.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
The new luxury Lexus GS comes with a six-speed automatic - and set of six 'steps' in the constantly-variable transmission used in the GS hybrid - even though its luxury rivals have mostly moved to seven and eight-speed automatics.
Lexus actually led the eight-speed shift with its flagship, the LS600h, and has since been joined by both Mercedes-Benz and BMW. But the new GS has missed out because of customer needs in the USA.
The company's product planning team gave higher priority to a giant new colour display in the dashboard, over-ruling the six-speed in a head-to-head assessment of the cost benefit in the new model.
"They decided buyers would be more interested in the dashboard display than the gearbox. So keen drivers have been left out," an industry source tells Carsguide.
Yet Lexus says keen drivers are the primary focus for the new GS, which is a much sharper tool than the previous model. A preview drive earlier this year, which will soon be backed by a Carsguide drive in the showroom model coming to Australia in March, shows that the Japanese luxury brand is committed to a new approach.
Even so, six speeds is less than the car deserves - and needs - and there are questions about the performance of the hybrid car in a class where it runs up against V8-powered rivals topped by the hero BMW M5 and Benz's E63 AMG.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
 copy.jpg)
Comments