flunkie

Hi ... My 94 Chrysler New Yorker finally bit the dust and I have been shopping for a new car. I have been test driving cars for 2 weeks now and my head is spinning. I narrowed the choices down to the Audi A6 and the Lexus GS 350 AWD and I have finally decided on the GS 350 AWD.

The problem is the 2 dealers near me in NJ only have 1 or 2 cars on the lot to view. They got 100 ES's (nice car for the money) but only 1 or 2 GS's.

I am thinking of getting the Black (Obsidian) or the Silver (Mercury Metallic). I am not sure of the interior either, the Ash/Black Bird's-Eye Maple or the Black/Red Walnut.

I think I am leaning toward the Mercury Metallic, Black/Red Walnut combo but I keep going back and forth. I wish they just had a some cars on the lot with the combinations I am interested in so I can see them together. I thought I would be able to just walk through a lot and check out all the combination's but that does not seem to be the case with only 2 GS's on the lot.

Is there any diference in the body styles of the GS 450/430/350AWD/350RW besides the wheels ?

Does anyone have any pics of their 2007 GS color combination's they could post especially the combinations I am considering.

I know I want the 18-in G-Spider alloy wheels !

QUESTION: Has anyone had any problems with the Spider wheels ? Should I stick with the run-flats (I see complaints in the forum about them) or should I see what other tires the dealer could provide ?

Does anyone have any pics of their GS with these Spider wheels ?

I am going to get the Navigation System with backup camera and most of the other goodies but was not gonna get the Mark Levinson upgrade. The basic system sounded ok to me. The upgrade didn't seem worth the big chunk of dough.

QUESTION: Does the basic GS CD player play MP3's burned on a CD-R CD ? Dealer seemed confused when I asked him about this.

Another concern I have about the GS is the head room. Head room seemed to be tight on all the cars I test drove. I think maybe it is that I am just used to my big Chrysler NY'er and that I will get used to the tighter cabins of the newer cars.

I also read in this forum about a hump in the drivers seat on the GS 350 AWD. What's that all about. I didn't feel anything on the 1 GS 350 AWD I got to test drive.

Another question I have is do all GS's have the fin on the roof ? I see pics of some without. Just curious, keep forgetting to ask the dealer about this.

One dealer gave me a price quote of 45K for the GS 350 AWD with out the Mark Levinson upgrade. The Spider wheels would be another 2200. Seemed like a good deal but again I would have to order the car, none on the lot to view and help me make up my mind.

Hopefully I will make a decision soon and purchase the dam car (ha) !

Thanks in advance for any help or advice !

Jace7

I will post some of my pics this week. I have the silver / black, maple combo.
very nice in my mind! I will take some pics of the wheels and color combo and all probably thursday.
There is NOTHING different between the models besides the wheels exterior wise....
All of the new 07+ GS's come with the fin.... EXCEPT for the gs450h. don't know why, but they don't. I was told this was to differentiate the cars, but I don;t see why it wouldn't have it.. oh well, no matter, I don't like the look of the fin anyways, and I have the xm antenna inside....

45K, sounds very reasonable... Wish mine cost that..

About the driver's seat hump, yes it is there if you are talking about the AWD. There is a slight 2 inch or so hump, that you will get used to within a month of driving the car, so it really becomes a non issue.

I'm 6'2 I have enough room in the car....Yes I agree there might not be as much headroom as other cars out there, if you mess with the seat enough you should find a spot where you are fine. I prefer to have the visor on my sun roof open... not the window open, just the visor, and with it open, I have enough room. With it closed, my hair brushes the roof panel.... But still no complaints from me. I knew this when I bought the car.

Hope I answerd some of your questions.

mel's-gs

I have the Mercury Metallic w/black and red walnut interior. I think it's beautiful. I've had many compliments. I was also torn between the black and silver. In the end, being a bit of a clean freak scared me away from the black exterior. I need a new camera so I can't post pics yet. The headroom is fine for me, and I'm not aware of an issue with the driver's seat hump. Sorry.

dexlex62

Flunkie,
The hump is not in the seat of the AWD it's on the floor here is the link with pics

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...light=AWD+HUMP

flunkie

Thanks guys for the quick replies !

