First 1,000 miles Report on 2001 GS300 (Long!)
04-10-01 | 09:46 AM
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Racer
Joined: Apr 2001
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From: Northeast Ohio
As I was pulling into my office parking lot, the meter turned from 999 miles to 1,000 miles. I took a long look the misty rain coved the GS300 as I walked away from her, "Well, the real life and beauty of this GS is going to start today! My longest and shortest break-in period is finally came to end."
It has been three weeks since I took delivery this GS300. It has loaded with Nav., M/L audio, and all of the other goodies you could ever ask from Lexus. I decided with original 16" wheels with all season tires for the reason being I will use the car as my daily driving needs. There are so many things you could say about this car, but try put it into several paragraphs of writing is one of the difficult task I have ever encountered.
First of all, the performance. It is so well. The engine, transmission had been precisely tuned to give you the powerful and smooth. In fact, the 5 speed automatic is the best you could find in this class. I drove the car in varies road condition, include uphill, down hill, sharp turns, stop and go, and etc. I have not encountered any mis-shift or hunting for the right gear, the toque and power are always there when you needed. Now the E-shift, when I first try out E-shift on 98' GS400, I was a bit of disappointed. Especially, the delay fact, you never be able to up or down shift the precise moment you really wanted. IMHO, the toque converter in GS400 just not designed to optimize the manumatic transmission. With 2001 GS300, it become a totally different story. The response of E-shift is far responsive than before. Since with GS300, the toque curve is more flat than with GS400/GS430, there is a better range to smoothly shift gears with E-shift. It's quick and give you a excellent feeling as you drive the manual transmission. I used E-shift for cornering, passing traffic, engine break, and etc. It works out very well. In fact, about half of the first 1K miles, I used E-shift. With 2001 GS300, you will get more fun driving experiences with the E-shift. Traction Control and VSC are another highlight with GS300. During the first 1K miles, I have encountered heavy rain and six inches plus snow/ice storm, the GS300 performed so well. Even with all season tires, It feels as secure as my 99' RX300. I had posted a detail experience with VSC several weeks ago in this group, for those of you interested, you should be able to find it at www.listbot.com. Anti-lock break and Break Assist function performed equally as well as the rest of the car. Although I felt the break was a bit soft initially, but as soon as you get use to the car itself, it feels normal again. IMHO, it has a lot to do with the feel you had with your past car you drove, in my case, I had a ES300 since 1993. The steering feeling is excellent, especially, for me being from the front wheel drive ES300. All of the toque effect on steering wheel is gone. There is very little, in fact, it is hard to notice, there is any dead zone within the full range of steer. GS gives driver the very good steering feeling in terms of road feedback. I personally felt it is on the understeering side, but again, it could have to do with the way I had driven with my 93' ES300. I am sure with more time I spend with this car, the better feel I would get from it.
Now the luxury. It worth every penny with its new DVD based Nav. system. Not only its functionality, but also the new larger wide screen LCD readout. It is faster than last year and much more detailed as well. It has the better color and background for easy readout. The trip computer (which only come with Nav. system) is very useful and practical. With intergraded functions for A/C and audio control, it is very easy to operate and self explained. Even, without the manual, average person can operate the system with just few try. Overall, this system gives you a very rich hi-tech feeling without over whelming the whole interior environment. I have compare Lexus Nav. system with BMW, Acura and other after market products ranging for Alpine to Magellan, nothing comes close to Lexus Nav. system. M/L audio is another master piece with Lexus. It truly takes the car audio to anther level. I am not a big fun of bigger, expensive car audio, and always believe the car audio is something for rush hours and traffic report. I was moved when I first use M/L audio in my 2001 GS300. Not only by the advanced technology within it, such as RDS, ASL and wonderful Traffic Report, MSG function, but also the sound quality. It is something you have never experienced in car audio system. People always argue that you always could upgrade a better after market system, but my take on this is only Lexus craftsmanship will achieve such great system to be integrated as their own. The rest of the interior are typical Lexus finish, the quality of the material and workmanship are far ahead compare with other ones in this class, or even classes beyond. With Lexus, it would be a challenge to try pick out any unsatisfied quality issue.
Now, is there anything I dislike about this GS300? None! Anything could it be better? Yes. The Nav. audio should use a dedicate speaker and should have ASL (auto sound leveling) as well; the audio ASL gives too much of the boost some time, since Lexus is so quite, it is already "difficult" for me to perform the E-shift base on engine sound, with ASL, it is even more difficulty to hear the engine singing. But all of those could be easily cover come with the enjoyment you get with this car.
