suspension rode the bumps very well.  It does have AVS fitted, but I've yet to try it properly to see if it makes much of a difference.  What I can say is that in normal mode it holds the road well.

As you can imagine, it has plenty of toys.  The 12.3 inch display is very nice although I wish you could have the modes full screen.  All the usual refinements, and I find the powered boot lid quite amusing.

I haven't gone through a whole fuel tank yet, but it is looking promising.  I have been exploring its performance potential somewhat, and it still looks to be on target for high 30's mpg.  Not bad for something as quick and heavy as this is.

Also, something un-Lexus like for its non F brand, but the noise of the V6 when going full pelt is quite nice.  It has quite the growl when pushed. 

One other thing that occurred to me on the way to pick it up - the rarity.  GS's are seldom seen on the roads, whereas I saw countless BMW, Audi's and Mercedes on the trip.  I like being different, so this is something that is often overlooked as a nice bonus.

THE NOT SO GOOD:

Lets get the inevitable one out of the way first - the gearbox.  I really wish it had a normal automatic gearbox.  I'm sure I will get used to it eventually, but I am not a fan of the drone that permeates the cabin when you accelerate hard for longish periods.

On a similar note, the lack of sense of speed could be a problem.  Maybe it is because there are no gear changes, but I am having trouble determining how fast I am going without constantly looking at the speedo.  So, since the car can gain speed so quickly, it is difficult to modulate the performance.  What I really miss is a feature my old IS had - the light ring inside the speedo that lights up orange at a pre-determined point.  I found it very useful and it would have worked well here.

The heated seats have an annoying feature; they turn themselves off.  I am not a fan of the car deciding when the heats are warm enough.  I like my seats quite toasty, so their performance isn't fantastic.

 

Congratulations! The car looks lovely and I agree with most of you points, performance, comfort, specification, the noise of the V-6 engine (love it btw), rarity, all of these bang on!

Regards gearbox, I think you will get use to it @Farqui said the motor doesn't need to be revved often or long enough to annoy you too much.

Heated seats, personally I do not find them that great, my previous BMW had better distributed heat over you bum.

I would add that I love Xenon lights, BSM, rear blinds, Premier is a great specced car! I can't think of anything else I would need, well, may be better sat-nav!

Enjoy your new car  mate!

[OldTrout]

Great car. The one on Auto trader like your looks superb too. I feel quite envious although I do wonder why ACC and PCS do not feature on this top of the range model. I understand the latest technology not being on an old car but my series 3 has these aids and I find the ACC very useful addition to CC. My PCS fortunately has only kicked in once when I had to brake very sharply. It works.

I'm curious to know where Shahpor is driving (in the UK) that he can "accelerate hard for longish periods"🤨 Does longish mean less than 5 seconds?

Now if there was a nice red one with black wood with ACC and PCS that looked in as good condition I would find it very hard to resist the temptation.

John

[rayaans]

11 minutes ago, OldTrout said:

Great car. The one on Auto trader like your looks superb too. I feel quite envious although I do wonder why ACC and PCS do not feature on this top of the range model. I understand the latest technology not being on an old car but my series 3 has these aids and I find the ACC very useful addition to CC. My PCS fortunately has only kicked in once when I had to brake very sharply. It works.

I'm curious to know where Shahpor is driving (in the UK) that he can "accelerate hard for longish periods"🤨 Does longish mean less than 5 seconds?

Now if there was a nice red one with black wood with ACC and PCS that looked in as good condition I would find it very hard to resist the temptation.

John

Technically it came out in 2012 and they wouldn't add these features on unless there was a mid cycle facelift. They did add them in 2015. 

The heated seats can be forced to stay on. Dealer only setting or on something like the carista app. 

[Chris111]

5 hours ago, Shahpor said:

Thank you for the kind words

@Chris111 Have you seen this one?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201809240812435?year-from=2012&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&sort=price-asc&make=LEXUS&advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=rg248jt&model=GS%20450H&radius=1500&page=1

Same colour and spec as mine.  There is also a black one available on Autotrader.

Yes I have seen that one and it is exactly what I would be looking for but unfortunately not at this moment in time 😞.

[OldTrout]

13 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Technically it came out in 2012 and they wouldn't add these features on unless there was a mid cycle facelift. They did add them in 2015. 

 

My point was that having ACC and PCS on the previous top of the range 450h why omit it on the new model?

[Odysseus]

My point was that having ACC and PCS on the previous top of the range 450h why omit it on the new model?

ACC & PCS have been options on the top of the range (SE-L) previous generation GS since 2008. They were only standard fit on the GS SE-Ls up to 2007.


Sent from my Iphone using Tapatalk

[Chris111]

1 minute ago, OldTrout said:

My point was that having ACC and PCS on the previous top of the range 450h why omit it on the new model?

