[IMGhttps://www.clublexus.com/gallery/data/501/33621IMG_2230.jpg[/IMG]




Comparing the GS's interior to the competition (disclaimer: these are my opinions. If you don't agree, you don't agree; I didn't bother to see the Audi A6- I was a bit irritated by their booth, as explained below- or the Caddy STS because I didn't really feel like it; also, I did not really play around with the nav software, so when I talk about controls, i mean just on the superficial level):
I don't like the BMW 5-series' interior much at all. The ergonomics & controls are a step back, and the materials aren't that great. The steering wheel feels nice, though.
The Mercedes E-Class is quite nice, the materials are great, and the controls feel nice. It is easy to get comfortable in this car COMAND greatly improved when it moved to the DVD-based system. The controls seem simpler than the others. I would say that the E is the easiest to figure out of all 5 of these cars.
In tems of pure aesthetics, the Infiniti M wins hands down. The interior just looks good. The wood is beautiful and the sports package's metal trim is just plain cool looking. However, when it comes to actually using the interior, it falters. Infiniti' mouse-navigation thing (I can't call it an iDrive wannabe, since Infiniti put it in their Q45 before BMW put it in the 7) isn't particularly intuitive to use. Still, it's better than the BMW's and is prettier too. One thing that concerned me a great deal was that the leather showed a lot of wear– already creased and wrinkled. And this was the first public day of the show! Maybe the cars I saw were also used at Detroit, but still. On the plus side, the power seat controls are back where they should be, instead of on the inside thigh bolster like the other FM-derived vehicles.
The RL was nice too, but the materials aren't quite as good as the M or GS and not quite as pretty. The seats were fine, and there aren't whole lot of buttons on the steering wheel, which is nice, but every other cars' wheels felt nicer in the hands. The big **** feels nice in the hand, I must say. The RL's leather suffered from the same wear issues as the M's, also.
The GS is nice. Really nice. Lexus did a great job with the interior of this car. It was easy to get comfortable in the car, the steering wheel felt good in my hands, it has a touch screen nav- which is HUGE to me- the wood is beautiful, and the front center arm rest is huge.

In the end, I'd rank them GS, E, M, RL, 5. (as a side now, I really wish car companies didn't all go to alphanumerics. Give me names like Legend or Seville over RL or STS any day; I guess I must be in the minority)

I should note one problem I have with the GS: the trunk is small and isn't shaped all that well. The Infiniti M's though is even worse, with all sorts of proturbances. I either forgot to check out the other cars' or they were locked so I couldn't get in, but my mom has an E500, and the GS' trunk seems smaller than that.

Other notes:
Smart is coming! Smart is coming!

Lexus had this neat little thing where they had a headlight assembly attached to a jog dial to demonstrate the active headlight system. I wasted a minute or so just turning the dial back and forth to make the headlight aim back and forth. Very clever. Everyone I saw who stopped at it had this 'wow, this is a really cool idea!' look on their faces.

HUGE thumbs down to Audi and Mercedes for locking the refreshed A4 and M-Clas, respectively. The cars were on the floor– no ropes or turntables or anything– yet the cars were locked so people couldn't sit in them. What's the point of having the freaking cars on the freaking floor when you can't freaking sit in them?!?!?!

The CLS is a sweet car. Okay, it's more or less a prettied up E-Class, but when you're starting with a nice car as the E, you know you're going to have something nice. The wood is really pretty in the car. True, the rear only has 2 seats, but those are some of the nicest rear seats I have ever sat in. The only problem is that the rear head room won't be sufficient for 6 footers

The RL A-Spec looks pretty cool.

Last year, I was very dissappointed with the X3; this year, I was impressed. I think the difference was that last year I sat in a base X3 2.5, while this year I sat in a fully loaded 3.0. The wood trim is some of the best I've seen in a BMW, the sports seats are very comfortable, and the space in the rear isn't bad at all.

The Toyota FJ Cruiser is a lot smaller than you'd think. The FT-SX concept looks promising.

The Jaguar X-Type wagon looks kind of odd. But it's not bad at all, really. I think it has the best interior of any car in its class. One neat thing about it (and all other '05 X-Types): instead of buttons for volume up/down and the like, the steering wheel has scroll wheels. The wheels don't spin of course, they act like button, and spring back to center when you let go, but they feel really nice and it's a clever touch.

Jaguar's Lightweight Advanced Coupe looks great in person. I hope they don't change to much of it when they translate it into a production XK. I have a new fanasy car.

I don't like 'real' SUV's much. I prefer sedans, coupes, and wagons or wagon-like SUV's, but I really like the LR3.

The Subaru B9 Tribeca isn't quite as ugly as it looks like it is in photos, and is a lot smaller than the photos make it seem, but it's still not pretty and it's still big. The interior is nice (or what I could see of it, they didn't have any you could sit in)

The Ford GR-1 sure is shiny.

 

Great review. Thanks for the pics! I think this is the same car as the abflog thread but their camera sucked compared to yours.

 

Thanks for the great pics and nice write-up. That color looks pretty sweet on the GS

 

this car is looking better day by day.

 

what color is that?
Im liking it

 

I believe we determined that is Flint Mica and I am loving it more and more each day.!

 

same here!
I wonder how cleaning maintenance is on a color like that..

 

Flint mica is a bluish color..i saw it on the RX400H at the autoshow when i went to it. This color looks brownish. I dont know maybe its the lighting. Not that it matters for me, but is it true the flint mica is only available on the GS430?? I got this information from my sales rep today that a silver is better in terms of financial value.



by the way...whatever color that is fromt he chicago auto show is SUPER HOTT!!! IM TOTALLY LOVIGN IT!!

 

does anyone have pictures of the lighting on the roof of the GS? I heard that its different, like it goes around the ceiling of something. Its not like other interior lighting

 

does anyone have pictures of the lighting on the roof of the GS? I heard that its different, like it goes around the ceiling of something. Its not like other interior lighting

 

Nice review & really nice pics Thanx & I like that color too

 

You actually believe that? lol. Silver is a very popular color, followed by black and white. Financial value? That's hype.

 

I can actually agree with that. SIlve=luxury color, and its a sure sale. Colors like blue, red are harder to sell for luxury cars.

 

Probably meant resale value.

 

I don't know about silver being a luxury color, there are lots of economy cars on the road that's silver, especially the plain brilliant silver. It's popular mainly because it hides dirt well & is easier to maintain. I personally find the brilliant silver exceedingly boring to look at including on any Benz's. Those darker shades of metallic grey &/or those silver colors with hues of other colors is a different story ,like flint mica, pewter or diamond silver(light bluish)looks more interesting.