Originally Posted by lexusmavin

The missing auto trunk closer is mentioned as item 'C'. For me, however, the elimination of the retracting mirrors is a much bigger issue. It was actually useful to have.

Originally Posted by rominl

so just because audi or some other brands suck, then it's ok for lexus to have these problems? what kind of mentality is that?! i surely hope lexus doesn't work that way. while i am personally confident that lexus is taking notes and they are trying to fix all the loose ends as fast as possible, it doesn't take away fact that some of these are bugs. sometimes it doesn't hurt to simply face your problems.

Originally Posted by dseag2

You misunderstood my comments. I am buying a GS350, and I'm a many-time Lexus owner. ('01 GS300, '03 SC430, '03 GS300, '06 SC430) Look at my signature and look at when I joined CL.

Please do not treat my comments like those of a fanboy from Audizine. I wasn't saying we need to accept something inferior from Lexus because Audi offers it. If anything, I was making a comment about the stupid setup in the S5. Audi owners acknowledge it in the forums. I am trading my S5 for a GS350. Clearly, I think the Lexus is superior.

Originally Posted by rominl

i am in no way thinking of you that way at all, not one bit. i also like lexus a lot, i have had 6 lexus in the past 10 years. in fact i think that's why i have high standard of lexus and i think you are like that too.

all i am trying to say is whatever other manufacturers do (bad), it shouldn't be excuses for lexus to relax. that's the standard lexus held very tight from 1989 till around 2006. they dropped the ball for the following years and now they start to tighten it up again. german cars always have some weird little things here and there, my goodness i surely don't hope to see that on any lexus

Originally Posted by Rexus300

I think some people are not good with gadgets or too old to comprehend the complexities of the later cars and complain too much. Seriously. You bought a new car get used to it or wait for a while to get the software issues updated.

Originally Posted by lexusmavin

Blue text added on 3-14-2012
I had previously owned a 2006 and 2008 GS350. I have had my new GS350 (with the Luxury and Cold Weather packages, and Blind Spot monitor) for nearly two weeks and as nice a looking and riding a car that it is; I am disappointed in a number of respects related to downgrades (relative to the previous-generation GS) and missed opportunities to "pursue perfection".
Here are the "warts" as I see them:
1. Too many menu-driven option on the screen are distracting and hard to navigate. I would have preferred a more balanced use of direct-access buttons. The Lexus "mouse" works but can be a source of frustration. Is this a case of technology running a muck?
2. The Bluetooth link to my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy SII; SGH-I777) is temperamental and unstable. It takes many pairing iterations to get it to work right and upload the phone's contacts to the GS. Once it works, it stays working, though, but it is painful to get there. For comparison, the same phone linked and worked perfectly with my former 2008 GS350. I have since learned that the phone's Bluetooth capability must be previously enabled when starting the car. If the car is on and the phone's Bluetooth is enabled second, the connection is established but the contacts are not transferred
3. The climate system does not "remember" my preferences and resets to "Auto" OFF and defaults to 75 degrees after the car is turned off and on again. I was told that the car was "designed" to work that way. Who thought that one up? So, every time I get in, I have to reconfigure the climate settings before getting down to the business of driving??!! We are having very warm weather on the East Coast and now the climate control defaults to OFF every time the care is restarted.
4. The voice recognition is as "lame" as the one in the older GS
5. Still, a third-party navigation device out performs the factory unit.
6. I cannot get the Pandora app on my Galaxy Sii phone to play through the car's Bluetooth connection. The GS's App tab does not populate with the link to Pandora. If I'm doing something wrong here, I can't figure it out. Or, it's one more thing that does not work.

Some of the downgrades from the 2008 GS that I will miss:
A. Retracting side mirrors. This was a unique and valuable feature that had saved me many times in tight public garages, as well as my own garage.
B. The hinged door pocket panel. A nice usability feature that made getting things in and out of the pocket very easy.
C. Automatic trunk latch. Also very nice touch that is now gone.
D. The new analog clock is nice but is not synchronized with the GPS system clock as was the case in "older" GS350. It would have been nice to have the option to display a digital clock on the steering wheel's display screen. That would also minimize head movement to see what time it is.

Don't get me wrong, the car looks great and performs beautifully, but "perfect" it is not. I hope that Lexus takes the unusual step to cleanup some of these warts, especially the software ones and update the car at the earliest opportunity.