GSF 3 month review.

[F.A.]

It’s been 3 months since we picked up our GSF in which we have covered just under 2000 miles averaging around 19 mpg. Here are my some of my initial thoughts.  

The positives.  

1. The sound of the V8. My car is completely standard and I know it’s a little mute for some, but I love every minute of the sound from when it starts up cold to when it comes on cam. I don’t think I will ever get bored of it, and whilst I used to love listening to my music in the car, the stereo is rarely turned on nowadays. 
2. The responsiveness, performance and handling. Whilst I acknowledge that it’s not the fastest super saloon out there and these new hot / hyper hatches will arguably be faster off the line, it has more performance than I will ever need and I clearly will run out of talent before it will. I love how it also feels like a smaller car than it is. I definitely don’t think it feels any larger than my previous IS250 on the road. 
3. MPG I’m not worried about the MPG as I wouldn’t have bought a GSF if I was, but I’m very happy with it considering the car is barely warmed up by the time I arrive at work and I do little motorway mileage.  As a comparison, my previous IS250 averaged around 23mpg over the same journeys.  
4. Subtleness and rare factor. I’ve only ever seen one other GSF on the road about two years ago. I love how the average passer by wouldn’t even give it a second look and I’ve had a few people who are in to their cars claim that they have never even heard of it, which makes me smile. 
5. Mark Levinson. I know that this doesn’t get the best views but I think it’s a great system ( on the rare occasion that it is on lol) for the music that I listen too. 
6. Practicality. Loads of room for my family of 4 and the car seats. Space was a struggle in the IS.    
7. Insurance. Unbelievably no more expensive than my IS250 and about £200 cheaper a year than our RX450. Likely to be due to there being only 63 ish registered and probably non of them being involved in a large claim.
8. Paintwork. Seems to always have a deep shine even when it’s dirty. This could be due to the ceramic coating but I also liked how the acid etch damaged from seagull poo seemed to fix itself over a weekend in the heat. I’m not sure if this is due to the self-healing paint (does this work through the ceramic coating?) or the coating itself but something worked either way 😊. 
9. Looks. I know this is subjective but I think it looks fantastic.
10. It’s split personality. I love how it feels just like how a normal Lexus should below 3.5k RPM. Smooth and quiet but then it turns in to a real super salon after this point. Amazing. A pleasure to drive around town but massively capable at speed when pushed. 
11. Blind spot monitoring. Absolutely brilliant, I now wish our RX had it! 
12. Carbon Fibre rear spoiler. Looks amazing in the sun but still relatively subtle IMO. 

The negatives 

Just nit picking here really as nothing is a major deal.  

1. Brake dust. Widely covered on here, I love the wheels and the orange callipers but they are such a pain in the butt to clean and I love cleaning cars! Mine have been coated in Poor Boys sealant which has helped massively but cleaning them still takes some time and the front callipers are a pain to get to.  I will be looking in to the options other owners have mentioned on here when replacements are required. 
2. Rattle. I had a really intermittent rattle coming from behind the sav screen. This has seemed to have disappeared, touch wood, but was very frustrating for a couple of weeks. 
3. Powered boot lid. I love how the boot lid is powered but I wish that you could also close the lid via the remote and the button on the dash like our RX, instead of just the button on the lid itself. I expect that this is a dealer configurable option so I will look in to this before my next service. 
4. Sat Nav menu on start up.  I wish the menu didn’t load up every time you started the car. A simple press of return solves this issues but as I very rarely use the sat nav, there is no need for it to load up every time. 
5. Speed sign recognition. I can’t really rely on this as it often picks up random speed limits, such as ones on the back of Continental lorries, or not at all 
6. Carbon Fibre in front bumper. Chips are already present and more  are enviable. I really don’t know how you would fix this. 

 

That’s it really. Both my wife and myself are well and truly smitten by it and we will be keeping it for as long as we can, before everything goes down the EV route. 

F.A.

 

[NothernDan]

Great review and lovely looking car mate, in the only colour cars should ever come in too! 

Now get it on Airlift and don't look back 😜

[DAW]

Nice review & the car does look stunning👍🏻

[Charliecloud]

Nice initial owners review. Lovely colour.

This guy does some great in depth reviews: 

 

[hockeyedwards]

Glad you are enjoying the GSF, I'm in the same lane as you with many things mentioned above, and maybe just a few disagreements hehe, I am certainly gonna keep mine until it is illegal/ it dies/ I die 😛

Personal preference, white is better 😉

[B1RMA]

I know the review is a very positive one for both the RCF and GSF but I think his conclusion is spot on. He too drives it in manual mode most of the time as I have found I prefer it .

