Took a friend in to shop for a Lexus IS300 this weekend, and he came away thinking it was complete garbage.

On the other hand, we hopped into the new GS300 and the new Nav system and next generation Mark Levinson system is just flat out amazing.

The dealer says there's no way to upgrade the nav, but I'd love to find a way to do it, even to the 2005 nav system with voice commands and bluetooth (I have a Treo 650 w/bluetooth).

Any ideas if it's at all possible?

 

with money everything is possible. but you will need the WHOLE nav setup from the 05, dvd, unit, harness, etc... it's going to cost an arm and leg.

and the ml system? it's different from model to model, even the current ones

 

Yeah, I noticed that too.

The Treo 650 refused to link up properly with either the GS300's system or the Acura RL we tried that day.

Was assuming a firmware/software upgrade would fix it though.

 

i hear the new system is soooo good that i don,t think i even want to hear it

 

It *IS* that good! Go check it out in a GS300/430.

But honestly the one in the new Acura RL is a bit better, the voice command on that thing is just awesome. (Of course the rest of the car is junk, but the nav system is ****)

 

just curious, how is it better than the one in the lexus? always good to know what's out there

 

Best thing to do is go check it out.

The voice command is just about perfect.

You just say 'Stevens Creek Boulevard' in a normal voice, even with an accent and it picks it up perfectly. You can just say 'Nearest Chinese Restaurant' and it finds the closest ones and sorts by distance. Sooo quick and easy. You can even tell it to call them, and it will use the bluetooth link to your phone and initiate the call.

Sweet. =)

 

That would definetly be a cool feature, I would imagine it would be alot of work though.

OT: Dozer I haven't seen you on the forum for a while, did you end up doing the full toms suspension setup? I know you had an awesome writeup on the Tein CS, EDFC and Daizen sway bars.

 

actually, you can't do that on the new navi system. the new navi has very basic voice commands, the RL voice command system on the other hand is amazing. you say "123 elm street" and it goes there. You say "dial 4081234321" and it dials it, you can't do that on the new GS.

 

Nope, didn't do the full Tom's setup. Stuck with what I had so far.

For extreme handling/power I pull out the 700hp supercharged Z06. I really should sell it, but haven't made much of an effort for obvious reasons.

 

Oh yes. I sat in the back of the new '06 GS430 while my friend was test driving it.

I was pulling my hair out and kept saying "Dang!!!!" when I heard the ML system and all the other new tech gadgets that came w/ this car.

I thought I was at the theatre, even better. I wish the SC had this kind of technology w/ it was introduced earlier.

As a passenger, the back seat and the leg room was a little tight, but for someone 6 feet and under, you'll do fine. The ride was amazing, tighter, stiffer than the previous GS gen.

The handling was superior and very comparable to BMW's handling.

The tires seemed to grip the road very well w/ the Yokohama's that came stock w/ it.

Interior cabin was quiet, but I think our SC's have a more quiet cabin probably due to the small cockpit and only two doors.

Overall I was impressed w/ this new GS430 and would have like everything that came with it into my SC.

But again, we got the drop top so I can't complain.

Dang!!!! Dozer, where u been? how are things w/ the mods.

teeman3

 

man this review should go to the 3gs forum

hopefully i can do test drive in 2 weeks

 

While we're singing the praises of the 2006 GS430 in the SC430 forum....

Anyone notice, Lexus list the 0-60 time for GS as 0.2sec faster than SC? (5.7sec vs 5.9)?

 

the sc430 is very heavy, and it only has the 5 speed auto. the ls430 with 6 speed is about 0.3 (spec) faster than the 5 speed too