Lexus GS 350

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What do you think of the GS 350? Anyone have one? I'm looking at a 2015 F Sport with 17000 miles. $30k. Fell into some money and the seats in the Camry are not so comfortable after an hour in the saddle. RWD.

Is the Acura RL worth a look in FWD?
 
I really like them and my preference would be for RWD. I would have figured the price to be higher than that but it seems to the going rate. Prob lower price because of the suv craze. I prefer them in lighter colors as they seem to age better as far as paint work goes.

The newer RL's are all wheel drive and to be avoided.
 
Family friend had one for a few years, guessing he probably leased it. Overall excellent car, lexus usually does a tremendous job.
 
My mother has a 2013 GS350 AWD and it's an absolutely amazing car. It's fun to drive as a Grand Touring car, plenty fast for what it is. Considering replacing Lauren's ES with a new or certified used GS.
 
I had a 2017 Lexus GS350 F-Sport. Unfortunately Toyota Motor Company had to buy the car back because there was an issue with my transmission. I would literally step on the accelerator and the car would do nothing for 3 seconds or so. They tried to fix it many times but nothing worked. So I had to lemon law it. Also a side note that car had so much creaking inside the cabin that it drove me nutty. An old man with arthritis has less creaking! I had all of 5000 plus miles on it before they bought the car back. This is probably an isolated incidence though as not any person on clublexus had this happen to them.

I now have a 2016 Acura RLX and absolutely love this car. Transmission shifts smooth(oh the irony) and no creaking! If you're thinking about buying the current generation RLX don't buy the P-AWS version. Lots of negative posts on acurazine about the P-AWS car and lousy suspension.
 
I just bought a 2013 GS350 F Sport from Putnam Lexus in Redwood City, CA (Silicon Valley). Just came in on trade...
58K miles, $22,300 including Lexus Certification, 2 years bumper-to-bumper warranty, unlimited mileage, including services.
We got a new 450h from them in Feb...

Drive the car. Bring your checkbook.
The only advice I can offer is, buy from a Lexus Dealer. They have the best cars and the certification is big.
They will work with you...

The GS, especially the F Sport, is a great car, perhaps the most reliable Lexus and that is saying something.
The F Sports are loaded.
 
I think the only Lexus products I'd avoid are the lower end IS series.
The newer RWD IS300's in particular are turbo'd 2.0 engines
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Leo, I picked up the 2013 F Sport on Friday; we drove it from Los Gatos to Petaluma yesterday (Saturday).
This car is fantastic.

 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Leo99
What do you think of the GS 350? Anyone have one? I'm looking at a 2015 F Sport with 17000 miles. $30k. Fell into some money and the seats in the Camry are not so comfortable after an hour in the saddle. RWD.

Is the Acura RL worth a look in FWD?


I would price new Lexus models at invoice and possible rebates before deciding to buy used. Take a look, may be worthwhile. I want a Lexus, a LFA. Too bad they are 300k+ and I dont fall into the category of having a 300k car. I'd buy a used LFA since thats all there is basically. Good luck, and good for you getting a sweet Lexus.
 
After commenting on this post my household has recently purchased a 2018 GS 350 to replace a 2004 ES330. Opted not to purchase an F Sport to avoid the prohibitively expensive front brake rotors and staggered summer performance tires. With the GF putting on ~25,000 miles a year a set of staggered performance tires would've required replacement yearly or sooner.

We were originally considering a L/Certified GS in a 2017/2018 model year because of the unlimited mileage 2 year warranty that stacks on the factory 4/50k bumper to bumper warranty. However we ended up purchasing a new 2018 with a Lexus 6/125k Platinum extended warranty (bumper to bumper) for $1,800 less than we could have purchased the used car for and no travel involved to obtain the new car added additional savings.

With haggling and $3,000 in Lexus rebates we ended up $9700 below MSRP on a new GS.

Couldn't be happier with the car, or the price we paid.
 
