I spent 6 months looking for a used RELIABLE luxury car that can do 40,000 -50,000 of highway KM yearly without bankrupting me (No, I am not an Uber driver); It was between Genesis G80 and Lexus GS ( initially was looking for Lexus Ls460 but never find one that was in WA where I Live) ; Turns out that the genesis g80 cars I ve tried had a weird chassis vibration issues at highway speeds which turns out to be a well known problem according to my local Hyundai dealer.
I Bought a used a lexus GS450H used with 50,000km on the clock after my W204 c200 Mercedes was written off after a Mercedes dealership crashed it .
Drove about 6000 km in 6 weeks mainly highway Kms. .Long story short, It is a great car as a used car but no way I would be paying near 120,000$ for it new.
1. interior: front seats are not very comfortable, I find the leather a bit hard and feels like the seat frame is made for small bodies and if you are a bit over weight like myself you would be ok but not super happy; This is a 120,000 sedan, ONE HAVE TO BE HAPPY
Everything else in the interior is super high quality, elegant and well organized. There is button for everything .
2 Exterior: This car is a the queen of understated luxury. No one would ever recognize that this is an expensive car. you would not attract an unwanted attention.
very cohesive design
3 Engine: 3.5 litre direct and port injected running Atkinson cycle naturally aspirated .. sounds good, smooth . It is basically an advanced version of usual 3.5 Toyota corporate engine . should be realiable but may be not to the extent of the regular base version with port injection only running Otto cycles .
4: planetary gear set, super smooth but no shifts, like a CVT but without the rubber band effect.
I personally would ve preferred an 8 speed ZF box
5 cabin Isolation:
There is a weird omission: no double Pan side window glass !
.the cabin is well insulated form wind noise and engine noise but may be the tyre noise is a bit too prominent for a lexus. It had a set of Dunlop max sports which i replaced with Pirelli all seasons and that helped, but only partially.
6 Ride:
I have a general opinion about Lexus in general ( i also own an RX 350)
they excel at making soft riding cars. using relatively simple suspension technology with no air suspension or any crazy adjustable dampers ( magnetic ride , looking at you GM) and that make their cars reliable. BUT ,
They are crap at imitating the Germans in making sporty riding cars and that what happened with the GS.
This is a E Class competitor with double wishbone front suspension, independent rear and adjustable dampers but no Air suspension. the Car is pushing 1900 Kg with one of the shortest wheels base sin the mid sized luxury car segment and this gives you a confused ride. The ride is not soft enough ( like the ES or even the LS) but also not sporty like the 5 series and that leaves something to desire which is not acceptable for a 120,000 luxury barge.
This car desperately needed Air suspension to compensate for the heavy weight and short wheel base.
7 hybrid system and fuel economy:
reliable, 8 years warranty on hybrid components from Lexus.
fuel economy is 6.3 l / 100 Km; My W204 Mercedes C200 was doing 8 l/100 km
no complains ; very happy .
8 Tyres 235/ 40/19
tyres too low profile, car sensitive to flat spotting;
Lexus please stop imitating the Germans with super low profile ; I think more side wall would have helped the ride a lot
ISSUES:
1. steering wheel pulling to the left constantly which was not fixed by wheel alignments and balancing at 2 different shops
2 Active cruise control: when a car in front of me on the highway comes into my radar range the car starts to accelerates and decelerates repeatedly, ever so slightly, till it reaches to the desired distance behind that car then it settles .I ve compared that to few other Lexus active cruise control systems (albeit on an older 2011 model RX) which was very smooth unlike my car.
I hope I was informative enough and did well on my first ever car review
2023 Lexus RZ450e review: Preview drive
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