New Lexus GS F 2015

 

Lexus takes a refreshingly old-school approach with its 5.0-litre V8 GS F but can it out muscle the BMW M5 and Audi RS6?

 

The GS F might be an old fashioned kind of sports saloon in some respects, but where it counts – on the road – it delivers a major hit of driver appeal. That's despite the fact that it isn't at the cutting edge either technologically or dynamically. For the 100 people per year that Lexus GB hopes will buy one, the GS F’s big-hearted personality will matter far more than its mildly off the pace 0-60mph time. For most, it will be way more than quick enough, and it has a beautiful interior plus a genuinely comfortable ride quality as well. 

For a brand new Japanese car, the Lexus GS F has a surprisingly old fashioned outlook on life.

Beneath its dramatically-styled new bodyshell it features a traditional thumper of a 5.0-litre V8 engine, with not an electric motor nor even a turbocharger in sight to help it generate the required goods.

Its chassis may have been heavily modified and stiffened compared with that of the standard Lexus GS, but at heart it’s still a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive thunder saloon.

And if the claim by Lexus is to be believed that the GS F is “80 per cent sports car, 20 per cent luxury saloon” the fact that it weighs the thick end of two tonnes once a driver has been installed means it is hardly at the cutting edge in its basic construction. There is, for example, still lots of welded steel at its core; a featherlight sports machine for the 21st century it most certainly is not.

 

And yet, for a certain type of customer there is nothing quite like the new Lexus GS F. Its appeal to that audience may even centre on the fact that it isn't chock full of complicated technologies – even if its price of £69,995 might lead you to hope that it is.

So what sort of a car is the GS F, and does it warrant a place in today’s world of hybrid, lightweight, fuel-efficient sports saloons? Many the alternatives are cheaper and, in theory, can outperform it in more ways than one.

Essentially the GS F is, as prescribed, a sporting luxury saloon in the old fashioned mould, albeit with a deliciously high-tech, high quality interior. It’s a car that’s been designed to provide as much pleasure – and comfort – on the move as possible, even if it isn’t the last word in outright performance.

 

In a straight line it’s fast without ever threatening to re-write the rule book on the space time continuum. Which is about what you’d expect with 470bhp in a 1,865kg saloon. Its zero to 60mph time of 4.5 seconds is entirely respectable in isolation, but a cheaper BMW M3 would eat it for dinner in a drag race.

Similarly, the GS F’s rear-driven chassis may be conventional in its basic layout and engineering, but it has some genuinely impressive tricks up its sleeve to help it stick to the road. A new dynamic drive system provides four different driving modes; Eco, Normal, Sport and Sport +, all of which can be accessed by rotating a dial down beside the gear lever. In each mode the throttle mapping gets fruitier, the steering heavier, the traction control and ESP systems less intrusive, right up to a sub-mode that’s called “Expert” which allows lots of slip before intervening.

The GS F’s trump card, however, is its new electronically operated rear axle, which can vary torque by up to 100 per cent across the back axle to produce maximum grip on the way into, in the middle of, and at the exit of corners. There’s even a slalom mode that can be selected, in which the GS F displays the agility of a car two-thirds its size, reckons Lexus.

 

The eight-speed gearbox has also been comprehensively re-engineered for the GS F, and can again be adjusted up and down to produce faster, more urgent shifts or smoother, slower changes that occur at lower revs, all by playing with the same magic dial down by the gear lever.

The cabin of any Lexus is always a highlight, and the GS F’s is no exception. Indeed it’s a leader even by Lexus’ high standards. Bespoke seats clamp you beautifully in position behind a thick, leather, electronically adjustable wheel. The quality in here is as high as it gets at this level (at almost any level, frankly) while the space on offer both in the rear seats and boot is also hard to fault.

As is the level of equipment on offer. The only options when the car goes on sale in the UK next year will be a sunroof and the upgrade to a higher spec Mark Levinson sound system, otherwise the GS F comes with everything you could want as standard.

On the road, the driving experience is dominated by that big V8 engine, which sounds absolutely delicious at any revs, but especially so above 5,500rpm. Surprisingly given the hardware on offer beneath the bonnet, there isn’t as much low down torque as there is in most rivals, which means you need to rev the GS F quite hard to get the most out of it. But so smooth and fast are the reactions, not just from the throttle but from the paddle shift gearbox too, that this is rarely a hardship. And the aural rewards for going past 4,500rpm mean you keep on coming back for more.

The ride, handling and steering all feel extremely natural and intuitive in their responses, despite the electronics. In any of its modes the GS F feels like a big machine to drive rapidly, but at the same time it also displays bags of composure, with a sharper front end than its smaller RC F cousin, plus a lovely amount of feel from its new rear axle.
 
To drive, the GS F might not be the fastest car of its kind but it’s definitely one of the sweetest, with a well judged, if slightly old-school balance between precision, sportiness and comfort. 

Key specs

• Model: Lexus GS F
• Price: £69,995
• Engine: 5.0-litre V8, petrol
• Transmission: Eight-speed automatic, rear wheel-drive
• Power/torque: 470bhp/530Nm
• 0-60mph/top speed: 4.5s/167mph
• Economy/CO2: 25mpg/262g/km