Lexus GS (05-11) - Review

The seats in the GS are soft and give good support while leather upholstery is standard on all but the base model. In the back it's comfortable for two over long distances although the heated, ventilated and electrically adjusted front seats do eat up rear foot space and the large transmission tunnel means there's no legroom in the middle seat. Music fans will appreciate the high quality stereo, which gives outstanding sound reproduction - on SE-L models it's uprated to a top-spec Mark Levinson branded system. At higher speeds, the superb sound insulation means very little noise penetrates through to the cabin while thanks to its electric-only power at low speeds, the GS450h which is utterly silent when stationary or gently cruising.

Although reasonably large, the boot on the 300 and 430 can be difficult to access, because of the shape of the bootlid. It's rather narrow and can be difficult to load. However, the boot does have a self-closing function, eliminating the need to slam it shut. The 450h has less luggage room as it's eaten up by the rechargeable batteries - these take up 150-litres and as a result space is reduced to just 280-litres. However a special set of luggage, designed to make the most of the available space, is offered and the four-piece range will hold plenty.

Front visibility is good, although thick rear pillars and the sloping shape towards the bootlid restricts the rear view. The dashboard is well laid out with most of the controls - such as the air con, audio controls and sat-nav accessed through a touch-sensitive screen on the centre of the dashboard. It's Lexus' simpler answer to BMW's i-Drive and Audi's MMI systems, but much easier for the first-time user to master. Underneath the steering wheel, by the driver's right knee, is a flip-down tray containing all the buttons that would otherwise clutter the dash and confuse the driver (see gallery for an image). It's here that the controls for the least used gadgets are found, like the rear sun blind, petrol flap release and mirror adjustment.