signdetres

Hey guys,

I've been coming to the site and browsing through various model forums since 2007 or so and never expected to find myself here as a Lexus driver but here I am. Just picked up a 2018 GS350 F-Sport in Atomic Silver with Black interior. I've had a lot of seat time in my dad's 2015 GS350 F-Sport so already pretty familiar with the car but the '18 addresses nearly all the issues that stopped me from really wanting one (despite enjoying it) in the past.

It's been just over a week with the car and I find myself falling for it the more I get to drive it and become familiar with it in all the various driving scenarios. Truly an impressive vehicle. My previous vehicle was a 2015 Infiniti Q50S and while I've noticed that these two cars seem to get cross-shopped with one another quite a bit, I find it a bit surprising because after having experienced both vehicles, the Lexus truly feels like it's in a completely different league of it's own (I mean, it is despite similar MSRPs). They could not go about things any more differently, IMO. Needless to say, I haven't thought twice about trading in the Q50S

Pics of the old & new rides (and our '15) are below

Toys4RJill

Really nice pics. Thanks for sharing them even though nobody responded.

fs90rt

welcome and you'll love the car!

18GSF

signdetres

OMG hahaha thank you! I don't even remember posting this!

Today is definitely throwback thursday

charley95

What did ya use to maintain the black paint? It looks killer in the pics.

JeffKeryk

Have mercy.

Chavez562

signdetres

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

I platidipped a car pearl white back in the day, wasted several hundred dollars. Came off clean, but never was able to get it off 100%. Like between the front door jam and front fenders.

I was better off buying a large roll of wrap and learning to wrap a car myself.

signdetres

I know that pain. I had overspray everywhere imaginable. I should've used a more reputable shop so that was my bad. The better ones tend to mask off door jambs and all those areas. White plastidip on a black car was the worst mistake I've ever made. I was never able to get rid of it all. It got into every single crack and crevice imaginable.

I made a promise to myself to never let an ounce of plastidip touch my GS. I have like 10 cans of plastidip and glossifier, etc. sitting in my closet still so I guess I've done a good job keeping that promise so far haha.

HontoKuro

Curious what "issues are addressed" in the 2018 that prevented you to get in the first place? Front Predator Aesthetics? Features? Outside of a few outside cosmetic exterior changes + standard features vs options the car is the same.

bob256k

Seconded. I would love to hear the differences between the 2015 and 2018 that finally sealed the deal. I have a 2015 and have thought about upgrading in the future. Sorry to hear the Q50S wasn't as great as a car it seems to be; Nissan has lost their way it seems.

signdetres

Haha I actually love the front predator aesthetics of the 2013-2015 GS. I admire it every time I see, I think it's so beautiful. As far as the issues that were addressed, when he first got his 2015, I can't recall why we switched cars but next thing I knew he was driving my Infiniti and I was driving his Lexus. Literally the week he got it he had me drive it and I drove it for the first 3 months or so and really enjoyed driving it but during that time, I ended up getting a new job that required me to drive from Burbank to Inglewood so I was spending an hour and a half in traffic on my way to work and almost two hours on my way home.

His is a totally base F-Sport. No blind spot monitoring, no parking sensors, etc., literally base, the only options being F-Sport & rear-wheel steering (he doesn't care about any of that stuff - all he wanted was an F-Sport in white with the red interior & it just so happened to also have rear wheel steering). On the other hand, my Infiniti had everything they offered from Adaptive Cruise Control with stop & go capabilities, active steering & lane keeping, side collision avoidance, rear collision avoidance, front collision avoidance, 360 cam, parking sensors, cornering & adaptive headlights etc. etc.

After getting my new job, after one week of that commute, I had to throw in the towel and switch back to the Infiniti. The adaptive cruise control was my saving grace and the only thing that kept me sane during that period. (But I shot myself in the foot on that one because after that, I think he realized how much nicer his car was and never wanted to switch with me ever ) So that's what I was referring to.

See above I realize those features aren't important to everyone but where I was at the time, it was vital haha. Overall though, the 2018 is up on refinement a bit over the 2015. If you're happy with your 2015, I think it would be a worthwhile upgrade honestly. On paper they seem similar but living with both, Lexus clearly spent time fine-tuning and refining certain aspects of the car, most notably steering and the ride. Personal preference but I love the Naguri aluminum striated trim in the 2018 and the rest of the small interior touches like the new shift ****, the updated remote touch controller with the white stitching and chrome accents, the updated chrome accented window switches, etc. They also made small revisions to the metal trim surrounding the clock and the air vents which I think looks much better, the air vents also have more slats in them and move very fluidly whereas the 2015 vents kind of feel like any other car.

Also, I much prefer the 2GR-FKS motor in the 2018 over the 2GR-FKE in the 2015 in terms of smoothness, response & power delivery. It's got more punch, especially on the low-end & seems like it revs much more freely. My dad noticed this and it was the first thing he called out the first time he drove my 2018 (and he doesn't really notice/pay attention to these things, it's "just a car" to him). Something along the lines of "What the hell? This is faster than mine!" haha.

Small details, but the frameless rearview mirror, climate control temperature displays that are higher resolution and have a neat old-school scroll effect, updated digital instrument cluster with the digital tach, speedo and larger screen as well as the updated infotainment system with the full-screen map really do a good job of making the car feel more modern and from this century (relatively speaking of course, it's no Tesla screen). Everyone that gets in the car is always blown away by the full-screen map and my dad hates the fact that he can't get that in his. I think that's his #1 and only gripe.

