2018 Lexus GS 300 4-door Sedan

2018 Lexus GS 300 4-door Sedan

An Automotive Love Affair
By Joe Mavilia

Overview:

This is the 2018 Lexus GS 300 4-door Sedan(2018-year model name changed from GS 200t).

Few will disagree there is a nostalgia for cars of the early by-gone days but,clearly,all cars are far better today. And although competition is good for we consumers, I’d be ok with fewer brands. It’s likerestaurantswith long all-inclusive menus that give me more choices to choose from than I would like and too many confuses me.

Lexus cars are a delight to drive, and if this oneis within your transportation budget it will be a tough choice considering all the great cars on the menu. Some list the GS 300 in the middle of the ‘pack’, being topped by BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz. Surely, I agree the Germans put out a quality product, but my experience in owning a German and Italian auto repair business, leads me to take exception with some pundits. My bitch is simple – those same German cars are particularly expensive to maintain, topped by BMW. SO – I wouldn’t rank the Germans above the Japanese car makers because of that.

If you read my column regularly you know I have been test driving a lot of Toyota / Lexus cars over the past months. In my opinion, based on critiquing many, is they are consistently good cars across all models tested.

General Information:

Assembly- Japan; Classification is- Midsize; Vehicles from Lexus- CT, ES,GS, GX, IS, LC, LS, LX, NX, RC, RX.

Handling & Performance:

Twin Turbo acceleration is on the top of my list of performance aids, especially when you have a smaller displacement engine. To me, 4-cylinder engines make more sense in recent years, even though I grew up with muscle cars that Detroit carmakers conditioned us to believe in.That was when gas was $.19 a gallon here in the US, while Europe was hugely more expensive. To keep it in perspective, today US gas prices are around $3.50 / gal. while the same gallon of gas would cost over $13.00. My point is that European car makers were forced to be more interested in fuel efficiency than in the US.

With the benefit of forced induction (turbocharging) manufactures are moving rapidly toward more efficient 4-cylinder engines. Turbo technology coupled with VVT (variable valve timing), and direct injection of the fuel is what makes 4-cylinder engines possible and desirable. The racing world has made all this innovation a reality as they have pushed the envelope over the life of the industry. Some of the fastest cars, btw, are 4-cylinder engines.

Styling:

Lexus is not afraid of bold and innovative styling. Love it.

Fit and Finish:

Always great attention to detail at Lexus.

Cost:

Not cheap to buy, but you get what you pay for, and the cost of repairs is less than the German offerings.

Conveniences and comfort:

Perfect. More and more great features are found on higher end (higher cost) cars and depending on your threshold of financial pain you can pretty much have all the cool stuff available on cars these days.

There are a few downsides to this vehicle and one is its convoluted infotainment controls. The display is not a touch screen, and most settings are accessed using a distracting mouse-like controller.

Consumer Recommendations:

You can either test drive them all or hang this list on the wall and throw darts. You can’t go all that wrong either way. All these ladies are alluring but I’m partial to blonds so that doesn’t narrow the field much. But then come to think of it Kimberly Guilfoyle is hot too. OK, so I don’t have a problem testing them all.

Recognised Competition:

Good News:

Fast, fun, elegant and beautiful.

Bad News:

N/A

Standard Equipment:

2.0 liter inline 4-cylinder 241 horsepower twin turbo engine, 8-speed automatic transmission with steering wheel mounted manual shifters, drive mode select with ECO/Normal/Sport modes, ABS power braking system with electronic brake force distribution, 17” alloy wheels, tire pressure monitor, 10 airbags, stability control, dynamic integrated management, blind spot monitor with cross traffic alert, back up monitor, pre collision system, pedestrian detection, all speed dynamic radar cruise control, high beam automatic system, lane departure alert with steering assist and lane keep assist, perforated leather seating with driver memory system, power tilt and telescopic steering column with auto tilt away, smart access with push button start / stop, leather wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, power tilt and slide moonroof, power folding mirrors, climate control, audio system with advanced voice recognition, HD radio, DVD/CD player, Bluetooth, USB audio plug and Sirius XM satellite radio.

Gas Stats:

22 City and 32 Highway MPG

$3.49/ Gal avg. June 24, 2018

www.fueleconomy.gov
for more information.

Pricing:

MSRP $46,310.