pbm317

In the very near future, horsepower wars will be replaced with balanced power and fuel economy wars.

HOLGER21

maybe so but then again in the future we could have flying cars lol. so let's.focuse on what we have now. I just really think I would appreciate a straight v8 non hybrid it would be something I'd get. yea we have a 350 but isnt the same as a v8. I will start lookin for a newer gs here soon an might even step over to is due this reason


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SW17LS

Unfortunately they made a V8 GS for a long time and nobody bought it. It was so unpopular they made it basically a special order only option. Thats really the bottom line, Lexus isn't going to make something that nobody is going to buy, and having a less efficient V8 hurts them overall with the CAFE standards. Its a different world. Its just a different business philosophy than someone like BMW or Mercedes who are more comfortable building a niche car. Note Audi dropped the 8 in the A6 too, they have 6 cyl 7 series, S classes, XJ Jags and A8s too now, the world is changing. If you look at 5 series and E classes you'll see MAYBE 5% of them on the road are V8s, if you look at the full size cars too you'll see a lot of 7 series etc are 6 cyl as well.

Have you driven the new GS? I've had extensive experience with the V8 in my father's LS sedans, and my boss bought a GS two days before I did, he had a 2000 GS400. He and I were just talking about the fact that you don't miss the V8 at all, and how the GS really feels and sounds like a V8.

If you didn't buy the GS because it doesn't have a V8, you're missing out IMHO. When you drive everything in its class, which I just did extensively, the GS is clearly the highest quality, best riding and driving car in the segment, and the best value by a wide margin.

omaralt

The biggest thing for me (I ended up with the 535i) was the lack of low end grunt. The 5 seems like it gets up and goes faster. The gs I had to get north of 4k to get moving. Forced induction is the future; more hp and mpgs

natnut

Forced induction = throttle lag, non-linear throttle response = poorer driving experience

IMO of course. Why do you think most exotic cars and supercars were naturally aspirated? For the purer driving experience.

Of course, different people have different priorities and some prefer more get-up and go in city driving. So the low-end torque of force-induction is more attractive to them and an acceptable trade-off for the turbo lag (which bothered me a lot when I test drove the 335i.)

And of course, the very high end exotics currently may have cutting edge tech to overcome turbo-lag. But as it stands, current mainstream turbos still have perceptible lag and can't compare to a well sorted NA 6/8 cylinder engine for seamless near-electric response and linearity.

Case-in-point being the turbo in the 335i and 535i.

The only force induction engine currently which impresses me for smooth and seamless power delivery is the supercharged 3L engine in the Audi A6.