Jeremy Clarkson Drives the Lexus GS F on The Grand Tour

krew

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"Like being tickled by a goddess."
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mmcartalk

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Let's see if he actually puts his money where his mouth is......if a new GS F ends up in his driveway.

In the past, in general (at least from what I've heard him say, over and above the nice things he said in this video about the F's road-manners), Clarkson has not been particularly supportive of the Lexus brand......and he called the 2Gen SC430 one of the worst cars he has sampled. Of course, people can indeed change their minds about some vehicles (I've done so myself on occasion). But, as the old saying goes..........the proof is in the pudding.;)
 
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corradoMR2

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Interesting how he trashed the RC F when it's virtually neck and neck with the GS F on the track. I recall he had near-LFA expectations with the RC F which surely is a setup for disappointment.
 

mmcartalk

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I recall he had near-LFA expectations with the RC F which surely is a setup for disappointment.

I think it is absurd to expect a 64K car like the RC F to compare to (or compete with) a 375K LFA (perhaps 400-500K or more with dealer-markups). Who but Clarkson would come up with something like that. :rolleyes:
 

GSCT

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The GS F is such a good car, it's nice to see it get recognition from Clarkson.
 

Gecko

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Really great review... I wish this had come out sooner. Love how he says its a better driving car than the Germans!
 

mikeavelli

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Interesting how he trashed the RC F when it's virtually neck and neck with the GS F on the track. I recall he had near-LFA expectations with the RC F which surely is a setup for disappointment.

KREW can speak to this as well but the GS F is the better drive. The RC F feels more raw and untamed to the GS F which is graceful and balanced. I said back in 2012, if the GS got more power it would be amazing. The GS F is amazing.

The RC F sharing 3 platforms doesn't help. Mind you its not bad at all, its just the GS F feels better.
 

meth.ix

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The beginning when he trashed it for not having massaging seats and stuff was stupid though...
 

ydooby

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The beginning when he trashed it for not having massaging seats and stuff was stupid though...
Not offering a competitive set of luxury amenities in a luxury-branded car is what's stupid, not pointing out such a fact. The current E-Class, 5-series, A6, and heck, even the Q70 and MKZ all offer massaging seats, so why shouldn't the GS?

It pains me to say this but Lexus' old way of making debuts of fully redesigned models every 7 or more years and then leaving them to rot with very little meaningful refresh in between simply isn't cutting it anymore. Its tanking sales of every model that's more than 2 years old says it all. Lexus needs to keep every model in its lineup refreshed with the latest competitive set of technologies and amenities every 2 years, just like the competition does. It's hard to believe that Toyota/Lexus has one the biggest R&D budgets in the industry and yet its lineup is one of the most aging and the most lacking in features these days. It's as if Lexus' R&D teams, despite their huge budgets, are only capable of working on two models at most at the same time, while the competition is able to keep nearly ALL of their models up to date on all fronts all the time. Whatever negligibly little reliability lead Lexus still has simply doesn't justify its severely lagging level of features anymore. In a couple of years Lexus is going to turn around and say, "the GS should be dropped because there's no business case for it." Well duh, YOU leave it to rot by not constantly updating it with what it needs to compete; of course people are not going to buy it after a couple of years. Wake the hell up, Lexus! The GS is a luxury sports sedan. You got the sports part right, but it needs to be a proper luxury car too! It's not a Dodge SRT for god's sake!
 
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meth.ix

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Not offering a competitive set of luxury amenities in a luxury-branded car is what's stupid, not pointing out such a fact. The current E-Class, 5-series, A6, and heck, even the Q70 and MKZ all offer massaging seats, so why shouldn't the GS?

It pains me to say this but Lexus' old way of making debuts of fully redesigned models every 7 or more years and then leaving them to rot with very little meaningful refresh in between simply isn't cutting it anymore. Its tanking sales of every model that's more than 2 years old says it all. Lexus needs to keep every model in its lineup refreshed with the latest competitive set of technologies and amenities every 2 years, just like the competition does. It's hard to believe that Toyota/Lexus has one the biggest R&D budgets in the industry and yet its lineup is one of the most aging and the most lacking in features these days. It's as if Lexus' R&D teams, despite their huge budgets, are only capable of working on two models at most at the same time, while the competition is able to keep nearly ALL of their models up to date on all fronts all the time. Whatever negligibly little reliability lead Lexus still has simply doesn't justify its severely lagging level of features anymore. In a couple of years Lexus is going to turn around and say, "the GS should be dropped because there's no business case for it." Well duh, YOU leave it to rot by not constantly updating it with what it needs to compete; of course people are not going to buy it after a couple of years. Wake the hell up, Lexus! The GS is a luxury sports sedan. You got the sports part right, but it needs to be a proper luxury car too! It's not a Dodge SRT for god's sake!
Now, I'm not sure, but even if the regular GS offered massaging seats, I don't think any competitors to the GS F have those types of things because of things like weight reduction and that is why I feel like it was stupid that Clarkson mocked the car for not having these things in the interior despite being expensive because it is expensive more for the performance rather than luxury. I feel like he thought he was reviewing a regular GS in the beginning. But I do agree that the GS and other models need to be updated much more constantly and the GS is really behind the competition when it comes to it's technologies and amenities.
 

meth.ix

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I remember in a certain Top Gear episode they were talking about car news in general when they mentioned the debut of the RC F and showed a picture of the front end. And Jeremy Clarkson said that he actually liked the look of it and the other two hosts officially declared him a Lexus fan (he loved the LFA before too).

And now he is totally trashing the design language of the RC F and GS F too.
 

ydooby

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Now, I'm not sure, but even if the regular GS offered massaging seats, I don't think any competitors to the GS F have those types of things because of things like weight reduction and that is why I feel like it was stupid that Clarkson mocked the car for not having these things in the interior despite being expensive because it is expensive more for the performance rather than luxury. I feel like he thought he was reviewing a regular GS in the beginning. But I do agree that the GS and other models need to be updated much more constantly and the GS is really behind the competition when it comes to it's technologies and amenities.
Well that's the difference between a Charger SRT and an E63 AMG. One is a sports sedan, and the other, a LUXURY sports sedan. Unless we're talking about track-focused specialty versions like the AMG Black Series or the M CSL, trading luxury amenities for a few pounds in weight reduction usually isn't a priority, which is why you can still get the E63 AMG with all the amenities offered on the regular E-Class. It's what a luxury sports sedan is all about.
 

mmcartalk

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Well that's the difference between a Charger SRT and an E63 AMG. One is a sports sedan, and the other, a LUXURY sports sedan. Unless we're talking about track-focused specialty versions like the AMG Black Series or the M CSL, trading luxury amenities for a few pounds in weight reduction usually isn't a priority, which is why you can still get the E63 AMG with all the amenities offered on the regular E-Class. It's what a luxury sports sedan is all about.


True, but don't forget that, independent of dealer price-gouging, you can get two Charger SRTs for the price of one E63. That's a BIG difference.