New 2016 Lexus GS F Review The Closest Lexus Has Come yet to Building a Japanese BMW And that's a compliment

New 2016 Lexus GS F Review The Closest Lexus Has Come yet to Building a Japanese BMW And that's a compliment

F is the scarlet letter we use to mark mistake or scorn. Funnily enough, the converse is the case in Japan, where things linked to that symbol commands trust. Mount Fuji is worshipped as a natural wonder. Fuji International Speedway is Japan’s type of the Nürburgring. When Toyota prepared its assault on the luxury-car business in the late 1980s, Circle F was code for the Lexus LS400 flagship.

For a completely new Japanese car, the Lexus GS F has a surprisingly old fashioned outlook on life. Beneath its dramatically-styled new bodyshell it comes with a standard thumper of a 5.0-litre V8 engine, with not an electric motor nor even a turbocharger in sight to help it generate the required goods. Its chassis might have been heavily modified and stiffened as compared with that of the standard Lexus GS, but at heart it’s continually a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive thunder saloon.

The GS F will be operated by a 5.0-liter V8 engine rated at 460 horsepower and 389 pound-feet of torque. The only available transmission is an eight-speed automatic, that will route power to the rear wheels only. A standard torque-vectoring differential provides precise control of power delivered to each of the rear wheels, making the GS F feel stable at high speeds and agile at low speeds.

However—and this is a crucial however—when thinking about pricing, the GS F's $85,380 MSRP undercuts those two Germans by at least $10,000, though just barely underpricing Le Monster, the CTS-V. Lexus points out that the GS F is a loaded car with common items such as LED headlights and wildly advanced safety features that will push its competitors to far higher price points.