Inside & Out:
There's a new F-Sport trim for the GS range, adding some much needed excitement to the otherwise conservative GS range. Sadly this 'Luxury' spec car does without the F-Sport's deep grille and almost caricatured front bumper and air intake arrangement. The result is still a more distinctive and confident looking GS than the car it replaced, but there's little to get excited about visually.
Thankfully there's more to pique your interest inside, the high centre console and broad sweep of the main dashboard more stylish than anything Lexus has offered before. There's still the odd bit of 1980's Toyota switchgear for the minor controls, and the firm insists on using a mouse style control for the central display despite it lacking the intuitive interface offered by its rivals' iDrive or MMI systems. Quality is outstanding though, and while the lack of load through facility in the rear seats is frustrating, the relocation of the battery pack does allow a reasonable 465-litre capacity.
Ride & Handling:
Despite the brand's newly focused intentions this GS is no sports saloon, and keen drivers really should look elsewhere. The driving modes alter steering and throttle response, but the rim always feels rather numb regardless of the weighting selected. Grip is plentiful, but the long and short of it is that this big Lexus never really inspires as much confidence as some of its more conventionally powered rivals do. Turn into a bend quickly and you can feel the weight of the hybrid system playing its part, and you soon learn that smooth and relaxed inputs make for a better rate of progress.
As before the brake pedal displays that typical hybrid reaction of little feel finished with a sharp grabbing of the discs at the end of its travel - coming smoothly to a stop is an art rather than a given in this car. It rides well though, new adaptive damping making the 450h a comfortable cruiser, even when dealing with our winter-scarred road surface. And thanks to those 10-way electrically adjustable seats up front, getting comfortable is the matter of mere moments for all that get behind the wheel.
Engine & Transmission:
As is typical for Lexus hybrids, the GS 450h uses a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) and as ever the result is a car that screams away near the top of its engine rev-range when making serious progress. You can manually change through the electronically created shift points, but in general the gearbox is best left to its own devices - especially at lower speeds.
When both the electric motor and engine are working together the progress is at least impressive, completing the benchmark 0-62mph sprint in less than six seconds. But you're conscious that that progress does take effort, especially as peak torque is not produced until 4,500rpm, and in general it rarely feels worth it. If you do feel that speed is a priority you can select the car's Sport mode, which sharpens responses and changes the engine note - adding a convincingly deep growl to proceedings.
Equipment, Economy & Value for Money:
Considering the standard equipment, the £44,995 list price seems entirely reasonable. Our test example arrived without a single option and still came with 18-inch alloy wheels, LED daytime running lights, bi-Xenon headlamps, Bluetooth, USB input, reversing camera, satnav, DAB radio, 12-speaker hi-fi, climate control, ventilated and heated electric leather seats, cruise control, tyre pressure warning, blind spot monitor and 10 airbags.
Quoted combined economy is 45.6mpg, and while we never saw figures north of 40mpg in our time with the car, we did see an average well above 35mpg - that's actually not too bad for a car of this size and performance. For those lucky enough to have a GS 450h on their company car list the 141g/km CO
2 emissions mean that BIK is only 19 per cent. And with residuals traditionally strong for Toyota's luxury brand, private buyers shouldn't lose out either.