I drove an hour and a half to another dealer today. Didn't even care that it was sunday and they were closed. I was hoping that they at least had some GS's on the lot. They only had 1 GS 350 AWD in white with the black interior and low and behold the door was even open so I got to sit in it and get a feel for the Black/Red Walnut combo interior. The hump on the floor is not gonna be a issue. The head room is a minor issue as I like to sit up high but it looks like I will have to adjust (teach an old dog new tricks) and sit lower then I am used to. They also had a black 350 RWD with the black/Red Walnut combo interior and 2 450H's in Silver with the black/Red Walnut combo interior.

I have decided that I want the Silver with the black/Red Walnut combo interior with the 18-in G-Spider alloy wheels. Now I just have to find a GS 350 in the AWD version. I have hit all the dealers within reasonable range of my house so I guess I will just go to the dealer closest to my house (where the car would be serviced) armed with the 45K quote from the other dealer and see if he can locate me one or just order it and wait.

I think from reading this forum that the standard CD player will play all the MP3 CD-R's I used to play in my NY'er which had an after market CD/MP3 player in it.

Great Forum ... Thanks again guys !

twister

I too also have Silver/Black combo. You probably got a glimse of it in that "hump" thread which I posted originally. Don't worry about hump, in a couple of weeks you will forget about it. The color combo is very sporty!!! Plus, its easy to take care of Silver exterior since it doesn't show as much dirt, and Black interior naturally hides the dirt. Make sure to get winter mats. $45k is a very good price for a package you requested. I have a stock 17" w/runflats, and not too crazy about those. Wheels are OK, but can't wait to change tires in a year or so. From others w/AWD and 18", combination seems to work great. Just keep in mind, going to bigger wheel will result in lower profile tires and more "feel" for the road. From what I heard, NY'er is more of a cruiser soft ride, so you if you want to keep a softer ride might wonna stick wtih 17" and A/S tires. And, last but not least, yes you will get 6 CD changer which plays MP3 CDRs and CDRWs.

Where in NJ are you at? Try Ray Catena, they might have a bigger selection. But, I'm not sure...

EXP_Cougar

Regarding MP3s burned onto CD-Rs, yes, it plays it with no problems.

mel's-gs

Good choice!

mattvds

I am also looking at a GS purchase, and I went to the dealership this weekend. They only had 1 GS350, (which I didn't even get to test drive, because somone bought it while I was test driving the 450h). They had about 20 450h's and all of them had shark fins on them... Maybe it was dealer installed?

Jace7

Very interesting......

My dealership said that all but the 450h's had the fins...

Don't know now... Mine is an 07, and I don't have a fin....
oh well. happy it doesn't

Modeler

My 450h is 2007 as well and did not have a fin. The dealer installed a tiny black antenna on top of the trunk, near the front edge of it.

ServerTech

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sbrown02

Ditto and welcome to the forum flunkie.

flunkie

Ordered my Mercury Metallic / Black Red Walnut interior GS 350 AWD today . Went to my local dealer armed with the lowest quote from the other dealers that have been calling me every 5 minutes and they matched the numbers.

The car is due in the end of this month or the beginning of next month. The only problem was it had the extra ML upgrade which I was not gonna get but I couldn't wait any longer. These cars are in short supply, was lucky to get this one.

I got the car for 47K which I was told is $700 over invoice. The 18in G-Spider wheels with Michelin tires cost me another $1940 (their cost I was told). When the car comes in they are going to put on the Spider/Michelin wheels, take the Run flats off the stock wheels and put them back in stock and I get to keep the stock rims as spares.

ServerTech ... that interior looks like a dark gray, is it the lighting ? The black interior I saw was black black. Like the interior in your picture better (ha).

Does anyone have the G-Spider wheels on their GS. Would love to see some pic's of how they look.

It's gonna be a long couple of weeks ... can't wait !!!

chuckf99

yeah, that is a great price...i just took delivery of my 350 awd, navi, park assist, ML, for $47900...so you did great!