FishBike

I bought an Accord about 11 years ago, and had always been planning for a bit of an upgrade for my next car. The Accord was great and so for the longest time I was planning on getting an Acura TL next. But then Honda went in the direction they did with the styling of the TL, and that was pretty much the end of that idea for me.

Around the time I started seriously researching my next car, the reviews for the 4GS started coming in, and they were good. Really good. I knew I wanted something with a bit of performance, and hadn't previously considered anything from Lexus as I didn't associate the brand with performance. A couple of things concerned me though. The price was more than I had planned to spend, and there was no V-8 option any more.

I looked at some cheaper but more powerful options. Like even some of the Dodge products that can be had with enormous V-8s, though I can't say those were ever serious possibilities. The Infiniti G35 was on my short list for real, though, as was the Hyundai Genesis (the 5.0 R-spec sedan, not the coupe).

I also seriously considered the BMW 5-series, but had concerns about reliability. Especially when the model I'd be most interested in--the 550i--showed up on a Consumer Reports list as the least reliable model they make! It's also considerably more expensive than the 4GS.

The other more expensive option I looked at was the Mercedes E-class. That too can still be had with a V-8 (though I think this is the last year for that option) and costs more than the 4GS.

There were no Audi products on my short list. I know they're supposed to be getting better, but too many friends and co-workers ended up with maintenance nightmares with these. To the point where I know many people who've owned one, and none who've owned two. So although I window-shopped the A6 and A7, there's now way I'd ever buy one.

Ok, so, the next step was going to the auto show in Toronto last year to actually see these cars and sit in them. I'm 6'4" so being able to fit in a car I otherwise like is not guaranteed.

I did actually have a look at the TL again. I found it as ugly in person as it is in pictures (just my opinion, I can understand some people may like it). Also the interior reminded me too much of my 10 year old Accord.

The G35 was ok, but definitely smaller than I wanted, and the interior was not as nice as most of the others. The Genesis was not bad either, though also not in the same class as the best from my list, and by the time you option it up to be similarly equipped to the 4GS, it costs almost as much too. So really the V-8 engine is the main benefit there.

The E-class was surprisingly unappealing to me in person. I don't like the way it looks on the outside, and the interior looked rather old-fashioned to me as well. And it wasn't all that comfortable to sit in (for me, anyway, but this differs so much from person to person).

The 5-series was excellent, very nice interior, very comfortable, looks great. But then we (my girlfriend and I) sat in the 4GS... and did not want to get out of it again. It had by far the best seats of any car we tried, and the rest of the interior was lovely as well.

I came away from the car show with the 4GS as the top of the list, but knew I needed to test drive several cars to be sure. There are local dealers for BMW, Mercedes, and Hyundai, so I arranged test drives with all of them first. As far as the "fun to drive factor", I'd put them in that order from best to worst: 5-series, E-class, then Genesis. But none were really great.

I got a test drive set up with a Lexus dealer about 45 minutes away from where I live. They were happy to let me have the GS for a whole day if I wanted. I ended up taking it on a 4 hour trip to one of the few places around here with some slightly twisty roads. This was in late fall and Murphy's law kicked in to provide a bit of a snowstorm on the way there, which was actually good for testing the AWD system.

Once the snow turned to rain, it was possible to go for a little bit of a fun drive, and it was a blast. Because of the miserable weather, there were no motorcycles around, but plenty of Porsches of various types. I didn't think I was driving all that aggressively, until I noticed one of said Porsches fishtailing a bit trying to keep up, and then dropping back. Yeah, I know a 4GS won't outrun any of the sporty Porsches in good weather, but it was still amusing.

After that test drive, my mind was made up. I took delivery of a 4GS last weekend.

dougm213

I never seriously considered another vehicle. I am a Lexus/Toyota loyalist. My previous car was a 2000 GS300 with 200K miles. Prior to that I hve a 94 Celica and 94 Camry. Celica still running 200K+ miles and Camry made 275K miles before being put to sleep. I keep my cars a long time, thus the german Audi, Mercedes and BMW would not make the cut because of reliability. Too many of my friends are constantly in the shop getting repairs and in many cases they sell before 5 years. Acura doesn't have a equivalent competitor to the GS and not an Infiniti person.

To me reliability and safety are priority followed comfort, ride and handling.

2014 Lexus GS350/AWD/Lux/BSM/Power Trunk/Park Assist/Premium Accessories

5thavenue

It is a whole different class of car, but the only vehicle that I ever considered other than the GS was the Porsche Cayman.

I had my mind set on it from the day that I first started seeing artist renderings and I was convinced that the Cayman was for me. I didn't like the fact that the way that I would have optioned it would end up costing me an additional ~$11,000 dollars over the GS, but I was prepared to pay for it. I was severely let down during the test drive and there was a huge hesitation when I tried to drive the car from a dead stop. After noticing this I posted about it on a Porsche forum and found many others that had the same problem. After this there was no way that I'd spend $71,000 for a car that hesitates (it's annoying and dangerous) and is thus slow from a dead stop.

After this bad test drive I decided that I'd get a new GS and I test drove one a couple of times and liked it. My wife definitely thought that it was more luxurious and she liked it a little more.

I'm only 30 but the new cars that I've purchased have always been Toyota brand (2009 Camry, 2009 Rav4, & 2012 Sienna).
My company make the majority of the car parts for Toyota/Lexus and I know that our parts are much better than our competitors. I feel much better with the Toyota quality and reliability and I don't see myself ever buying a MB, Audi, BMW due to the low reliability ratings. If I had to guess, I'll probably be a Toyota/Lexus person for the rest of my life.

dagwag77

Before I really started car shopping, I had driven the 4GS as a loaner when my RX was in for service, so I went in with a pretty heavy bias towards the GS. I did look at the usual suspects, A6, E class, 5 series, but only seriously considered the Caddy CTS once I test drove it, though the interior feels cheap compared to the GS, and I also considered sticking with the RXs. I only took notice of the AWD Maserati Ghibli after deciding on the GS, though it may have made the list.