What's the conclusion? This is become emotional to describe. Here is what I told to my wife, "I had to break my promises what I said I will never have a love affair since I met you :-)".
It has been three weeks since I took delivery this GS300. It has loaded with Nav., M/L audio, and all of the other goodies you could ever ask from Lexus. I decided with original 16" wheels with all season tires for the reason being I will use the car as my daily driving needs. There are so many things you could say about this car, but try put it into several paragraphs of writing is one of the difficult task I have ever encountered.
First of all, the performance. It is so well. The engine, transmission had been precisely tuned to give you the powerful and smooth. In fact, the 5 speed automatic is the best you could find in this class. I drove the car in varies road condition, include uphill, down hill, sharp turns, stop and go, and etc. I have not encountered any mis-shift or hunting for the right gear, the toque and power are always there when you needed. Now the E-shift, when I first try out E-shift on 98' GS400, I was a bit of disappointed. Especially, the delay fact, you never be able to up or down shift the precise moment you really wanted. IMHO, the toque converter in GS400 just not designed to optimize the manumatic transmission. With 2001 GS300, it become a totally different story. The response of E-shift is far responsive than before. Since with GS300, the toque curve is more flat than with GS400/GS430, there is a better range to smoothly shift gears with E-shift. It's quick and give you a excellent feeling as you drive the manual transmission. I used E-shift for cornering, passing traffic, engine break, and etc. It works out very well. In fact, about half of the first 1K miles, I used E-shift. With 2001 GS300, you will get more fun driving experiences with the E-shift. Traction Control and VSC are another highlight with GS300. During the first 1K miles, I have encountered heavy rain and six inches plus snow/ice storm, the GS300 performed so well. Even with all season tires, It feels as secure as my 99' RX300. I had posted a detail experience with VSC several weeks ago in this group, for those of you interested, you should be able to find it at www.listbot.com. Anti-lock break and Break Assist function performed equally as well as the rest of the car. Although I felt the break was a bit soft initially, but as soon as you get use to the car itself, it feels normal again. IMHO, it has a lot to do with the feel you had with your past car you drove, in my case, I had a ES300 since 1993. The steering feeling is excellent, especially, for me being from the front wheel drive ES300. All of the toque effect on steering wheel is gone. There is very little, in fact, it is hard to notice, there is any dead zone within the full range of steer. GS gives driver the very good steering feeling in terms of road feedback. I personally felt it is on the understeering side, but again, it could have to do with the way I had driven with my 93' ES300. I am sure with more time I spend with this car, the better feel I would get from it.
Now the luxury. It worth every penny with its new DVD based Nav. system. Not only its functionality, but also the new larger wide screen LCD readout. It is faster than last year and much more detailed as well. It has the better color and background for easy readout. The trip computer (which only come with Nav. system) is very useful and practical. With intergraded functions for A/C and audio control, it is very easy to operate and self explained. Even, without the manual, average person can operate the system with just few try. Overall, this system gives you a very rich hi-tech feeling without over whelming the whole interior environment. I have compare Lexus Nav. system with BMW, Acura and other after market products ranging for Alpine to Magellan, nothing comes close to Lexus Nav. system. M/L audio is another master piece with Lexus. It truly takes the car audio to anther level. I am not a big fun of bigger, expensive car audio, and always believe the car audio is something for rush hours and traffic report. I was moved when I first use M/L audio in my 2001 GS300. Not only by the advanced technology within it, such as RDS, ASL and wonderful Traffic Report, MSG function, but also the sound quality. It is something you have never experienced in car audio system. People always argue that you always could upgrade a better after market system, but my take on this is only Lexus craftsmanship will achieve such great system to be integrated as their own. The rest of the interior are typical Lexus finish, the quality of the material and workmanship are far ahead compare with other ones in this class, or even classes beyond. With Lexus, it would be a challenge to try pick out any unsatisfied quality issue.
Now, is there anything I dislike about this GS300? None! Anything could it be better? Yes. The Nav. audio should use a dedicate speaker and should have ASL (auto sound leveling) as well; the audio ASL gives too much of the boost some time, since Lexus is so quite, it is already "difficult" for me to perform the E-shift base on engine sound, with ASL, it is even more difficulty to hear the engine singing. But all of those could be easily cover come with the enjoyment you get with this car.
What's the conclusion? This is become emotional to describe. Here is what I told to my wife, "I had to break my promises what I said I will never have a love affair since I met you :-)".
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