Test drive Lexus GS 2005 - 2008 sedan

Islanders on the Great Earth

They, of course, are very different. Like a whale and a cat. Both in appearance and philosophy. But there is also what Lexus and Jaguar puts very close to each other - both brands have been accused of adaptability for several years. It sounds insulting, although in fact there is nothing shameful. Especially if we take into account the fact that the car is produced in order to sell it as a large circulation as possible, and not at all for the approval of any national priorities, observance of traditions and cultivating idealistic irrationalism.
Twenty years ago, the blond heads in Toyota Motor Co came up with the Lexus brand in order to win the American market. There, traditionally in demand, cars with a three-beam star on the hood-hence the unambiguous similarity of the Japanese business class sedans with large brothers from Stuttgart, which is noticeable in the last GS model. Jaguar began to keep his nose in the wind blowing from behind the ocean even earlier, and after the absorption of the brand Ford Motor Co corporation, not only the spirit of the car became American, but to some extent, its skeleton-evil languages \u200b\u200bclaim that the current There are almost a third of the details from the Fords. It was all the more interesting to try to find in the abyss of conformism, into which the islanders rushed, at least some kind of tribal dashes.
Probably, there is no more cosmopolitan brand today than Lexus. The new GS is just an apotheosis of the MBA school somewhere in Princeton and other dress code. Its owner has already successfully packed his life while she was hot. He is a fitness sportsman and most of all in life is not fond of secretaries, but with new technologies. This means that he and Lexus are very similar. The GS is just as respectable, cold-to-stop, polite-bezing, and no one has to speak on any topics except business. He is bored as an exchange summary: nothing interesting in our bank does not happen. People work, money work ... By the way, a lot works in GS besides a person. You can treat it in two ways. On the one hand, this clot of high technologies lowers the driver to the level of a banal user. But on the other hand - what is bad? In the end, our business is to steer-call ourselves and not take care of how it fidgets in the balls in the bearings.
So, in some slippery, literally, situations, the new Lexus GS 430 allows ... not to steer at all. Crazy VDIM system is comprehensively solving the problems of the exchange rate stability of the car, including heating for you. In addition, all this smart electronics, designed not to let the true path, completely beat off the driver, as they say in preference, lay on the drive of the car. Theoretically, we, of course, know that we are going on the back drive, but in practice we do not feel it. Because all bad inclinations are extinguished in the bud, the machine is as if itself raising itself. (More about modern automobile electronics - on page 126)
Special thanks to the engine. Do not think that the new model was offended when far from a new one, although a modernized 4.3-liter eight, was assigned to the role of a top engine. The fact that he is not new is the key to his one hundred percent honeness. The motor is powerful, but not torn - everything is very smooth and solid in its work. The thrust is amazing at all sled modes, which is not surprising, because the maximum torque is 417 nm, and the motor goes to this maximum at 3500 rpm.
The machine with this engine takes a hundred for 6.1 s. But, interestingly, with all its power, this engine does not provoke the races - it is more pleasant to go to the GS 430. The highly intellectual machine does everything correctly: and reduces, when necessary, the transfer when driving under the slope, and without need does not increase it on the rise, and tries to adapt to your driving manner ... But if you want to sharply tear, then besiege, rush again, then rush, then again It seems that the box thinks a little slower than the driver. But this will only seem.
Old S-Type, of course, is less cosmopolitan than the new GS. Only the line stamped along the side, unequivocally indicates the origin! True, the British, which have long been concerned about the fact that their cars look white crows in a flock of continental competitors, carefully bring them in line with market requests from the great land. For example, a dozen years ago, it was scary to think that some of the jaguars would eat diesel fuel and row along the road with all four paws.
But the image is so simply not adjusted. And thank God! If Lexus is somehow closer to household appliances, then the jaguar is precisely to the car, in the emotional meaning of the word. The British business class does not have the right to be cold-office. It should be sports and at the same time cozy. Have you heard the sound accompanying the blinking of the turn signals in the Jaguar S-Type? No, this is not a banal click - this, one to one, ticking of the floor hours in the silence of the office. And taking up this wooden steering wheel, set almost vertically, like a helm on the ship, you understand that the right choice of a dog is more important than the choice of a laptop. And that after the simulator you can not deny yourself the pleasure of smoking a cigar.
The engine of our Jaguar S-Type-a well-known V-shaped 4.2 l-is close to the Lexus GS430 power unit. It is slightly smaller than volume, but more powerful, and in terms of traction, it is only a little inferior to Japanese, and, in addition, he loves to turn him from the heart-he goes to the peak of torque at higher speeds. For such a machine as S-Type, it is not just enough for everything, but enough with a margin-and it is very difficult to calculate the size of the reserve, since it is necessary to manage to bring this engine to the limit.
A 6-speed automatic is ideally combined with the engine. There are no complaints at all. It works especially spectacularly in Kik-Daw mode. When hitting the gas pedal, the machine gun is going with thoughts for some fraction of a second, after which the car powerfully shoots with a pleasant, very tasty motor roar, which after 6000 rpm simply switches to a scream. So, to those who worked on the exhaust system, we put a solid five. Or, if the British are more understandable ..
And emotion, it is able to adjust, if not technical characteristics, then the impression of them. Jaguar is larger than Lexus, but due to its animal design it looks more compact and more comfortable. Jaguar has a worse dynamic indicators, but due to the fact that he rumbled and allows us much more, we are amazed at his renunciation ... However, we say all this, of course, in vain. You know, what cars were taken by the two upper lines in the list of the most reliable in the survey conducted in the United States literally the other day? Lexus and Jaguar. Compared to this, any anti -globalist reasoning is a waste of words.
If you ever sat in a very old jaguar, then in S-Type you will immediately notice that something is missing. That's right, there is not enough beast running ahead of you on the hood. Some of these cats are installed independently, although they are not very going to this body. From now on, wherever you look, an emblem in the form of a reduced muzzle: in Soviet times, our industry produced door handles of similar shape. The usual jaguar can only be seen on a large monitor that distinguishes the current S-Type version from the one that was produced until 2002. It is curious that both Jaguar and Lexus have sensory screens, buttons appear on them, in which you can poke - a kind of joint answer to all Idrive and MMI. But in the issue of arranging the parking brake of S-Type, for nothing that the conservative was more progressive. The brake here is activated similar to the opener with a lever on the central tunnel, which allows you not to trample the brake at the traffic light or sink into neutral. In Lexus, like an old Mercedes, a pedal sticks out on the left. And Yaguar also has amazingly comfortable chairs with an enviable range of adjustments. In GS, one of us was not able to configure the driver's seat for ourselves - the pillow never wanted to accept the necessary heights and tilt. In S-Type-no problem.
The Lexus GS salon is a monstrous eclecticism, which, however, is quite consistent with the image of a rootless cosmopolitan. The wells of devices with metal Donets, who, if you look closely, as if cutting the milling cutter, plus the arrows luminous with white look just cosmic. Next to this beauty, the keys near the KP handle with shock absorbers drawn on them and other explanations look completely plebeian - such are sold in stores of 43 rubles apiece. They could at least be hidden somewhere-for example, in a cunning panel to the left of the steering column, where the mirror control buttons, a fuel tank hatch, trunk and other secondary functions are grouped. The engine is launched by the button, but for some reason the radio tape recorder from the Levinson brand is equipped with an audio cassette player. By the way, to listen to at least something in the car no, no, and you want-with sound insulation, the Japanese structures clearly overdo it: the engine is not heard absolutely, only at a speed of 100 km/h becomes distinguishable the glimmer of the tires. I get tired of listening, you can see: Parctronics in GS - a real attraction, not only draws a picture, but also notes the path of possible movement on it.

