Test drive Lexus GS 2005 - 2008 sedan

Lonely iris

A good tradition is to start with European tests of new cars in early April in Nice. Both the people are a little on the roads, and the roads themselves, which are laid, including on the seaside alps, very contribute to the understanding of what the machine can. On the one hand - the sun and a dry half of the canvas, in the shade - not only wet, but there may be a snowball and ice. And then, for no reason, pouring rain collapses on your head. That is, the air is fresh from the azure shore, and a small socially acceptable extreme.
It seems that this is precisely what cars as the new Lexus GS 430 and GS 300 are made. Restrained Zen-shik, a powerful engine, Japanese understanding of ergonomics and design of dash panels and a couple of technological innovations, of which a maximum of a maximum of Russian motorists will fall .
The lexus caravan moved from the airport towards the city of Grasse, known for his perfume museum. The unusual Skin navigator immediately forced us to miss the turn, and we had to turn around. But one miss was enough, and then everything went like clockwork-the 430th mountain was easily and naturally. The V8 V8 engine with a volume of 4.3 liters (283 horses) allows a lot, and most importantly - to feel confident not so much on the lifts as on the descents. In order not to look at the cliffs on the left, you can admire the new salon materials in the new design, which is called L-Face's philosophy on Lexus. In a new way, the control buttons look to everyone-from card to sound (it is here from Mark Levinson). Lexus in good configuration can make many luxury machines envy. Unless sometimes it seems that different zones of torpedo are worked out by different offices. The salon is made in three colors - black, gray and ivory. The machine itself is available in 10 colors, including Morello Red, Tottori Sand and Glacial Blue. Maybe someday our dealers will order such colors. So that the city does not resemble Soviet life when everything is in black, brown and dark blue. We are walking in a silver car with a black salon. The sun is quite bright, but the devices are clearly visible, because the glass that covers them reacts to light and darkens, at the same time, the automation includes the backlight of numbers and arrows. Thus, the lighter, the more contrast the data. On such trifles, a lot has been built in the new Lexus GS.
Many of the innovations concern exclusively security. Four Sonars for parking in front and four behind. The reverse is also controlled by a television signal from the camera located somewhere in the rear bumper area. And now - in color! At the same time, the green trajectories on the display show where you can enter the beautiful back of the Kengo Matsumoto team.
This movie will not be shown to the Russian rider, since they decided that the system would not work in our dirt. Meanwhile, the same Nissan Primera is used, and quite safely, and no dirt is hindered. And where Lexus GS is found and handed over, usually good and pure asphalt. But this is not the most important thing that the Russian consumer does not have. Amazing Lexus development - - The frontal sonar, which starts to start the pre -war preparation of the driver (pulls up the seat belts, activates the Brake Assist system, etc.), will also not be included even in the most expensive equipment of the machine ($ 80 thousand). Because a millimeter signal, it turns out, is worried about our special services. That is, once again, native special services make our life objectively more dangerous. Thank you very much. On a narrow street of one of the old cities of the seaside Alps, we experience a Pre-Crush system-it was worth jumping out to a little Citroen in front of us and as soon as we slow down, the belts were whistled, which tightly pressed the body to the armchairs. The car decided that it was time.
We slow down on a strip, half of which is already dried up and the other is not, after instant attempts to leave to the side, the car suddenly pulls up and slows down without much effort from the side of the rider. This is how the new VDIM system works, which redistributes efforts on wheels. For our luck, this revolutionary function in deliveries to Russia will remain.
In the Russian representative office of Toyota, about 500 such cars are going to sell. In this regard, we immediately received the opinion of consumers of luxury cars. If the minimum price for the car will be within $ 60 thousand, then it will be a hit, ”says Garevin Grigoryan, the head of a large shopping center in Moscow, the owner of the BMW 745, because in our city, you simply can’t buy such money cars for that kind. But for $ 80 thousand you can buy another car, a European manufacturer.
Meanwhile, we descend from the mountains and go along the vineyards of the Provence region, which is around the town of Dragignyan. Local wine is now on the rise, although from what the owners of Chateau de La Messardiere suggested at a reception about the new Lexus, I would not offer readers a businessman Week end nothing.
The hotel itself, which was surrounded by rows of Lexus GS, belongs to the Leading Hotels of the World association and, in its location in the city of Saint-Trope, is very corresponding to the level of the new GS. Gorgeous place, chic machine, weak wine Sainte Roseline Cuvee Prestige and the cooled duck Au Genievre et Son Cremeux d'Epeautre aux champignons. This happens when the owners of the place, restaurant, hotel, region, cities are sure that they still have scrap of tourists today, and tomorrow they will not go anywhere from the azure shore - they will come and pay.
This trap lies in wait for not only the owners of the Venetian restaurants, but also the creators of luxury brands in car. It is necessary to go forward all the time and not lower the quality so that it is not painfully painful to recall a car of $ 100 thousand for factory repairs. We hope that Lexus is well aware of this. The cars that were offered to us for the test (the next morning we went to the GS 300 olive -colored) are assembled in Japan, and, I think, everything is in order with the assembly. Moreover, Lexus representatives claim that 300 Lexus dealerships open at one day in Japan, a brand that was not represented on the home market. That's just one puzzling: what will they call the Rexus car? After all, the sound of l in Japanese does not exist.
In the morning we go to the La Mole airfield, on which we compare the characteristics of the old GS and the new. Including demonstrations of a new pre -war system during knocking down a special pillar are carried out. It works like a clock. The return trip even on a three -liter engine does not take much time, since it is mainly laid along the highway. The car easily accelerates to 220 km/h, and you don’t feel speed - comfort is enveloping the driver and passenger. Otherwise, why still go to Lexus?

Text Igor Maltsev, photo of the author and the manufacturer

Lexus GS 300 GS 430
Gasoline V6 gasoline V6 v8
Working volume (cubic meter) 2995 4293
Power (L.S. at rpm)
249 at 6200 283 at 5600
Moment (Nm at rpm) 310 at 3500 417 at 3500
The rear drive
The gearbox is 6-speed
mechanical
Length/width/height (mm) 4825/1820/1430
Wheel base (mm) 2850
Equipped mass (kg) 1620 1695
Maximum speed
(km/h) 240 250
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 7.2 6.1
Fuel consumption
(city/highway, l/100 km) 14.4/7.2 16.3/8.6
Price in Moscow $ 61,000 $ 80,000

Fans of pretentiousness in automotive design are, as a rule, representatives of the Christian religious tradition, according to which you can walk in the church in a golden cassock with a golden crown (crown) and censer. Around also gold, gold and brocade. It is difficult for these people to imagine that in the temple of the Japanese goddess of the Sun -Amaterasa -only a mirror, wrapped in a dilapidated rag. Hence the tradition of discreet, but good beauty.
 

Source: "Autopilot"