jimbonic

First post here as I am currently looking at a new GS and have a lot of questions.
Here is the basic story. I'm on my second Corvette right now, however, this one was bought with a 6 speed manual (which I love to drive) but I am starting to have issues with my knee so it gets rough from time to time on the ACL. The Vette is a 2012 and has summer tires so she sits basically 3-5 months a year as I am near Chicago. Been driving the soccer mobile for the winter time but now I am going to be giving that to my daughter for college transportation. My wife and I are thinking we should get something I can just drive year round and a nice AWD GS seems to fit the bill pretty nicely.

Took both the F-sport out and the luxury model and I honestly could not tell that big of a ride difference as I did not want to beat on either new car during a test drive. Both suspensions felt very similar. Both cars felt pretty tight. Both cars seem pretty quick. Not Vette fast, but not bad at all. The seats in the F-sport seemed a tad bit harder to me but my wife did not notice. Was this just my imagination? Any idea why they only have a 10 way power passenger seat in the F-sport and 16 for the driver, but 18 for both on the luxury model?

I noticed that the luxury one has headlights that move, however we drove it during the day so we could not see this function. Is this a distraction? Seems like it moves an awful lot!!

Also, I dont see any of these cars with the HUD on them?? It says its an option, and I have one on my Vette and would not buy a car without it again. Anyone have this yet? Any other must have options?

How are these cars while cruising at highway speeds? Are they quiet enough? I had it up to about 50ish and it seemed pretty good, but I tend to do 75+ and don't want a ton of wind/tire noise coming through. I did rent an Avalon a while back and it was pretty quiet I have to admit. Now my Vette, thats another story once you get up to highway speeds, but getting there

One last thing if I can as long as I am thinking of it. My salesman really didn't know anything about the car as he said he just started 3 weeks ago. The whole nav system seems very complex at first and doing something as simple as turning on the radio and getting a station was difficult. He could not even show us how to enter an address using voice commands. How hard is it to use this system? It seems like it might be distracting somewhat being so large. Anyone find that to be the case?

Sorry for being so long, but had I had a better salesman, I probably could have gotten some of these answered by him.

Thanks in advance

yardie876

Welcome to CL! I'll answer the questions I can:

I noticed that the luxury one has headlights that move, however we drove it during the day so we could not see this function. Is this a distraction? Seems like it moves an awful lot!!
As far as I know they only move a few degrees during turns so it should be distracting at all. This should have been an option on the F-Sport IMO, since they are the ones more likely to be carving mountainsides, but I'll digress lol.

Also, I dont see any of these cars with the HUD on them?? It says its an option, and I have one on my Vette and would not buy a car without it again. Anyone have this yet? Any other must have options?
The HUD is a standalone option. It's pretty uncommon and you'd have to special order the car to get it unless you get lucky and find one on the lot with it. The Mark Levinson stereo on the GS is superb. I have the HUD and ML and I feel like I couldn't live without either now that I have them.

How are these cars while cruising at highway speeds? Are they quiet enough? I had it up to about 50ish and it seemed pretty good, but I tend to do 75+ and don't want a ton of wind/tire noise coming through. I did rent an Avalon a while back and it was pretty quiet I have to admit. Now my Vette, thats another story once you get up to highway speeds, but getting there
They are very quiet at highway speeds. A few had problems with wind noise but 95% of us have not.

One last thing if I can as long as I am thinking of it. My salesman really didn't know anything about the car as he said he just started 3 weeks ago. The whole nav system seems very complex at first and doing something as simple as turning on the radio and getting a station was difficult. He could not even show us how to enter an address using voice commands. How hard is it to use this system? It seems like it might be distracting somewhat being so large. Anyone find that to be the case?
I find the nav system to have the smallest learning curve in comparison to the other cars in its class. Once you sit down and go through a couple menus, you'll be a pro. The voice commands work for the most part if you know what to say. If you don't you can just follow the prompts on the screen. I haven't found the screen size distracting. I like the fact that it is split as you can have any 2 combination of nav/radio/AC/trip info at a quick glance.

Infamous3

Yeah its really quiet at highway speed. Going 100 MPH, the sound is no different then if you were going 50. And everyone who's sat in the car has always said its a really smooth ride

rockyman

I have a fsport. If you buy one,make sure you get good tires, as they seem to come with bridge stones, Michelins, and one other I can't remember. That will be a big factor in noise. The mouse and nav system work great. Has some of the most comfortable seats around.

puckhead85

I was torn between the F and luxury. It came down to color. I wanted Deep Sea Mica and at the time it didn't come in the F. I also felt it wasn't worth the price for what you got/didn't get in the F over the Luxury.

revhigh

Both cars are exceptional. I choose the F-sport for the bigger wheels (19" vs. 17"), bigger front brakes and variable assist steering and exterior styling. You will have to sacrifice some of the "luxury group" items for the F-Sport, so you might want to check with the wife and see if she really needs things like wood grain steering wheel, 18 way seats and her own set of seat memory buttons. HUD is hard to find. F-Sport will also come with summer tires.

