ejvette

Consumer reports added the GS350 to there recommended list as of last month.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

wow really? i hope that's good news, haha

coreyco

Yeah, but for the first time I can remember, they added a Lexus to the "Used Cars to Avoid" list: '07 GS350 AWD

bozer

Jesus that is bad news. I can't believe I finally buy a Lexus (07) and now it has tons of problems that aren't being fixed

dunnojack

must be the 1 ft high front wheel gap

twister

No, 4x4 wheel gap of AWD was mentioned in "Used car to avoid... for future performance mods"

Um, does anybody even care about CR anymore? I thought that people who do look into CR ratings are usually not in a market for new luxury cars that cost ridiculous amount of money and loose half of their value in the first few years

LexFather

lol

Sometimes I think they just put a random Lexus on the "do not" list to seem not biased. Correct me with I am wrong but we haven't seen any influx of issues with AWD only owners. So where is this coming from?

Did more AWD owners return data cards?

twister

It all goes back to geographic location. AWD sold on East Coast in "cold snow" states. That's where we get chance to experience luxurious squeaks and rattles in cold weather. For GS, I don't believe there any mechanical/electrical issues (unlike Mercedes and BMW that usually at the bottom of CR list of reliability due to electrical problems). Its always build quality which exhibits its flaw in cold weather. For ES models, I'm sure they are going to see more infamous 3rd/4th gear tranny flare problem...

The G Man

Mercedes and BMW are actually above average in reliability according to JD power. Consumer report have lost creditbilities with me in recent year, what has change in th GS since 07 to 08 or 09 that makes one car recommanded and the other one not. I know the rattles and the brakes havent been fix, mechanically all 3 year is the same.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i thought the biggest problem is the tranny in awd. wasn't there a report about potential issues on the tranny on camry, es350, and gs350 awd?

socalJD

I don't take CR for absolute gospel, but its still a good data point. CR is still independent, that is they pay for all the items they review/test, unlike the car rags that rely on handouts and gifts from car mfrs, thus their obvious biases. CR is spot on for consumer goods like software, cameras, refrigerators, etc.

Re: the 3GS awd, I believe CR takes a rolling 3 yr avg on the reliability of the car, thus they often don't rate a new model or major redesign initially. IIRC the initial GS awd suffered from widespread transmission vibrations that caused CR to ding it for reliability - it was so bad it brought the overall Lexus brand rank down from prior yrs. It must be a #s game, because I personally no several folks that had the infamous Honda/Acura tranny issue, and I have yet to see Honda/Acura take a hit in reliability for it . . .

twister

In 2006 when Toyota introduced their new 6-speed automatic FWD (used on Camry and ES350) - that's when all the tranny problems started (as sever as early issue with reversed o-ring that brought some cars to a dead stop).. Avalon was 5-speed and wasn't affected. GS350AWD is based off RWD design (70/30 split biased toward rear), not FWD. I lived thought that ES350 nightmare and 2 replaced tranny's both of which had 3rd/4th gear shift flare problem, in addition to wind noise and poor workmanship (misaligned front/rear doors). 3GS early '06 models seems to have a lot of inside rattling. My '07 only has occasional dashboard squeaks during cold temp below 30s. I don't think rattling was widespread after first year introduction of 3GS. So really, the only major issue is these squeaking brakes. For example, I had my original one for 5k until I replaced with dustless brakes. And it wasn't really an issue until approx 20k-25k. A number of other people have these even with original pads. There is really nothing much to complain about 3GS, specifically AWD. The only complain is big front wheel gap, but its really not an issue and comes very handy when you are snowed in I do have high hopes Lexus will come up with TSIB for squeaking brakes soon...

dunnojack

they should give us complementary brembo brakes.