jre002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRI4JAy-4Kw

Interesting comparison. Even briefly touches upon the platform sharing between the GS and Crown. This was a good review because it really did focus on quality as opposed to a stat sheet.

*Batman*

Nice video. Thanks for posting. The body roll on that GS430 seemed quite a lot. I wonder if the AVS was set to sport.

I8ABMR

WOW that video is old as hell. I bought that Best Motoring video like 3 years ago. Blast to the past.

GS350Lexus

iTrader: (5)

That was not even a fair comparison between the 2 japs and the over powered 5.7 american. But even looking from a passenger angle when they were driving on the highway, i would say the gs looks more refined compared to the m. Talking about the CTS V the interior is crap its looks fugly only thing good its a 5.7 and comes manual. The road noise compared to the M and the GS, M was way louder you can even hear it on the mic.

rjacket

I found this more recent review much more meaningful as they were looking for the right blend of luxury and performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUDSZ...eature=related

At the end of the clip, they rank the cars as follows

1) XF
2) E Class
3) 5 Series
4) GS460

It's not good to see Lexus so far down but I tend to agree on most of the points they made.

The 4GS will need to be very good to compete. The fact that the GS460 failed to be much of an improvement is worrying. You would think that in year 4 they would have fixed a lot of things on the flagship model in the GS range.

jre002

I wouldn't say that this review was more meaningful then the one I posted. They compared different cars and hence came to a different conclusion. I think that when you compare these four cars that any of them can win out because they are so different that the person who chooses one over the other will have a very subjective difference in taste.

That said, I found the Best Motoring reviewer to be more knowledgeable and make more sensical comments. For example, the Motortrend reviewer complained that the Lexus interior "looked black and dark" when he was sitting in a black interior. I kind of think that is the point of a black interior. But when he was in the beige interior of the Jaguar, he gave it extra points for having more color. There was one point in the review when he said that one car beat another car in the slalom by one-tenth of a second (27.0 to 27.1 seconds). Is that really beating another car? That is just way too close and human drivers introduce way too much error into the testing to give it any meaning, but that is the type of stat that many reviewers use to calculate wins. Still, a nice video to watch. Would have like to have seen the BMW and E-Class also.

IMO, Best Motoring > Motortrend in credibility

rjacket

Yes I think sitting in a black interior and saying it is dark is quite strange. But he was also talking about the abundance of plastic and lack of wood which is a fair point. The XF by comparison had a leather covered dash.

I think his points about handling and ride quality were spot on. The GS is a good highway cruiser but quite poor on twisting roads which it should not be. The steering wheel is too large and the ride and steering feedback don't help. I'm surprised they didn't adjust it during the last few years. Additionally a lot of people complain about lack of headroom and rear leg space. Note how these were not problems in the other cars. I also agree with them that the seat cushion for the driver is not long enough.

In the real world, most people spend more time on highways. So if the Lexus is quiet and comfortable on those, then that's a big plus. I think he said though that the XF had those attributes and that when it got into the winding roads, it turned into a supple and responsive car. Many a time I and my passengers have not enjoyed the drives through winding roads as much as we might have in the GS.

I think for the GS350 there may be less of a gap as you get many of the features as well as a great engine for a very competitive price against a BMW 335 etc. But the offering from Jaguar and BMW at the top of the range for the XF and 5 series seems to represent a big gap vs the GS460.

I also think the Best Motoring review was a bit strange in that he at first said the Lexus was not stable then reversed his viewpoint.

dejavu157

iTrader: (2)

"The Aristos in the past were awful" HEHE

10SecLS1

LOL

This guy was just making random ambiguous comments while driving all three cars. The CTSV will thrash both the M45 and GS430 in every performance aspect but The GS and M are way better looking on the inside and out.

designo

iTrader: (6)

Did he say "the suspension on the 460 beats you up"?

jre002

Yeah, that is one statement I wished he had elaborated on further. I thought it was a bit odd. Perhaps something got lost in the translation from Japanese to English?