Test drive Lexus GS 1997 - 2000 sedan

All photos Lexus GS 1997 - 2000

Equal among the first

Lexus-GS300 Lexus GS 300

Lexus GS300 is a luxury double of Toyota Aristo debuting in 1992. The car, which had not at all looked archaic, was modernized in 1997, giving it even futuristic features. It is produced only with a sedan body, a three -liter in -line six and a five -speed automatic. Rich standard equipment includes, for example, an active stabilization system.

In Russia, Lexus is still difficult to compete in popularity with Mercedes and BMW. Maybe the latest version of the GS300 will be able to turn the situation?
The current Lexus favorably differs from the predecessor of the face with an inaccurate expression - four headlights of complex shape sharply distinguish it in the street stream. By the way, those 15 cm to which the car shortened were removed mainly from the nose. Surprisingly, the trigger at a less bulky car has become more spacious for as much as 175 liters! But under the floor there is not a narrow doctrine, but a normal wheel: Pyrell-6000 225/55R16 on a alloy disk.
However, we will go deeper into details. Better again we will go around this handsome man. Good, you can’t say anything. Strong and elegant. Like Schwarzenegger in a tailcoat ...
Doors and trunk can be unheated remotely - the key -cranes are included in the standard equipment. Getting into the salon is not so simple: highly inclined racks significantly cut the doorways.

From the inside, Lexus looks very presentable: the skin on the seats, the upholstery of the doors, the steering wheel and the front panel, the plastic inserts under the tree, the light villous ceiling. First we sit on the back sofa with a wide folding armrest in the middle. However ... Places in length will not be enough. Something between the Volga and the Lada. The third here is definitely superfluous, although a three -point belt and a headrest are also provided for him - to sit on the high tunnel of the floor, resting his head against the roof.
Siting from behind, we will move forward and stretch our legs, the benefit of the place is quite enough. Yes, and ten centimeters are still overhead. A relatively short sloping hood almost does not cover the road and creates a feeling of a compact car. The rear view mirror will have to get used to - not to automatic dimming, with this all O'Kay. It is simply visible in it a strip of rear window between the headrests and the torn of the roof, fifteen centimeters width from the force.
Convenient wide chairs are equipped with a mass of electrical adjustments. The height of the head restraint and seat belts is manually regulated. Services control the position and length of the steering column. There is no need to reconfigure all this after changing the driver - you can remember two combinations of adjustments. (But this is for a fee, along with a leather salon.) What is interesting: as soon as the key is removed from the ignition lock, the steering wheel drives forward and up to facilitate the landing and rushing back and returns back when the key is again in the castle. In the step groove on the tunnel of the floor - a selector of a five -speed automatic gearbox.

The driver can use any number of steps for driving, from one to five. Ordinary, sports and winter modes are provided. White dials, sunbathing when the ignition on the bottom of the dark wells of the instrument panel, looks unusual. But the new Lexus will not please smokers: an easily opening ashtray is also easily closed when trying to press the cigarette lighter located on it.
Electric drives of glasses and mirrors, heating seats, headlight washers, front and side airbags, climatic installation with separate adjustment on the left and right, an audio system with seven speakers and CD changer and much more have already become the usual attributes of a luxurious car. But few can still boast of a system of active stabilization, and even as standard equipment. The operation of the system is clearly visible when leaving the drift without discharge of gas: instead of a series of fading vibrations, one and a half short pitching and further - straight. If desired, it is easy to turn it off by pressing one key and revenge with a tail in corners, as much as you like. True, it was not possible to fully evaluate the advantages of active stabilization, since Lexus had to be tested in Germany: extreme conditions arise there much less often than at home ...
But plenty of love with the navigation system (additional equipment for $ 2850). You set the final point, the scale - and go. In three days of driving, you forget what a road atlas is. And in an unfamiliar country!

In the movement of the Lexus GS300 is a slightly more sports car than you expect from it. And the point here is not so much in the increased power of the motor, which now regulates the phases of gas distribution as in the characteristics of the suspension and control. The three -hundredth tenaciously stands on the road, is sensitively obeying the helm, very moderately rolled in a bend, clearly prescribing the trajectory. But the cobblestone under the wheels is still felt quite clearly - the hard suspension also has disadvantages. Where you feel just perfectly, it is on an autobahn - to quickly accelerate or carefully, in your strip, go through a bunch of turns at high speed - there are no problems! Perhaps someone would prefer the machine gun more or even a mechanical gearbox - alas, there is only one power unit.
Lexus in the basic configuration costs 65 130 marks in Germany or (about $ 36 thousand). The owner is guaranteed three years or 100 thousand km of a trouble-free life with a free round-the-clock service-evacuation service. Corrosion warranty - six years. The frequency of maintenance is 12 months or 15 thousand km.
Russian reality made adjustments to these beautiful numbers. The cost of the car is $ 52 thousand without duties (with them, relatives - $ 72-77 thousand), a guarantee - one year or 20 thousand km. The warranty on the body and the frequency of it remained unchanged. Lexus can be serviced at three Toyota stations in Moscow and at fourteen in Russia.

+ Original appearance, moderately acute steering, small rolls in corners, a powerful motor, good brakes, a spacious trunk, a full -sized spare wheel, a rich standard equipment.
- Lack of choice of engines and gearboxes, a close -up salon, a low front edge of the roof.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
General data: number of places - 5; equipped mass - 1665 kg; full weight - 2120 kg; maximum speed - 230 km/h; acceleration time from a place to 100 km/h - 8.2 s; fuel consumption in conditional suburban and city cycles - 8.8; 16.0 l/100 km; fuel supply - 75 liters; Fuel is unhealthy gasoline AI -95. Dimensions, mm: length - 4805; width - 1800; height - 1445; base - 2800; The track in front/back - 1535/1510; Road clearance - 150; turning radius - 5.8 m; Trinker capacity - 515 liters. Engine: with distributed electronic injection, two camshafts and variable gas distribution phases, six -cylinder in order, with four valves on the cylinder, located in front longitudinal; working volume - 2997 cm; cylinder diameter and piston stroke - 86x86 mm; compression degree - 10.5; Power - 163 kW/222 l. with. at 5800 rpm; The maximum torque is 298 N.M at 4000 rpm. Transmission: drive - rear; gearbox - five -speed automatic; Transporting numbers: I - 3.36; II - 2.18; III - 1.42; IV - 1.00; V - 0.75; h. X. - 3.43; The main program is 3.61. Suspension: with reproach stabilizers, collected on subframes, the front with parallel transverse levers, the back is multi -link. Brakes: with a vacuum amplifier, ABS, ventilated disk on all wheels. Steering: rheck with a hydraulic power control variable. Tire size: 225/55R16.

SUMMARY
The new Lexus wins in some ways a Mercedes and BMW, in some way loses to them. But one thing is indisputable - it is much less common and therefore is already more refined. The interested views of others and the reputation of the original are provided to you.