99540auto

mrsypher i am in your boat : ) I tottaled a 328 when i was 20 so i have a stiffling insurance bill as well

hmm e-shift sounds like fun maybe i should go take a look at that
any pros and cons on e-shift? Any body know about certified preowned lexus program .. is it good?

JAC JZS

I agree 100,000,000%

MrSypher

E-Shift is great... That is one of my favorite things about my car... It's almost like it's manual but you know, with no clutch... I always use it whenever I'm driving.. I asked Lexus over here if I could use it too much and they said no... And then they said if I blow my tranny they'll replace it under warranty...

RacingAristo

I switched from 97 M3 to 01 GS430.

jefe

e-shift is awesome. you can take it all the way to the rev limiter and it'll stay in the gear you have selected. i like staying in a certain gear for a turn or in traffic. my only complaint is that there is no 1st gear selection. i think it would be cool to be able to select first gear when accelerating, but not decelerating (for smoothness).

MrSypher

If you could shift into 1st then Lexus would be fixing tranny's like crazy... IMO it was a smart move....

meanboy

That many dealers are open 24x7?

whitels

Welcome 99540auto

Let's put it this way....if there was no GS, most of us would probably be driving a 5 series.

ShowGSLuVv

My friend has a 540i and we switched rides for about ten minutes, i'll admit his car does "feel" faster then mine but I thought of a couple reasons this might be, 1) more road feel, stiffer suspension 2) harder seats and are shaped different. just like when ur in a GS and if ur sitting straight up and u WOT it doesn't feel as fast as if u lean the seat kinda far back and WOT. He was really comlimentin my car and said how nice it was, in my opinion and I dont mean to offend anyone here, the difference between the 540i and GS430 is like Anolog and Digital. The BMW is very basic, though it does drive nice, the GS can drive the same way with a much more quieter cabin smoother Engine and the fact that u can drive the car to **** till 200k miles and it'll still run very very good

ShOwGS

jefe

no, i mean you should be able to keep it in 1st from a stop. once you got to 2nd gear or above then it should behave like it does now.

right now, if i want to keep it in 1st, then i practically have to floor it from the get go.

DrRick

either that 530 was on 'roids or you have one weak 430. the other doctor in the clinic has a 530i, all options. now granted, his car handles better than my carused to handle, but thats been taken care of. the engine is positively anemic. maybe im used to the grunt of V8, but that car feltslow. he no longer uses his nav, b/c it is garbage and now some of the electronic gremlins have started to rear their head. the only 5 series that i would consider would be the //M.


Doc

apatel

I test drove a 330ci after buying my GS4 and was not impresssed with its power and due to its weight, the 330ci should be faster than a 530i. I like the power of my GS4 much better. Yes, the steering is still more precise than mine even though I have the ltuned ecu and the handling is better too but there is no way that the 530i can be faster than a gs4/gs430 especially since we have all that v8 torque.

RON430

For those who were wondering, it is Fremont Lexus. Stevens Creek Lexus is closer for me but they had a considerable wait for appointments and (purely my opinion) a bit of a snooty attitude and Fremont Lexus can normally schedule an appointment the next day if needed. But it is the hours that really sink it for me. It is great to be able to let the traffic settle down and go in and get your car on your schedule.

If the GS weren't available would we all be driving 5's? Interesting question but for me the answer would be no. Two issues that haven't been brought up are room and comfort. Being on the large side, the 5 is just not that comfortable to me and feels cramped. It is easy to see how close it is to the 3 if you sit in them one after the other. The other thing is the seats. I never really noticed when I had the bimmers that the seats were hard but you keep hearing that complaint. Well, I tried all the new bimmers when shopping for the GS, and have subsequently tried the new 7, and I have to agree, the seats in bimmers are just too hard for my liking. Now, the GS seats may lack grip, still miss Recaro's, and there might be some two thousand dollar optional seats in the bimmer that are better, but for me the stock seats just don't do it anymore. Final issue is that when you are shopping, the GS4 does not compete with the 540, it competes price wise with the 530 and after having driven both I have to agree, anyone who says a 530 is faster than a GS4 was in a heavily modded 530 and/or a very sick GS4. It is not close.

meanboy

how much faster is a 530 over a 528? The 528 is just a little quicker then a GS3 and you guys know the GS3 is a boat. I speak from experience!

lexguynj

The 530 just feels faster offline, maybe because it just revs high right from the start. Obviously the Lexus V8 is more powerful, but don't discount a 530, since it is fast and if you like the growling of an engine over a refined Lexus V8, then this is the car for you. Of course the GS4 is in a different league then the 530, but the GS4 stock is missing the handling and steering capabilities that is expected at this level of car.