Text Sergey Sorokin, Dmitry Gronsky, photo Andrey Danilov

Cars were provided by Toyota Motor LLC, (095) 258-3465, and CJSC Ford Motor Company, (095) 777-8500.

Lexus GS 430
 
The engine is gasoline, 8-cylinder,
V-shaped
Working volume (cubic cub) 4293
Power (L.S. at rpm) 283 at 6000
Moment (nm at rpm) 417 at 3500
The rear drive
The gearbox is 6-speed
Automatic
Length/width/height (mm) 4825/1815/1430
Wheel base (mm) 2850
Equipped mass (kg) 1695
The maximum speed is 250
(km/h)
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 6.1
Fuel consumption 16.3/8.6
(city/highway, l/100 km)
Price in Moscow from $ 81 900

Jaguar S-Type
 
The engine is gasoline, 8-cylinder,
V-shaped
Working volume (cubic cub) 4196
Power (L.S. at rpm) 298 at 6000
Moment (nm at rpm) 411 at 4100
The rear drive
The gearbox is 6-speed
Automatic
Length/width/height (mm) 4905/1820/1425
Wheel base (mm) 2910
Equipped mass (kg) 1725
The maximum speed is 250
(km/h)
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 6.5
Fuel consumption 17.1/8.2
(city/highway, l/100 km)
Price in Moscow from $ 93,900

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A source: "Autopilot"