SW17LS

Not in IL where the OP is from. It will come on all seasons, and be AWD.

revhigh

I guess that's why it was so hard to find an AWD in the south, they must allocate them to northern regions. I ended up with the RWD. The Dunlop summer tires didn't do so well in the ice storm that came thru last weekend.

jimbonic

Thanks so much for all the replies everyone! I really love these forums. Such a great way to get info

If I can ask a couple other questions. I am leaning toward the FSport as the looks just are a bit better to me with the front end and the wheels. I know I could always add those but why not just get them up front?

The biggest issue I am worried about then at this point really is weather the seats are going to be soft/comfortable enough for us on long trips compared to the luxury seats, and if the little things like adaptable headlights really make that big of a difference. From what I am reading here, neither seems like a big deal breaker correct? I am not all that worried about the rear heat or radio controls, and while it would be nice to have passenger seat memory we could live without it.

Does the FSport come with a couple Driver side memory positions? That would be nice to have. Also, can someone describe what is a climate concierge?

Again, thanks so much for everyones input and advise, we really appreciate it!

yardie876

Yes the F-Sport does have driver memory positions and they're linked to the individual key fobs. The climate concierge takes auto climate controls a step further and also controls the heated/ventilated seats to get you to the desired temperature you set.

DonOH

Jim

I have a 2009 Corvette (M6 coupe) and got a 2013 GS350AWD FSport last Thursday night.

I love driving this Lexus. Had a 2008 ES350 which was nice but nothing like this.

I find the FSport seats very comfortable (longest trip so far is 45 minutes though). They never bugged me. Once settled, I don't have that urge to adjust seating constantly (M37x never got me that comfortable during test drive.) I love the adjustable bolsters on the FSport seats. They really lock you in. Wish the Vette had them.

Luxury seats have more lumbar adjustments but I didn't like the Luxury seats. I think they should feel closer to each other but on the two I drove (Lux & FSport) they were different. Lux was uncomfortable, thigh extender dug into the backs of my legs; bottom cushion felt flat. Definitely drive the car you will buy. When I bought the ES, two identical cars fit me differently.

At speed the GS FSport is smooth, quiet but firmly planted. Under acceleration the exhaust (to me surprise) sounds pretty good for a good size sedan.

My ES has adaptive headlights that swing, didn't do anything for me.

Yes, 3 driver's seat settings. Funny, my ES has passenger seat memory, we never used it.

Afrosheen

There are 2 axis for the adaptive headlights. My fully loaded F Sport has the HUD, variable steering ratio, ML stereo, rear wheel steering, etc. etc. but my headlights only autolevel during driving. They don't follow curves during turns. My buddy has a 2012 Cadillac coupe that has the fully adaptive headlights. They are very nice at night, especially turning onto dark side roads. Deal breaker? Nope.

The F Sport is worth it for the looks, the wheels and tires (but god forbid you get Bridgestones), the Sport+ setting, the interior color selection, minus the very limited paint colors available. I too wanted the deep sea mica but the feature set outweighed my want of a paint color so I went with my gut.

If you go for the Nebula Gray, the matching wheel color is awesome, and it looks like a custom match. Then it's just a coin toss for the flaxen or cabernet leather. Both are gorgeous in person but don't photograph well.

SW17LS

The seats are really the same seats, just with a few less adjustments. The driver's seat in the F Sport is the same seat as in the luxury with a different headrest and I believe no articulating backrest (the seats in the luxury have a pivot right where your shoulder blades hit them. We found the seats in our Luxury to be a little firm at first but now we love them. Really awesome seats.

The F Sport does have driver memory. I prefer the way the Luxury model looks from the front to the F Sport, and I prefer the wood trim to the aluminum trim, thats really why I made the choice. The AFS is very cool, I had that on my previous ES as well and wanted it again. If you've never had it you won't miss it. The luxury also gets you the identical power passenger seat with memory, side door sunshades in the rear, and rear climate/audio controls in the armrest.

Suspensionwise the two cars are the same, both have AVS. The F Sport gets the 19" wheels which will improve handling but stiffen the ride.

If you're worried about comfort, I'd get the Luxury. Although the F Sport is also very comfortable.

The Luxury model also has the AVS with the Sport + setting.

jimbonic

Ok, how about one more guys. I have read quite a bit about how crummy the remote start is on these things. Lay it out in real terms. If I am inside a building, can this do a couple hundred feet or is that pushing it? Does it give any type of feedback that the car is even running?

What about the RES+ system? I know that one costs a lot more and has a yearly fee to it, but at least it can start it from pretty much anywhere right? I already have an iPhone 5S so I believe it should work with it correct?

Thoughts?

SW17LS

You would have absolutely no idea if it worked or not, and probably would not. I need to be looking at the car to get it to work. You have to press lock twice and then hold while it flashes the lights until it starts up.

We've been driving the Jeep because of the weather. Had lunch today, pulled the keys out and pushed the start button twice when I asked for the check. Walked out of the restaurant and around the building, Jeep is happily running and all warm inside. If I had tried that in the Lexus no way it would have worked.

No idea on that, but at least through the iPhone you would know that its worked.