scottmyers

As promised, here is a small write-up on the differences I found between the GS300 and The GS350. I had the 300 for over a year before getting the 350, so I think I have a pretty good feel for the changes between the two. Even though I've only had the 350 for 5 days, the changes are very apparent.

First let me say that some of the changes to the 350 are small, yet they are changes that definitely improve the car overall. These changes may or may not matter to some people, but they are positive changes non the less. I was so unhappy with my previous two 06 GS300's that these were all very welcome modifications, at least to me. If you love the 300, you'll love the 350 even more.

Lets start with the dash creaks and rattles.
This is something that ultimately drove me to get rid of the car. I know this has been discussed to death so I won't go into it real deep. Bottom line, they fixed it in the 350. No more popping and cracking from the dashboard. You notice the difference as soon as you drive the car over the first bump in the road. Wow, a 50k car that doesn't rattle... Thank you!

The Engine
The 350 gives you 58 additional horses than the 300. I read a few people on the board saying they test drove the 350 when it first came out and couldn't tell the difference between it and the 300. Well as soon as I drove the car down the road I noticed the additional Horsepower instantly. A test drive may not do it for you. Remember, I lived in the car for a year... there is a difference. I would hope so with 58 more horses.
I use to drive all the time in the power mode in the 300. The normal mode felt a little too anemic to me. I use the normal mode in the 350, it's now very responsive.

The Brakes.
My first GS300 had breaks that were so touchy that it took me months to get use to. My wife hated the GS for this reason alone. My second GS was a little better. The 350 brakes are finally right on. The 350 borrows the brakes from the 430 and it shows. Smooth stopping at all speeds without the sudden bite that seemed to surprise you in the 300.

The 18" Wheels.
What can I say. They look fantastic and you feel a little more planted to the road. I didn't mind the 17's on the 300, but I have to say, the 18's kick butt... in looks and performance. Although the tread wear is rated much lower. I hear people discuss road noise with the tires. I would say that the 18's just sound different, not louder or quiter to me. I guess this is all very subjective for each person, so you either like them or not.

Mark Levinson Audio System.
I'm not going into "how much better does the ML system sound compared to the standard system" discussion. This has been discussed to death. I love the ML system and thats why I got it again in the 350. What you will notice though are some great improvements in the system.

First, since the new Navigation has the high resolution graphics, all the menus and screens have been adapted to this new cleaner look. This is for Audio, Climate control, Navigation, Trip info, etc. Very nice.

Second, if you have satellite radio, you now get 16 characters for your song and artist listing. It was unacceptable that the 300 only showed 10 characters. I rarely would get to see the whole song title or artists name before. Apparently XM only streams 16 characters, so that seems to be the limit, but why would Lexus choose a receiver that only showed 10 characters in their luxury brand cars? Very annoying for a 50k car. At least we now get the 16 characters.

Third. Promised but never delivered on the 300, was the "Discrete Audio Settings" for each sound source. When the 300 was first introduced, the official GS press release touted this feature, although it was incorrect and never implemented. With the 350 you can have different EQ settings for each sound source. This means you can set the tone and balance differently for the Satellite radio, and CDs and DVDs, etc. and it will be remembered for each source. Very nice since each sound source has different sound characteristics that you can tweak.

Fourth, Now you can play MP3 and WMA formatted CD's.
This was a big gripe for me from the very beginning. How can Lexus introduce the all new redesigned GS300 and you don't get MP3 support, when you can get it in a Scion? I won't even go into the discussion on why we still don't get an auxiliary audio jack... even in the newer 350. With that said, the MP3 CD support is very welcome. As a test, I burned every Beatles album to one CD. You can view all albums as folders and their respective songs within each folder. All accessible from the steering wheel. Very nice. Sound quality is only as good as your MP3s, so don't expect great audio from low bit rate conversions.

The Shark Fin.
You either like it or hate it. All I can say is that satellite radio comes in better than ever before.