If you do like the safety tech stuff, I loved the adaptive cruise control in the Infiniti, but the one in the 2018 GS is so much better. The Infiniti one would come to a complete stop and hold itself for 1 second before releasing the brake and making you take over. In addition, it didn't offer any "self-steering" until you were going 45mph but it didn't work well until 60mph. In the GS, when you activate Adaptive Cruise Control in combination with having Lane Keep Assist turned on, it then activates Steering Assist and it literally takes over steering, braking & accelerating, essentially "Tesla style" but this is not something Lexus has ever really talked about so I don't know that many people know our cars are even capable of this stuff. I didn't know it could do this until after I got mine & it was the most wonderful surprise. I regularly sit in traffic on the freeway and the car literally does it all, even as the road curves and what not. I don't mind low-speed crawling in traffic anymore as under 25mph or so, it'll do all the steering without warning you to put your hands back on the wheel and above that, it'll warn you after like 10ish seconds of hands-free driving (sometimes more, sometimes less) but unlike some of the newer Lexus models like the new ES & LS, it won't cancel itself if you don't put your hands back on the wheel. It'll just beep at you non-stop but it will remain in control of the steering (not that I regularly do this as the beeping is obnoxious, it's just nice to test out the capabilities of the system to see what it does in different scenarios). Once traffic comes to a stop, the GS will hold itself at a stop for as long as needed. When it's time to go, it'll alert you in the instrument cluster that the car ahead of you has taken off and you can either tap the gas pedal or tap the cruise control stalk to resume and it starts off again, including steering.

As far as Nissan losing their way, unfortunately this seems to be the case seeing what they're doing with their current and upcoming lineup which is a real bummer as they used to be so cool in the G37S days. I absolutely loved my Q50S at first though. It was perfect, didn't have to compromise at all, was able to get every single feature I wanted since they all came bundled together essentially and I thought it was such a beautiful car inside and out. I loved the digital steering system and it was a riot to drive in its Sport mode. I would have continued my love affair with that car but unfortunately it developed an issue with the brakes where the brake pedal would sink to the floor at random whether I was trying to stop the car or sometimes I was already stopped and the pedal would just sink and the car would start creeping forward and I'd have to pump the brakes to keep from hitting the person in front of me or going into the crosswalk/street. Sometimes I'd be going to slow down to turn and next thing you know, the pedal just sinks and I can't slow enough for the turn and have to do so at speed - at least that car handled decently. It was truly horrifying as I never knew when it was going to happen but it happened all the time. I felt so unsafe driving it and had it towed into the dealership at Infiniti's expense multiple times and even had multiple dealers attempt to fix it - even in partnership with Nissan engineers that they'd fly in but they were never able to even acknowledge the car had an issue. It was incredibly frustrating that they weren't taking it seriously. I asked multiple times what it was going to take? Would it take not being able to stop if a pedestrian jumps out and I kill them? Or I'm unable to stop and crash and I die? They truly made me feel like I was losing my mind. I had friends and family drive it to experience it for themselves so I could reassure myself it wasn't me. They were horrified, as was I.

When it came time to get a new car, I was just going to trade it in on a new Q50 Red Sport 400 but while I was at the dealership trying to trade it in, the saleswoman and the sales manager were extremely unprofessional so while my dad and I were waiting for them in one of the sales offices, I began to think about all my past horrible service experiences at multiple dealers and then thought started thinking about the Lexus dealership next door and that's when it hit me that I'd regret getting another Infiniti. The saleswoman and sales manager even tried those BS sales tactics and refused to give me my car key and license back when I said I was leaving and going to Lexus but my dad and I are pretty big dudes so we put a stop to that real quickly, took my things and left and I've never looked back. The GS has been an absolute dream and here I am almost 14 months later and I still adore it, I still look back at it multiple times every single time I walk away and can't believe it's mine. Leaving that Infiniti dealership that day to go to the Lexus dealership was one of the smartest decisions I've ever made.

bob256k

"
I would have continued my love affair with that car but unfortunately it developed an issue with the brakes where the brake pedal would sink to the floor at random whether I was trying to stop the car or sometimes I was already stopped and the pedal would just sink and the car would start creeping forward and I'd have to pump the brakes to keep from hitting the person in front of me or going into the crosswalk/street. Sometimes I'd be going to slow down to turn and next thing you know, the pedal just sinks and I can't slow enough for the turn and have to do so at speed - at least that car handled decently. It was truly horrifying as I never knew when it was going to happen but it happened all the time. I felt so unsafe driving it and had it towed into the dealership at Infiniti's expense multiple times and even had multiple dealers attempt to fix it - even in partnership with Nissan engineers that they'd fly in but they were never able to even acknowledge the car had an issue. It was incredibly frustrating that they weren't taking it seriously. I asked multiple times what it was going to take? Would it take not being able to stop if a pedestrian jumps out and I kill them? Or I'm unable to stop and crash and I die? They truly made me feel like I was losing my mind. I had friends and family drive it to experience it for themselves so I could reassure myself it wasn't me. They were horrified, as was I.

"

WAHT. Have you called a lawyer? Nissan should have just replaced the car after this happened, that's a really extreme example of a lemon. I take the drive by wire in the lexus for granted; i have never had any issue anywhere near that level of horrible. The only downside i have seen in my car is the clearcoat is somewhat soft, if this is a car you plan on keeping you might want to look at PPF in the key areas. Oh and handwash only too.

Thanks for the long and detailed reply, I will have to test drive a 218 now! Also thanks for the information on the Infinti, this is the first time i have heard of this issue, but not the first issue I have heard with the Q50/Q60 cars. I'll make sure to avoid them in the future; sad as the tuners are going nuts with the car, but it sounds downright dangerous from what you said.