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.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

welcome to clublexus and congrats on your new car!!!!

for number 3, there is another thread for it, lexus is aware of the problem and from what people reported lexus is actively working on a fix already. personally i am with you, i won't accept this is "how the car is designed to work", it's a bug

for number 4, i didn't try, i was hoping voice recognition improved. so from your perspective its performance is just like that in the 3gs?

faifai83

I experienced #3 this morning. Out of curiosity, what was the ambient temperature at the time?

lexusmavin

Ambient temperature in NJ this AM was about 50 deg. F.

faifai83

I've had my 4GS for a week and noticed the same thing this morning.

At first I thought it has something to do with the ambient temperature.

Ambient temperature for me this am was also ~50F...

...last week it was sometimes more...sometimes less...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

lexusmavin - welcome to CL and for a solid write-up of your impressions.

i think all your points are very valid. it's very hard for car makers to even keep up with what's going on with ipads and phones let alone be ahead. for this reason i'm inclined to want a car without so much app tech. but most of what you wrote is bugs, and that's not the kind of quality we expect from lexus.

NickL

I don't see you mention the auto close trunk on the 3GS. Did you miss that option? I like the new GS but I think it's missing a couple of features that the 3GS have that I find is useful. I'm waiting for the next revision(mid cycle change) to see what other new features are being added.

dseag2

Try an Audi S5, where everytime you get back in the car you have to push a button to get your preset stations back and another button to once again shuffle the tracks on your iPod. Or if you've muted the radio when you get out of the car, it will come back on when you enter again.

I just don't think the automakers have a grasp on what it takes to facilitate all the new technology, and it is being introduced at such a fast pace a car's "telematics" system could be obsolete in 2 years. Still, I'm buying the GS for the hardware, not the software.

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.

lexusmavin

Thank you for your comment, but I have to say that issues with the Audi do no provide comfort to me. I paid a lot of money for this GS and expect a fully baked product; not one that may have been rushed to market. It is not the customer's job to identify the car's software issues. This car just has too many of them -- all obvious ones, which should have been easy for Lexus to find and fix. Who knows what else I will find as part of this ownership experience.

spwolf

well if you feel that way, try to return it to the dealership and buy something that is not as half baked.

if you lived through 2008 GS and think that 2013 is half baked... how did you like 2008? I had 2007, and I liked it, but i could easily list 50 things i like better in 2013.

Rexus300

iTrader: (1)

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.

lexusmavin

Spoken like a true Lexus fanatic. But, no need to put words in my mouth or be defensive -- "half-baked" is not the same as "not fully-baked". I think that Lexus should have done a better job shaking down the vehicle's software.
My 2008 GS was a very fine car with the worst navigation system bar none.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

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.

jjscsix

Do you really believe that is the correct response? When you are out on a busy freeway do you really accept that people all around you are driving cars who are too old or not good with gadgets? I'm 59 years old and I"m actually pretty good with "gadgets". But that doesn't mean that I should have to reset everything every time I get in the car. Or if it's a feature I don't use very often it should be intuitive enough that I don't put other peoples lives in danger driving down the freeway while I try to remember how to do something basic.

I get that some functions are meant to be performed before heading out on the road. But let's remember that this is a car. We don't buy them to sit in our garage and play with the features, we buy them to drive them.

The trend towards resetting things every time we get in is very frustrating. The 2012 Acura TL we bought my wife is a good example. I live in Houston where for 6 months of the year I want the ventilated seats on all the time. But they turn off every time you shut the car off. The big nav display for me is usually set to show the audio functions. But every time I get in the car I have to push the "I agree" button and it takes me to the nav display, even though I did not have the nav on when I got out of the car. And the memory for the sound system takes me to an FM radio station that neither my wife or I ever listen to (if I drove the car last it plays what I was listening to, but if my wife drove it last with her key, I only get a radio station).

BTW, back to the ventilated seats. I have not tried them in the new GS yet, but they appear to me to be the type that turn off every time you turn the car off - can anyone confirm that? If that is true, it's another step backwards as my 2010 can be left on all the time.