Sad to say I am saying good bye to a old friend today. My GX had been very good to me and have getten me out of trouble in many snow storms. Gas mileage and the fact that my wife just bought a SUV was the deciding factor for me. Well the 303 horsepower on the GS has something to do with it too

 

What did your wife get?

 

Sorry to see you go GMan, you've been a great contributor to this sub-forum. I really like the way the newer Gs look. How does the AWD system work in the G350? I assume it's primarily RWD and then sends power to the front when it detects slippage?

 

Thai, My wife just bought the RAV4 sport V6, same engine as my GS350 except for the direct fuel injection. I would not believe that the RAV4's cargo area was actually bigger than my old GX470. The space inside the new RAV is very well thought out by Toyota.

Gator, thanks for the kind words. I had the GS for exactly 6 hours now and no snow so I can’t tell you how it performs personally. From talking to GS owners on this site, it’s pretty good as far as sport sedan goes. The 08 GS does look pretty sharp with the new grill and the new front air dam. The new side mirrors with the turn signals looks pretty nice too.
My GX look exactly like this one, same color and everthing:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ght=2008+gs350

The GS is normally 70% to the rear axle and 30% up front to give it a more sporty feel, and shift when slippage is detected. So far my favorite feature of the GS is the power folding side mirrors, The GX would use something like that

 

That's great that it constantly sends power to all 4 wheels, didn't realize it was set up that way. The other nice thing about getting a GS is you can keep your "GMan" handle on ClubLexus My inlaws have an '06 RAV4 Sport and they really like it so far. I was pretty annoyed when I saw it had 18" wheels and my GX only had 17s

 

The OEM 18" sports rims on the RAV4 is pretty nice. For the 2008 RAV4 sports, Toyota added liquid graphite to it, it is two tone. Between that and the V6, we just could not resist. Here is a picture of the 2006 rims:

 

GMaam....hahaha...just kidding. GMAN! sorry to see you leave us. I agree with gatorg; you've been a great contributor to this sub-forum.

Funny thing you mentioned the RAV4 because when I unexpectedly received a 2007 RAV4 as oppose to a ford taurus as a rental during a trip out to philly, I liked it very much.

I'm curious though why the wife didn't want an RX400H or RX350?

Did you get a decent deal on your trade? Which dealer did you go to?

 

Thanks, kphu. Did you get the RAV I4 as a rental? We had the I4 and traded in for a V6. The V6 in the RAV total transforms the car. Since the RAV is so light, the power to weight ratio is just amazing. 0-60 in 6.2 sec.
I bought my GX from Lexus of Watertown, my 3rd Lexus from them. As far as the trade is concerned, I got the same line at every dealer for my tarde in. Big SUV is not selling because of the price of gas. Every dealer I went to had at least 2 or 3 cpo GX sitting on the lot. I got $31500 for my 05 with 18000 miles

 

Based on what I recalled it had for power I would assume it was the I4 as I'm sure I would of felt much different with the V6.

what??? $31,500 with 18K? doh!!!! damn...I wish I bought your GX then. I'm planning to trade up my ES300 in a few years...in grad school ats the moment...the wife wants the RX350 or 400H but considering the way gas prices are going and by the time our young girls won't need to be in car seats anymore so we might go for another sedan. I had my heart set on the GS for a long time but with the current design of the LS its such a sweet looking ride that if I can afford to I'll go with the LS.

 

Yeah, you have known it if the RAV was a V6, the RAV4 V6 is very hard to find, I believe Toyota only make 20% of the RAV with the V6 option and most V6 do not end up in the rental fleet.
I test drove the IS, ES, GS and the LS. The IS350 was too small and I didnt like the interior and the IS350 did not have the AWD option. The ES was nice, almost look like the GS, the interior was not bad, but lacks in performance and handling. The LS was more than $20000 more than the GS, leather seats were simply amazing. More than enough power, handles about the same as the ES. I did not wanted another V8, so I took the LS off my list and the GS was my next choice.

 

I agree with you on IS being too small. I got one of those as a loaner when my truck was being serviced. That $20K difference will certainly tip the scale more towards the GS but if I'm making the big $$$ then it won't be an issue.

It seems like we have a lot in common i.e. supra ownership, IS dislike, GS, etc. hahaha

 

Another thing we have in common, if I'm making the big bucks, I would go for the LS also. Oh well, maybe in another 5 years On a serious note, I did find the GS to have the best combination of luxury and performance compare to the whole Lexus sedan line and the BMW 5 series sedan which I also test drove. The BMW handle better, both had about the same amount of power, but the interior of the GS was nicer.

 

yeah I say the same thing every 5 years...hahahaha maybe another 5 yrs I'll be making the big bucks...

 

I just took my GS out on 2 or 3" inches of snow today, not bad at all considering it is wearing high performance low profile tires. Dont get me wrong, it is not as good as the GX in the snow, but then, not too many cars are. The tail on the GS did spin out a little bit once when I gave it too much gas turning out of a parking lot but the VSC corrected it pretty fast. Its funny though, I drove my GX for 3 years and heard the VSC beep maybe twice. I had the GS for a week and I already heard it twice

 

I got about 3" down by my way too. I've only gotten the VSC beep when I've on purposely driven it hard in the snow. Lots of fun......but my 2 yr old gives me a reality check and says "Daddy, slow down!" so I look in the mirror her and then at myself and see that I'm not as young as I use to be.

I wonder what I'm going to do when I turn 50? Well the good thing is I still have over a decade to go before I hit that age so no sense wasting time thinking about something like that.

I'm surprised that even with the AWD GS your still getting the VSC beep huh? But then I again with the power behind those wheels it probably doesn't take much.

I miss driving a rear wheel drive car in the snow...fish tailing was my trade mark when I was young and wild. My ES makes it really hard to get a good fish tale going. I do like being able to beat people off the line in the snow though.