The GS series is a great "all arounder". If you want a comfortable cruiser that does everything well as a car, it is fantastic.

The problem with the GS series is that it is complete weak-sauce if you want it to be a "sports" or enthusiast model. The F-Sport is a sticker/appearance package, might get a tweaked suspension to make it "fluffy" rather than "jelly". I would say avoid the F-sport package as it is pricy and really does not change the dynamics of the car.

Basically, any entry level Genesis G80 will decimate GS equivalent (more power and slightly better dynamics) save for the GS F but at @90K, just by the BMW. The GS F is less about performance and more about an on-ramp pull. Still to much of a comfy cruiser than a M/AMG alternative.
 
Originally Posted By: FutureDoc
The GS series is a great "all arounder". If you want a comfortable cruiser that does everything well as a car, it is fantastic.

The problem with the GS series is that it is complete weak-sauce if you want it to be a "sports" or enthusiast model. The F-Sport is a sticker/appearance package, might get a tweaked suspension to make it "fluffy" rather than "jelly". I would say avoid the F-sport package as it is pricy and really does not change the dynamics of the car.

Basically, any entry level Genesis G80 will decimate GS equivalent (more power and slightly better dynamics) save for the GS F but at @90K, just by the BMW. The GS F is less about performance and more about an on-ramp pull. Still to much of a comfy cruiser than a M/AMG alternative.


F Sport is more than an appearance package, had it just been appearance based we would've purchased it as Lauren preferred the mesh grill and dash over the standard GS. F Sport gets larger 2 piece front rotors, staggered tire setup, adjustable suspension, and of course the cosmetic upgrades. None of those options add any power, none of those options get the car anywhere near the performance mark of an AMG or M. For us that's ok, we needed a reliable car that wasn't going to require costly repairs as it aged, the performance aspect wasn't really a selling point for us.

The GS is a grand touring car not a sport sedan. However compared to our hand me down ES the GS is a huge step up in terms of driving dynamics and sport feel. It's insanely comfortable as a cruiser and sporty enough to be amusing, it's also value priced in terms of purchase price and cost of ownership over 100,000 miles compared to a BMW or Benz. Lexus doesn't sell very many GS models likely because it's something of a niche market for them, the 5 series and E Class really dominate this segment Audi A6/7 to a lesser extent, however I wasn't comfortable taking a gamble on an Audi/BMW/Benz for a car we are likely to put 125,000 miles on in the next 5-6 years, certainly not without a warranty covering us that far. The Lexus has a 6/125 warranty that we'll likely never use but Lauren felt more comfortable having the warranty for the duration of the 60month car loan to minimize the risk of unplanned expenses.

We couldn't be happier with the car, we got a lot of car for the money, a 6/125k bumper to bumper warranty and bought it ~10k under sticker and ~10k cheaper than the European competition. It fits our needs.
 
I flat out love our GS350 F Sport. It is a blast to drive.
One day I will buy another.
Reliability (quality) is #1.
The vast majority of my friends who drive German complain about reliability and service cost.
One High Tech President called his MB S 5.5 the worst car he ever owned.
 
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Originally Posted By: JeffKeryk
I flat out love our GS350 F Sport. It is a blast to drive.

What does the F Sport package add over a regular GS350??? Thanks!

Scroll up. Staggered wheels and tires, uncomfortable springs, and an uglier body.

Also some "sporty" things like badges and contrast stitching.
 
Here's a few differences:

F Sport exterior styling and perforated leather–trimmed steering wheel
Variable gear-ratio steering
Naguri aluminum interior trim
F Sport 19-inch split-five-spoke forged alloy wheels with dark graphite finish
High-performance F Sport brakes
F Sport suspension tuning

Mine has the Mark Levinson package; I think most come loaded anyway.
Of course the F Sport option ain't cheap; something like $6K.
It just depends on what you want.

For me, this car is perfect. Your results may vary...
 
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