Your model like mine John had it fitted as standard but it became an optional extra on the top SE-L spec following the facelift of the S3 GS in 2008. It remained as an optional extra on the Premier spec when the S4 GS was introduced, only being fitted as standard again with the mid cycle facelift as @rayaans says above.

[OldTrout]

1 hour ago, Chris111 said:

Your model like mine John had it fitted as standard but it became an optional extra on the top SE-L spec following the facelift of the S3 GS in 2008. It remained as an optional extra on the Premier spec when the S4 GS was introduced, only being fitted as standard again with the mid cycle facelift as @rayaans says above.

Thanks for clarifying the reason Chris and Rayaan. So take feature off and make them an option effectively raising the price. Not the original Lexus way methinks.

John

[Shahpor]

5 hours ago, OldTrout said:

Great car. The one on Auto trader like your looks superb too. I feel quite envious although I do wonder why ACC and PCS do not feature on this top of the range model. I understand the latest technology not being on an old car but my series 3 has these aids and I find the ACC very useful addition to CC. My PCS fortunately has only kicked in once when I had to brake very sharply. It works.

I'm curious to know where Shahpor is driving (in the UK) that he can "accelerate hard for longish periods"🤨 Does longish mean less than 5 seconds?

Now if there was a nice red one with black wood with ACC and PCS that looked in as good condition I would find it very hard to resist the temptation.

John

It is a shame that the ACC isn't fitted to mine.  I borrowed an IS with it fitted a few times and it was quite useful.

I couldn't possibly comment on where I might have accelerated hard to more than 5 seconds

 

5 hours ago, rayaans said:

Technically it came out in 2012 and they wouldn't add these features on unless there was a mid cycle facelift. They did add them in 2015. 

The heated seats can be forced to stay on. Dealer only setting or on something like the carista app. 

Really?  If the seats can be made to stay on, that would be great.  Although I assume the dealer would charge an extortionate amount to actually change it?

[Shahpor]

11 hours ago, Farqui said:

Well done Shahpor, it looks like you've snagged yourself a very clean GS - it looks great and seems to have plenty of toys 

Has it got tinted rear windows?

Do try and go steady until you get used to the quiet speed, when I first got mine it wasn't long before I got a ticket.  I wasn't racing the disconnect from gears, engine noise and EV soon had me over a town limit without realising it  - which really annoyed me as I make a point of sticking within the limits especially within urban areas.

I found the gearbox operation odd at first too, it's not like anything I'd experienced before.  But after a while I soon adapted and now I find that 90% of the time it's great.  With so much power on tap full chat blasts are short lived (for me) so the high engine rpm doesn't become intrusive for me anymore.  I do like the instant kick though, it's a real sleeper and often surprises folk when you decide to stab the gas.

What's the boot like in yours? - any chance of a pic?

How are the brakes?  Mine were pretty tired but since refreshing them the anchors are quite impressive for a big motor, a car of your should be to top-notch.

Do you have any trips planned?

Meanwhile enjoy your new-to-you sleeper 

Pics of the boot for you Lee:

 

Difficult to get a clear shot, but hopefully you can see that it isn't very deep since the Battery takes up so much of the rear space.

Still, adequate for most of my needs, and for the others there is always the missus car

[Shahpor]

10 hours ago, Vlady said:

Congratulations! The car looks lovely and I agree with most of you points, performance, comfort, specification, the noise of the V-6 engine (love it btw), rarity, all of these bang on!

Regards gearbox, I think you will get use to it @Farqui said the motor doesn't need to be revved often or long enough to annoy you too much.

Heated seats, personally I do not find them that great, my previous BMW had better distributed heat over you bum.

I would add that I love xenon lights, BSM, rear blinds, Premier is a great specced car! I can't think of anything else I would need, well, may be better sat-nav!

Enjoy your new car  mate!

Thanks Vlad.

It is true that in normal, everyday driving the noise of the motor isn't too intrusive.

It is scary how quickly I have gotten accustom to using the BSM already.

From the pictures you posted, I assume yours is a Premier as well then?  Very nice looking in black.  Any more pics?

[Vlady]

6 hours ago, Shahpor said:

Thanks Vlad.

It is true that in normal, everyday driving the noise of the motor isn't too intrusive.

It is scary how quickly I have gotten accustom to using the BSM already.

From the pictures you posted, I assume yours is a Premier as well then?  Very nice looking in black.  Any more pics?

Hi Shaphor, this is y first black car, it is not too bad now when it gets dark in early hours and bright in later hours but next year I will do a paint correction and protection to eliminate as much as possible swirl marks and some light scratches. But I like her in black too. 🙂

Here some pictures of mine! 😉

Have a good day!