Club Lexus Reviews: The 2014 Lexus GS450h
Lexus have been the lords of high-MPG-luxury for as long as that’s been a thing, but they’re also the leading champs when it comes to building fast hybrids. Porsche, Ferrari and the like are boasting loudly about their hybrid supercars now, but Lexus has been building the GS450h for years. This latest iteration is their most efficient yet.
On the one hand, you have the option of the GS350 F Sport: a capable car with handling and acceleration that belies it’s size. On the other, is the ES: a cushy alternative for the miles-per-gallon minded. Neither one really compromises in their pursuit of sport and comfort… I can’t say the same thing about the GS450h. It is a car built around compromise.
Actually, that’s probably the wrong word. It is a car built around cooperation.
The Exterior.
The GS450h is handsome, but there’s not a lot going on here that makes it stand out in a sea of other cars. When it’s not wearing it’s F-Sport skirts and bumpers, the GS actually looks a little plain. Splitting the hourglass grill into two parts really defuses the whole “predator” thing. Don’t get me wrong—I like the whole super aggressive look on the GS350 F Sport, but it’s got the mouth of a grouper. Grouper mouth is not look that says, “I’m a vision understated class and prestige.”
You do get the option of several different shades of paint. Ours was dipped in Starfire Pearl. For all practical purposes, it’s white, but the pearlescent finish plays with the light a little before reflecting out. It’s a subtle, but pretty effect best viewed in person.
The Interior.
Two words. Bamboo. Interior.
There’s a lot to like about the interior of the GS, but that beautiful and light wood is easily my favorite aspect of their design. It comes standard on all GS450h with all colors. Nothing says taste quite like natural materials. The seats are comfortable and quite soft. At 6 ft, there was plenty of room for my head and limbs without any ergonomic faux-pas in the front and rear-seats.
Ours was equipped with the $5,255 Luxury Package and the $1,735 navigation package. You get about what you expect. Moonroof, heated and cooled seats, heated and cooled mirrors, the lot of it. What the GS has going for it that other cars don’t is the fantastic 12″ screen. You can control it via the mouse (er… Sorry, “Remote Touch Interface”) located on the center console. Their Enform system isn’t difficult to understand, but it is difficult to use while driving. Which, honestly, you probably shouldn’t be doing anyway.
The total cost for our tester came out to $69,769.
The Drive.
As I mentioned before the GS450h is car of compromise. On the one hand, the plush expanse of the interior is total luxury. Wood inlays, electric everything… They were not approaching this car with weight savings as a major priority. On top of that, it’s a hybrid. With a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Typical Lexus, right? Well, sorta.
There’s a knob on the center console that changes the attitude of the GS dramatically when fettered with. Twist it counter-clockwise, and the car drops into Eco Mode. Your throttle response flat-lines and the electric motor kicks in as much as possible to save fuel. Thrilling.
Twist it clockwise though and things get interesting. The gauges change from telling you how much of the environment you’re sparing to the important stuff, like, where that 3.5-liter V6 is sitting in the rev range. Click that nob a second time and the car goes into Sport + mode. Suddenly, the 4100lbs of the GS become much more apparent through the steering wheel. That’s not a bad thing when driving at speed as it makes the steering inputs feel more accurate (or at least honest). Chuck the car into a corner or two and it handles like it’s F Sport brethren. Just, instead of the eight speed auto, you get a CVT.
Initially I assumed that Lexus equipping this car with a CVT was awful. The concept of driving a fast hybrid was alluring because power is exciting no matter where it comes from, but my past experience with CVTs has been utterly disappointing. They’re slow. They’re whiny. Worst of all, they sap the drama that is running an engine up to red-line. What good is power when it’s ruined by an unpredictable and annoying transmission? That was my concern anyway. It turns out that I might’ve been approaching CVTs the wrong way, because this one works. Rather, it works for this situation.
Normally? CVTs are attached to droning little motors which makes driving them quickly their own special kind of hell. The GS 450h avoids that hell mainly because it’s engine is not a total buzzkill. In fact, you’ll almost never hear it “buzz” at all.
It feels less like revving up an engine more like engaging warp. The speed just piles on.
When you put your foot down in the GS, you never shift. Yes, the engine does the same CVT thing, but you don’t have to hold the pedal down long before you’re breaking all kinds of laws. The engine does sit at a single rpm, sure, but it’s so quiet it doesn’t matter. Honestly, it feels less like winding up an engine and more like engaging warp. From a dead stop, the GS will get to 60 mph is about 5 seconds. The speed just piles on.
Conclusion.
The GS450h is not the car of the present. Toyota’s Prius’ and those other hybrids that first introduced the technology to market were important, but they’re cut from a different cloth. Instead of focusing solely on the saving gas crowd, the GS450h is better fit for someone who basically wants it all. Now, you won’t be out there leaving Corvettes in the dust obviously, but there’s more than enough grunt here for spirited driving. There’s way more than what necessary for a “commuter car.”
That’s not the allure though. If you just wanted speed and luxury, you could probably just get a CTS-V or some other. What you miss out on with that car however is the absurd joy of 30+ MPG. Relying on eco mode as much for city driving is the magic party trick that makes this 338 horsepower sport sedan worth it.
