Test Drive: 2013 Lexus GS 450h

By Kevin Harrison

The winter Olympics are up next in 2014 and there are a few sports I already know I won’t watch. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching almost all the winter Olympic sports, but there are certain ones where the outcome has already been decided. I’m not talking about dirty judges, I’m talking about the same old countries dominating the same old sports. Take short track speed skating for example. I know who will be on the podium for that one. It will be South Korea, the United States and China – not necessarily in that order, but it will be those countries that make up the top three. It always is.

The same goes for cars. Open up any car magazine from almost any year after 1989 and you will find it. It’s always there, or at least referenced to: The inevitable three way battle between the Germans for best sport luxury sedan. And since the vehicle lineups of the big three German companies almost mimic each other completely, it’s quite easy to do the comparison. For decades BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz have alternated the crown in segment. Sure, there are other contenders but you already know the top three before opening the front cover.

At the Olympics, Canada is usually a contender, especially in speed skating. But we always seem to come fourth and it always seems to be by a hair. Lexus knows a little too well what that feels like. The brand first emerged in 1989 and has done quite well for itself considering it’s still a young buck in its early 20’s. But it has commanded respect in the luxury segment – something Acura and Infiniti desperately wish they could achieve even today, despite their impressive product offering as well.

But Lexus is a lot like Canada in this regard. They have the goods, but never seem to crack the top three. Lexus is hoping to change that with the newly redesigned GS, now into its fourth generation.

Does it finally have what it takes to make a podium finish?

I always thought a big problem with Lexus was their rather inconsistent and unimaginative styling. For me, slapping the L badge on a generic body style just wasn’t good enough. The brand needed a corporate identity. Well, now it has it with the supposed ‘spindle’ grille. This hour glass shaped grille has made its way on almost every new Lexus for 2013 and that matched with LED running lights gives Lexus its equivalent to BMW’s kidney grille matched with halo ring running lights. The end result on the GS is fantastic, in fact, I think the look works best on the GS of all the Lexus models. Aside from the new front end, the look is much more conservative, especially from the rear where the lack of exposed exhaust tips and a little too Toyota looking tail lights reside. However as an executive sedan, it certainly looks the part.

Actually, while on the topic of the tail lights I have a pretty big gripe with them, specifically the brake lights. I’m probably one of the few performance enthusiasts that actually holds safety to the same priority and I must say there is a serious issue with the brake lights not illuminating quickly enough. Yes, they are LED brake lights which, by definition, illuminate quicker than conventional bulbs, but the only way to get them to illuminate at all is if you brake fairly hard to come to a stop. If you are merely braking to slow down, they will not illuminate. How could I possibly know that, you ask? Well at night, you can tell when the centre mounted brake light is illuminated just by checking in your rear view mirror. Also, I tested this out by backing the GS against a store window to confirm. This is extremely dangerous for the people driving behind you since they get no warning that you are slowing down. In fact, the problem is even worse in stop and go traffic since it’s possible to stop the GS completely at low speeds without the brake lights coming on at all. An inattentive driver behind you could easily cause an accident as a result of this – in fact I did notice a few drivers behind me reacting as if they were braking suddenly, which is what prompted me to check the brake lights in the first place. Again, I’m probably the only automotive journalist in the world that would notice/care about such things, but I hope this is something that will be addressed in the very near future.

So, back to the more positive things to talk about with the GS, not least of which is its interior. It’s classy in terms of design and I especially like that Lexus finally decided to redesign their centre stack. Yes, it is conservative with its flat-styled layout, however it almost stands out since every other automaker is into curved and slanted layouts now. Basically it’s modern yet simple and very well executed in terms of materials, as you’d expect from a Lexus. The brown leather interior is actually quite nice to my eye, my only concern is the lack of rear legroom, especially considering the GS’ size and the fact that the rear seats don’t fold, but that can be blamed on the battery pack. However, Lexus stacked the battery vertically which allowed for a bit more trunk space.

The Drive Select is Lexus’ answer to BMW’s iDrive system. While these sorts of systems are cool at first, they are immensely distracting while driving and overly complicated. Lexus’ computer mouse-like centre switch is rather sensitive, and the most frustrating part of my experience was the apparent inability to switch from station to station on satellite radio. Apparently you can only switch within music genres and once you’ve exhausted all your choices within a certain genre, it then switches to the next genre. You can’t just go from channel 42 to 43 to 44 for instance, or at least I was not able to figure out how.

The GS 450h is the top trim level in the GS lineup and that little ‘h’ signifies that it’s a hybrid. How could the top trim level possibly be a hybrid? Well because it’s actually the most powerful in the lineup. It generates 338 horsepower – 286 from the internal combustion engine and an extra 41 from the electric motor. Yes, I am well aware that that does not add up to 338 horsepower, however if you switch into Sport mode, the voltage system in the electric motor is boosted which bumps up the power to 52 horsepower.

There are actually four modes to choose from when driving. There’s Eco, Normal, Sport and Sport+. In Eco mode, throttle input is noticeably reduced and there is increased cooling to the power control unit. In addition, it maxes out the electric motor’s capacity to 500 volts and the regenerative braking ability expands. Very rarely did I find myself in this mode because the GS operates as any normal hybrid would: slow and boring.

Normal mode is, well, pretty normal. There is an adequate amount of power. Sport mode churns out the extra juice from the electric mode, while Sport+ keeps the extra power but engages the adaptive suspension and shocks. I drove 90% of the time in Sport+ mode because, well, I just couldn’t help it. The GS has been lightened with improved rigidity, and that combined with the added power, stiffer suspension and actual steering feedback to the driver meant you could have fun more often than not. And I did. A lot of fun. The GS uses a CVT transmission which is usually the bane of my existence but this one is actually quite strong. There are paddle shifts which allow for very quick and crisp gear changes.

The GS feels quite stable in the corners, although it doesn’t carve them quite with the same grace as a Porsche 911, you can toss the GS 450h about in Sport+ mode all day long with confidence. Body roll is minimal, however if you get a bit too carried away it will, oddly enough, start to under steer which I’m guessing is due to the extra weight up front.

I’ve driven plenty of cars with different ‘mode’ options and none of them vastly changed the drive of a car as much as the GS 450h. The difference between Eco mode and Sport+ is astounding and I’m not necessarily suggesting that Eco mode is bad. It just felt like a completely different car at the flick of a switch.

So, being a hybrid fuel consumption numbers are especially important and I’m pleased to report that, despite me keeping it in Sport+ mode more often than not, the GS 450h returned 7.9L/100 kms in real world city/highway combined driving. Considering this car’s size, power, weight and performance ability, that is truly impressive. That’s about Toyota Camry levels of efficiency. Kudos to Toyota for proving that efficiency doesn’t necessarily yield to fun.

In fact, with this car, Lexus has proved that they are podium finish worthy. I am, admittedly, a pretty big German car fan and I can safely say that this car has what it takes to roll with the big bratwursts. It has efficiency, power, performance, good looks, luxury and finesse. It also now has its own unique identity. Were it not for its ridiculous price, I’d say that Lexus has produced clear winner in the luxury sport sedan segment.

So, the GS proved that Germany isn’t necessarily guaranteed all the accolades. It has what it takes to be a winner. And by the same token, the GS 450h has made me reconsider about watching sports with some of those typical winners at the Olympics. It proves that really, this is anyone’s game.

Price: $66,780

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