The other review by Chris Harris on the RCF is pretty good too, I don't think the RCF is a track fiends vehicle either but I do agree with his final statement about the car growing on you over a longer period of time.

[F.A.]

14 hours ago, NothernDan said:

Great review and lovely looking car mate, in the only colour cars should ever come in too! 

Now get it on Airlift and don't look back 😜

Thank you.  I’m very impressed with the stance of your car Dan. I think the GSF will be kept stock but maybe I will try some air on another car. 

 

3 hours ago, hockeyedwards said:

Glad you are enjoying the GSF, I'm in the same lane as you with many things mentioned above, and maybe just a few disagreements hehe, I am certainly gonna keep mine until it is illegal/ it dies/ I die 😛

Personal preference, white is better 😉

I do like the GSF in white I just couldn’t find one with a black interior. As you mentioned, it’s just personal preference 👍🏾 

[Vlady]

Very nice car, may be when I win a lottery! 🙂

[MNMJ]

17 hours ago, B1RMA said:

I do agree with his final statement about the car growing on you over a longer period of time.

Me too; 4 years into ownership and its still growing

[bernie_the_bolt]

Just a little over 3 months ownership of mine and I too am smitten with my beastie. Done nearly 3000 miles in mine. Mixed driving. Getting between 23 and 25 mpg. Longest journey I've done is a little over 400 mile round trip to Milton Keynes. Got about 31 mpg on that run (would've been more if the motorway hadn't been empty on the way home!!!😁😇)

You can't change the boot closer function. It's the way it is. You open the boot to put stuff in or take it out, so pressing a button before walking away is logical.

Cleaning the wheels and calipers is generally a pain because of their design. I get my son to do it 🤣. The old 3 inch roll forward (or backward) helps. I've just bought some Bilt Hamber autowheel and wheel woolies to lessen his burden 😁.

Tried to see what mine looked like in white ... didn't like it!😁

I've also added some F ghost shadow lights. I think they look quite cool.

 

[hockeyedwards]

6 hours ago, bernie_the_bolt said:

I've just bought some Bilt Hamber

Honestly a game changer, best cleaner I’ve ever come across, I use it as a 2nd time over cleanser after Diablo gel from chemical guys. Our wheel colour is just 😍

[F.A.]

On 10/11/2019 at 1:51 PM, bernie_the_bolt said:

Just a little over 3 months ownership of mine and I too am smitten with my beastie. Done nearly 3000 miles in mine. Mixed driving. Getting between 23 and 25 mpg. Longest journey I've done is a little over 400 mile round trip to Milton Keynes. Got about 31 mpg on that run (would've been more if the motorway hadn't been empty on the way home!!!😁😇)

You can't change the boot closer function. It's the way it is. You open the boot to put stuff in or take it out, so pressing a button before walking away is logical.

Cleaning the wheels and calipers is generally a pain because of their design. I get my son to do it 🤣. The old 3 inch roll forward (or backward) helps. I've just bought some Bilt Hamber autowheel and wheel woolies to lessen his burden 😁.

Tried to see what mine looked like in white ... didn't like it!😁

I've also added some F ghost shadow lights. I think they look quite cool.

 

Were the illuminated kick plates fitted when you bought the car or did you fit them after ?

[bernie_the_bolt]

5 minutes ago, F.A. said:

Were the illuminated kick plates fitted when you bought the car or did you fit them after ?

I had them transferred off the GS450H I traded for the GSF

[Cezar B]

If anyone wants to properly clean their wheels & callipers.... just take them off... 😎😉

[Alan-Beadle]

I've had my GSF since March 19 and can agree with all the comments.  I use mine mostly on long distance runs: down to London from Brum and out to France and Spain - currently showing a long term average consumption of nearly 29 mpg which is hard to believe but true!

On a separate issue see my post about fog lights - the lack of sideways illumination from the headlights makes tight corners on an unlit road scary!!!  Anyone had the same issue or found a solution to this?

[besso]

On 10/10/2019 at 7:46 AM, NothernDan said:

Great review and lovely looking car mate, in the only colour cars should ever come in too! 

Now get it on Airlift and don't look back 😜

Agree with every word. I'm holding mine till the day I die.