Test drive Lexus GS 2005 - 2008 sedan

Simply the best

Until recently, I considered a top-version of the fifth series of BMW to a reference sedan of business class. After talking last year with the GS 430, I realized that the Japanese are preparing a coup in this personal system of automobile values. And so, having released a new hybrid, they overthrew my personal king.

What a pleasure to deal with the flagship of the GS line! It is the ideal embodiment of the Japanese concept of L-free, which offers the idea of \u200b\u200bperfection in everything in design, quality, technologies and even sensations of a person who communicates with a car. So, GS 450h is good in every way. I am taken into a dense hug with an excellent chair, covered with expensive skin. There is not a single surface in the cabin that would not please the eye and hand. The architecture of the front panel and door sections is light and dynamic, and the high window sill line protects passengers from the outer bustle. In light colors, the interior is more attractive (GS 430, for example, was mainly black inside). Perfection gives birth to harmony is located in the GS 450H easily and pleasant.

I press on the start button, optestone devices come to life, the air conditioner is turned on. What a sound insulation here! According to this indicator, the Japanese hybrid surpasses all the cars presented in this issue of the magazine. And the point, of course, is not only in a silent electric power unit.

While the internal combustion engine is silent in the case, the electric motor enters the case, and the GS 450h touches the place with pressure, which you will not wait even from 12-cylinder giants. Against physics, you can’t say even the most powerful engine takes time for promotion, here all Newton-meters (but not forces) are available from the first turn. A curious part of the electric motor is untwisted to almost 15,000 rpm.

I will give more on the accelerator pedal, and somewhere in the depths of the motor compartment (according to the rumor, about five meters down), a 3.5-liter V6 wakes up. Its thrust immediately merges with the electric one to tell the car an even more powerful acceleration.

V6 starts and turns off itself. For example, if the car is not heated, then at the first start it works. In the movement (when the battery is charged and there is no need to work on the generator), the internal combustion engine always stalls as soon as the intensive acceleration phase ends, and it becomes possible to recreate energy during braking.

Even the most reputable gasoline unit looks archaic against the background of an electric silent and lightning speed out of a maximum moment. However, it must be admitted that the Japanese 3.5-liter V6 (296 hp and 368 Nm) is one of the best engines for today, one of the most economical and technologically armed. He has a double -toject direct injection for each cylinder, a system for changing gas distribution phases at the inlet and release. In addition, the air conditioner is given by electricity, not a traditional belt, which reduces the load on the motor. In the gas distribution system, this is an additional guarantee of reliability and durability.

The electric motor has 200 hp. and 275 Nm. Together, these power units not give out 500 forces, as can be assumed, but 345. Opportunities are limited by battery capacity.

GS 450H the world's first hybrid business class sedan with a long-standing force unit and a drive to the rear axle. The internal combustion engine operates in conjunction with an electric motor, generator (which also plays the role of the starter), the device of energy division (Power Split Device, acts on the principle of planetary transmission and distributes power flows in the DVSElectrom -generator chain) and a two -stage gearbox that changes the value of the main transmission. Hybrid energy to the wheels is transmitted by the electronics controlled by E-CVT, which, just in case, imitates six fixed steps. Despite the multicomponance, the unit is very compact only 10 mm longer than the 6-speed gearbox of a small IS sedan!

An indispensable assistant to all this brigade nickel-metallhydrid battery with a voltage of 288 V, located directly above the rear axle of the car, which, among other things, determines the perfect weight weighting axis.

Acceleration presses the riders immediately after the start and does not let go until the car takes the passport 250 km/h. You can, of course, enable manual switching mode. But otherwise you can’t call it pampering. The fixed steps are switched unnoticed by the driver, and only the numbers that light up on the information board show that the mode is valid. However, for a dynamic driving, it will still be better to move the selector to a manual switch, since the transmission goes to the sports mode of operation.

The GS 450H, like the GS 430, has at its disposal a system of changing a transfer relationship in the steering mechanism (VGRS). It acts softly and unobtrusively, while the sharpness of the steering wheel changes quite significantly from 2.7 to 3.7 revolutions from the stop to the stop. A separate praise is worthy of an electric amplifier, which regularly generates the necessary feedback.

In the arsenal of the car, shock absorbers with a variable degree of stiffness, having two modes of operation. The first is slightly more comfortable. Lexus becomes more tolerant of a bad road, but still elastic and very tasty passes. The second sports. When it is involved, the controllability of the machine becomes a special treat. Shocking the riders on the bumps, the sedan with lightning speed, without delay, performs any whim of the driver. He readily dives into slow turns, perfectly prescribes high -speed arcs. Manage them the top of the bliss! However, I’ll make a reservation, I would rather call the GS450H suspension hard, focused on an active driver. There is no mention of imposing comfort inherent in many business class sedans. Therefore, do not bring down without analyzing the road. In addition, there is a risk of damaging elegant 18-inch wheels with low-profile rubber (245/40).

The safety is monitored by the indefinite complex system VDIM, which not only slows down the wheels and blocks the thrust, but also hers on small corners for the driver, when necessary, working as ahead of the lead. However, with this system we are well acquainted with GS 430.

Well, about the economy (and for what did everything work?). On the highway at high speed, fuel consumption is comparable to the indicators of gasoline competitors of similar capacity. Miracles do not have a battery discharge, and the engine needs to not only drag the car forward, but also recharge the battery, nourish the car systems. However, in the mode when accelerations alternate in braking, the hybrid installation reveals its talents. The average fuel consumption melts before our eyes. Of course, it is unlikely to achieve ideal numbers declared in the passport, but saving in the urban mode of movement is evident. If we compare, again, with 8-cylinder competitors, Lexus in terms of economy is far ahead. The recommended retail price of the car in Russia is $ 78 500. Look for the sake of interest how much European top sedans of this class cost. But GS 450H gives the owner much more than they. Therefore, the popularity of the car is predetermined. In Europe, for example, GS accounts for 21% of all Lexus sales. With the GS 450H release, the Japanese plan to raise this indicator by 12%, and among all GS sold, the share of the hybrid, according to their assumptions, will be 29%.

I think Russia will not stand aside. RX 400H was accepted with a bang, and the GS hybrid is an even more advanced car.

Prices and equipment

For GS 450h dealers, they ask for $ 78 500. The car has the only equipment that includes R18 discs, xenon headlights with an adaptive lighting system, headlight washers, LED brake lanterns, rear door opening system, leather salon and multifunctional steering wheel, electric electric mirrors with electric drive and heating, electric drive, heating and ventilation of the front seats, cruise control, multifunctional Touch-Screen, Bluetooth, separate climate control, audio-video system Mark Levinson (14 speakers), rain sensor, an electric glass curtain with electric When reversing, immobilizer, alarm, frontal, knee and side airbags, a suspension hardness system (AVS), ABS, EBD, Brake Assist, Antipropas Stability system (VSC), VDIM, steering wheel power steering (EPS), EPS. Vgrs.

Text: Leonty Tyutelev

 

Source: Motor magazine [July 2006]