Does anyone know if the rims from the GS450H are a direct bolt on to a 2006 GS300?

 

Congrats. I'm also a GS450h owner from Vancouver. How do you like the car so far?

So how did you go about deciding on whether to buy this car?

 

I love the car, and it's been a pleasure to enjoy how quiet this car drives. I also have a 06 MB CLS, which sucks on gas, the GS450h gives a much better package in terms of how comfort the car drives and low consumption on gas.

 

YES!!

 

My neighbor got an '06 CLS500 the same week I got my GS350 - both black-on-black. She loved the GS350 when she first saw it. I'll have to needle her about the gas mileage differential - not to mention the 30K extra she paid for that little 3-pointed star on the front.

 

Congrats on your new car.

Here’s my review of the GS450h. After owning it for about 2 months now, the power, finish, gadgets, and fuel economy are all great.

In my opinion, there are only a few drawbacks. I do find the interior head room cramped, and I am not a tall person at all. In addition, I find the suspension on BMW and Mercedes better in terms of getting the best combination of cornering and a smooth ride at the same time. Though the cornering on the Lexus is ok, I know BMW performs better. Also, I find the interior lighting much too dim – if you dropped something small on the floor and tried to find it at night, you would have a very difficult time! Also, I find the velvet roof liner to be a bit cheap looking. Many reviews have complained about how bad the engine sounds when you accelerate hard, but I don’t mind it so much.

How do you find the GS450h so far?

 

I thought all GS Hybrids come fully loaded... even with rear parking sensor?? No??

 

In Canada, the GS450h does not come with rear parking sensors, active stabilizer system, nor laser cruise control. But it has everything else.

 

oh. the lazer is only a fun tool to "show". I very rarely use it on my 450h. The active stabilizer is AWESOME though. The parking sensors come in handy but not a necessity. Oh well. Glad I got the fully loaded USA-CO model.
Congrats on your NEW CAR. IT's AWESOME.

 

Can you elaborate on why the active stabilizer is so great? I mean, how much does it improve cornering - does it turn the car into a sports car? It's not available in Canada anyway, but I was just wondering.

 

Nope. As a matter of fact, the only area of the country you can get the radar (not laser) cruise/pre-collision avoidance system and the adaptive suspension system is in the western district...which is why I had to buy mine out there and ship it to Florida.

BTW, the radar cruise works way better than I expected. Lets me stay on cruise much more often, as it has the ability to slow down and accel with traffic. Like rain-sensitive wipers, I find this is not just a frill but rather useful. Oh, and I think the parking sensors (front and rear) are standard on the 450h.

 

the activ. stab. reduces body roll. it's signif. noticable.
with it off, the sides dive.. with it on, the car stays level to a point under hard cornering.
My BMW 550 with sport is much better though. , but it's still great. it's a lexus, no maintainence issues, and comfortable inside, better dvd, nav, ex. BMW has better comfort seats, and better sports package, but it's in shop and nav sucks.
LExus is better overall for less headaches.

 

The active suspension (*** -- maybe not the best acronym?) reminds me more of Mercedes' ABC (active body control) as in my dad's CL600 than the BMWs I've had (most recently an X5 4.8). It has the advantage of removing nearly all of the lean, but also the disadvantage of removing the feedback that corner lean gives you. You basically stay flat and get your feedback from tire noise (squealing etc.) Personally, I regard squealing tires as just a little unprofessional, and would rather have a small amount of lean to evaluate how the car is taking the corner.

As much as I love the V10 in the new M5, I'm fed up with the amount of shop time and dealer (maintenance dept) attitude with BMW. The BMW is a better car for maybe 10% of my driving (assuming it isn't broken). I decided that the other 90% of my driving was more important, and that's why I went with Lexus.

 

The air suspension in your X5 is less about handling, more about just being air suspension.

The ABC is more about handling and is a revolutionary technology that no other company has yet to introduce in their cars. In a tech-test a few years back, Mercedes had a SL500 on some jacks with the wheels taken off on a pedestral. They had hooked up a computer and were tricking the ABC computer systems about what kind of road it was on, the car was bucking like a horse!

 

Well...whatever the air suspension on the X5 may be about, it's the only SUV that handles decently enough that I can pretty much ignore the fact that I'm driving a truck. My objection to Mercedes ABC, and for that matter Lexus ***, is not that they lack sophistication, but that the philosophy of completely eliminating lean in corners is depriving the driver of useful feedback. I'd be happy if we had just a little more ability to select parameters than just a comfort/sport switch, but I suppose most people would say the car is already complicated enough as it is...

OK, I left out the Cayenne, which I'm sure is equal or arguably better than the X5. If you can live with the reliability...