You'll hear all sorts of criticisms from the UK motoring press of the Lexus GS: harsh engine noise under acceleration, no charisma, no driving fun, vague steering, horrible transmission. I can say that after driving the length of the country in mine for 9 months, none of these criticisms has any validity. The engine is beautifully quiet. Under very hard acceleration you will then hear it but its nothing like as loud as a diesel. It cruises silently around town,and in fact uses less fuel in traffic than on the motorway. Overall I am averaging 45 - 46 mpg. On the open road the petrol engine and electric motor work constantly in tandem, and it beautiful cruiser. The build quality is very good with no squeaks or rattles and the tan leather interior in mine is gorgeous to look at. I find the electric steering just fine and the ride much better than in the previous GS model which I had until I swapped for this one. There's tyre noise on rough roads but probably about the same as in most other similar cars at this price level.I love the totally smooth transmission, and in a traffic jam you just put into drive and it creeps silently forward on its own.
So why does it get such a bad press. The answer is simple. in the real world (ie not the weird bubble inhabited by motoring journalists in their urge to push cars to extremes) we are all driving sensibly on overcrowded roads and what I need is a well made reliable and comfortable machine to take me where I am going in style. And thats what the GS is.
Nothings perfect though. I am not all that keen on the electric handbrake. I would like less tyre noise on course surfaces. The remote controller for the screen is OK but I can see that you have to learn how to work it. It doesn't have the same 0-60 time as a turbo-diesel, but do I care? Not one little bit!

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