I came from a 2013 BMW 328I 4 Cyl twin Turbo which was later replaced by a 2015 335i 6 cyl twin turbo (car I traded for the GS350) and there is NO DOUBT that both BMW are much quicker than the GS350 when it comes to the 0-60 and for sure at the lower RPM of 0-40. I know I am comparing the slightly smaller 3 series but the 5 series is also quicker than the GS350. You certainly feel it in places where you have a lot of hilly roads. Having said that, if you "push" your GS350 towards the higher RPM, you will get it to where it needs to be. As many of you mentioned, the GS could have used more HP and perhaps this is the reason the sales have not been there. I get the fact that SUVs are the new norm, but I think Lexus could have done more to keep the late GS350 models more current by making engine upgrades (at least to the 17-19 models) in order to compete with the other cars in the same class. On the other hand, it is probably the only car where you can own for 10 years without having to worry about long term reliability and that my friend is worth the extra point .4 of second in slower times.

 

My trusty GS blows the doors off any Audi or Beemer when they are in the shop for repairs... Again.
Just sayin'...

 

 

I drive my 15 F-Sport "spirited" all the time and I have never found the car slow after I learned how to drive it. In fact I think the car has more power than I can use 90% of the time.

The key is keeping it in the right gear and driving it in s+ in manual mode. Keep the car at above 4k even if your slowing down or coasting and the second you hit the gas the thing takes off.

 

Problem mainly lies with the 2016+ GS's. They tuned the engine or trans likely for fuel economy and the car just feels kind of slow. I had the same feeling when I test drove a 2016 GS Lux coming from a GS430, I was surprised how lethargic it felt, felt like it was making more like 270hp, I thought they gave me a 4 cyl or it was in some kind of aggressive econo mode. It turned me off, I just figured I would keep my GS430 much longer after the test drive or will have to go with a bigger LS460 to get the V8. I was surprised because the 2nd Gen IS350 and even 3rd Gen GS350 I test drove felt so much quicker. When I test drove my 2014 AWD GS luxury with the 6 speed auto I was pleasantly surprised that it felt quicker, it no longer felt lethargic, putting it in Sport+ gives it better throttle response and nailing it at lower speeds gives acceleration like my GS430, probably even quicker. You would think getting 2 more gears and 5 or 6 more hp would make the car quicker, feel quicker but the opposite happened, the 2016+ GS350 got slower and feels more lethargic which is a shame, this was likely done for fuel economy.

Having said that, sedans that can do 0-60 in 6 sec or less are still not "slow", still quicker then most cars, especially SUV's on the market. Those turbo and super charged 6 cylinder engines on the Germans are nice but you pay a ton for them and I would still be wary of them reliability wise compared to a proven Toyota/Lexus engine.

I don't know if everyone will have the same experience but I did add a couple cap fulls of Luqui Moly MoS2 Anti Friction and noticed improved throttle response, engine does seem just a little smoother, more peppy.

 

completely agree. I have a 2013 AWD 6 spd Luxury, As to the motor, very well built and kicking for what it is.

 

My GS450h has nice down-low kick because of the electric motors. Sure it's 0-60 isn't as good, but it barely loses anything doing 5-60 (aka a street start) whereas BMW's can lose an entire second when they can't rely on launching.

 

Not just own but beating on it on a daily basis, and I'd still bet you won't have to worry about it for well over 10yrs as long as you do your regular maintenance.

 

My 15 GS goes as fast as I care to go. When I was younger I cared about such things but now I just wanna cruise. I think my Cayenne S cured me of it. I was afraid of breaking something expensive so I rarely got on the pedal hard. LOL All that horsepower and afraid to use it (post warranty) My GS does everything I need it too from a speed perspective, and the rest of the car more than makes up for any perceived lack of power. I'm really enjoying mine.

 

Not really. Those are "metering lights" lights. The fact that we have metering lights to sequence us into traffic just validates how incredibly congested our highways are.
These are the worse situations to do 0-60. When the metering lights are on, the flow of traffic on the highway will be much less than 60 mph. Not fun to to gun your car unless you want to rear-end another car!

This is how it typically looks like when those metering lights are turned on.

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It was meant to be a joke.

But I quite frequently travel to the Bay Area, and they have those 3 lane wide metering lights on the 880. While traffic is horrendous, the on-ramp merging lane is sometimes over half mile long past the lights so there is plenty of room to do a quick 0-60 pull, then just coast until you need to merge into traffic. No fun doing it in a rental, but I see plenty of locals seem to enjoy it.

 

Lexus understands that luxury does not equal sporty. These days the euros assign quick track times, stiff suspension and hard seats as the modern luxury experience.
Top Gear (the real one, not yours) always asked 'how quickly can it go around our track' before querying the quality of the materials and the ride.

Lexus tuned the acceleration curve to be gentle, we can mash our foot without being sent back into last week. My previous car had 600nm of torque and you got most of it straight away, it's tuning focused on performance first.

Lastly, never compare forced induction with NA cars. If you wanted a turbo car, buy one instead! I'll bet 50% of these euro turboed BMWs have issues with the turbo in the first 100K miles

 

Can you imagine the thrill of hooking up and going 0-60mph in just over 1 second?

Here's a video of my dental hygienist (Luna Tran) - who I visited today - drag racing her custom JoTech 1,500 horsepower GTR that does 0-60mph in 1.7 seconds (est.) and the ¼ mile e.t of 8.001 seconds at 174.2 mph.

She'll soon have 1,800 horsepower and a pink parachute to go with the Hello Kitty wrap to drive the guys she beats crazy as they look at her rear end cross the finish line ahead of them! She's going for 2,500 horsepower later this spring/summer. She's pretty special!

 

You want fast, get a Tesla. They are a blast.
Having said that, our GS is a great driver's car in my opinion. If I need to move, the go pedal does just fine.
I love this car.

 

Damn 4GS doesn't age at all. Can't tell u how many times my neck has been broken every time I see one on the road, especially FSport. Teslas on the other hand, I see millions of them on the road everyday, especially Model 3s.

Saw a Plaid yesterday stuck in LA traffic with me, completely useless but I still want to own one someday.