Navigation and Bluetooth phone support.
As everyone has seen discussed here before, the new Gen 5 Nav has the great high res graphics. Looks great. It also now allows you to input your destination by voice. Pretty cool, but you have so many voice guidance interruptions that it can be cumbersome. The same goes for the dial by voice. Very cool but kinda slow. One new feature I like is the ability to transfer your call from the speaker phone in the car to just your cell phone for private calls. Also the ability to manually connect to bluetooth if the the connection was lost while driving is nice. This happened to me quite often in the 300. I had to stop and start the car for the Bluetooth to hook up again. Annoying. The phone book now supports two numbers for each person. I uploaded my entire phone book to the car in just a minute. Nice.

Rear side airbags.
The 350 now gets rear side airbags. Thats 10 all together. I guess you can never have too many airbags.

VDIM/VSC cut-off.
I never drive the car that aggressively, so I can't comment on this. I guess if you want to turn it off, now you can.

Auto tilt and telescopic steering wheel.
In both of my 300's, every time the steering wheel would align itself as you pressed the start button, it would make a grinding noise. Not the smooth sound of electric motors like you hear in your power seats. It was a definite grinding noise. The dealer told me that the sound was normal and that all GSs sounded like that. Well the 350 doesn't do it. It's smooth as glass.

Still to fix or wish list.
• The fuel cap door
Ever notice how after you wash the car that later water would streak down the car from the fuel door? Well it still does it on the 350. Maybe they will fix that on the 08 model.

• Auxiliary Audio
Why in the world doesn't Lexus give us an auxiliary audio jack? Most of their vehicles now have this. How would they miss this on the 350 when they did so much to improve the car? Just mind boggling.

• Illuminated door sills would be nice.

• Electronic trunk closer
How about a real electronic trunk closer. If I have to close the trunk myself the little extra effort isn't really that necessary.

All in all the car is just incredible. The refinements make this such as wonderful automobile that I finally feel like it justifies the price. Is it really worth upgrading from the 300 to the 350? That all depends on what's important to you.
For me, it was either get the 350 or say goodbye to Lexus.

Im sure there are other changes that I missed, but thats all I can think of now. I'm still enjoying the new car.
Thanks again for everyones input. Keep supporting this great message board.

SGT

Fantastic write-up. I'm glad you're finally getting what you paid for.

sbrown02

Great write-up. Thanks

Harold8785

Great Write-up.

I am thinking about getting the GS 350 but I cant decide between the RWD or the AWD. Would you recommend anyone over the other as far as driving charactaristics?

Also I though only the GS 430 came with 18 inch wheels. What did you just put the ones from that car on your GS 350?

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the comparison review, great job

lau907

I am glad I decided to get the GS350 over the GS300. Great comparison.

Gojirra99

Thanks for the comparison Glad you finally got a car you enjoy

RandalR

All of the GS350 RWD's I've seen so far have the 18" wheels. They aren't exactly a standard, but Lexus is putting them on the RWD's at the factory so far. The AWD's stll have the 17" wheels, and you have to pay extra to get the 18"s.

RandalR

Thanks for the write-up, Scott. Sounds like the GS300 really wasn't ready for prime-time, as so often happens in the first year of a new model. Even Lexus isn't immune to First-Year Bug Syndrome.

Nauticalx

I agree with the trunk closer....its pretty ridiculus....even when I TRY to use it by closing it just enough for it to activate...I end up either so close that I cant imagine why it hasnt triggered yet or closing the trunk myself....the LS and Lexus in this area could learn a thing from the Lincoln Town Car in this respect....its trunk closer will grab and close the trunk from an inch open.

EXP_Cougar

Great writeup!

I had test driven the GS300 and agree that the 350 is just about a different car!

Tphaam23

Is the dvd bypass for gs 300 and gs350 same or different?

jeatherton

You can ordered the GS with what ever size wheels my first GS I had 18s and the one that I have now also. What are you going to be using the car for? Regular driving or do you plan to do any mods to the car? Does your area get snow? I've had both rwd and AWD both have their own perks. Fuel economy never mind that it's like 1 or 2 mile difference nothing drastic. If you plan to modify it go rwd so so much easier, more parts available trust me I'm working on my awd now pain in the butt. Also what year are you planning to get?