► We drive the new Lexus GSF
► 5.0-litre V8 packs a hefty punch
► Better than an M5? It’s certainly cheaper…
Is this a case of being careful what we wish for? Every E-segment super-saloon now features a forced-induction V8 for power and efficiency gains versus a regular V8, but motoring journalists often criticise a turbo engine’s lack of response, duff sound effects, and perhaps the evolutionary dead-end of ever-escalating power wars.
Well, Lexus has been listening, and it’s given us a super-saloon with a naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8; it’s called the GSF, the fourth model in the F-for-Fuji-Speedway line after ISF, LFA and RCF. Prod the throttle and the response is instant; the GSF sounds – though artificially enhanced through the speakers in sportier driving modes – like it’s fiendishly snorting fresh air through a rolled-up 20, and won’t quit revving to 7100rpm.
But here’s the price you pay: the GSF makes 471bhp and 391lb ft, down not only 81bhp and 111lb ft on the latest turbocharged BMW M5 (which revs to similar levels), but 28bhp down and just 7lb ft up on the last M5 that bowed a decade ago with a naturally aspirated V10.
So would you be big enough to look at the M5 and the Merc E63’s womping great outputs and tell your incredulous mates that ‘nah, I went for something slower because it responds much more crisply to throttle inputs’? They’d think you mad.
Listen carefully and you can hear Lexus’s European marketeers punching through their cubicles at this point. ‘Told… You… So…!’ And it is a tricky message for them to communicate. But I hope someone listens, because I spent a day driving the GSF on autoroutes and twisty roads and thoroughly enjoyed it.
On those autoroutes you notice the cocooned refinement, the audio-snob quality of the Mark Levinson hi-fi, the glassy gearshifts, smooth engine, pillowy ride, excellent seats… You’re a stressed exec, you just want to get home in soothing comfort; no problem.
But the GSF is also designed to satisfy long-way-home detours too. There’s the big V8 with forged con-rods, titanium valves and sky-high 12.3:1 compression ratio; six-piston Brembo brakes; a body stiffened and braced; forged aluminium control arms and new rear suspension mounts; and a 1850kg kerbweight that shames that M5 to the tune of 95kg.
There’s also a torque-vectoring differential. Lexus definitely wants you to know about this, because there are possibly more buttons for the diff than the climate control. Much like pressing a broken doorbell, you choose from Normal, Slalom and Track modes, then settle back in wide-eyed, unrequited anticipation.
The different driving modes are more tangible: forget Eco with its soggy throttle (throttle response is almost the whole point here!) and go straight to Sport or Sport Plus. In the latter you get a huge central rev counter, exhaust sounds flowing through rear as well as front speakers, and even a window on the oil temperature, like the old days.
Charge down a twisting road and the steering – quick, precise, some palm-tickling feel, even – snaps to attention, and instantly snares your attention too. It jinks the GSF’s nose with a deft lightness that belies both its still significant weight and the hulk of V8 nestled over the front axle; you immediately sense a playfulness, and even the extra weight in Sport Plus is nicely judged. Those 380mm stoppers give you confidence too, with their strong response and feel.
There’s a helping of understeer when you lean hard on the front end – I’d be tempted to increase front tyre pressures, given the scrubbing on our sidewalls – but this is a well-balanced, secure chassis, one that feels pleasingly rear-biased when you keep your foot in.
And you will need to keep your foot in: the GSF suffers a foot-tapping, finger-drumming lethargy below 4000rpm, at which point a satisfyingly deep induction bellow erupts and you start to lose the M5 less quickly. Extend the V8 to the redline and you’ll get a strangely disjointed sound – like the engine Karaoke pouring from the speakers isn’t reading the rev-counter subtitles – then tap on an aluminium gearshift paddle and one of eight gears slurs home; the ’box does the job, it’s just rivals do that job better.
The diff, similarly, is more sloppy than slippy, sometimes locking, sometimes spinning the inside rear wheel like it’s November 5th; seems to work better on faster corners than hairpins.
Despite all those diff settings, there’s just one for the suspension. This could be a mistake because the GSF feels so cushy at a cruise, and you worry it might wallow when you chuck it about. It’s true that there is some roll, but the GSF flows very nicely at speed. The result is a car that’s quick and compliant, encouraging you to lean on its front tyres, and throw everything you can at the rears because, frankly, there isn’t much in reserve; but to squeeze everything out of a car like this brings its own satisfaction.
Of course, the danger of a big ol’ V8 is it’ll neck fuel like someone’s got the sakés in on Friday night, but Lexus has its own solution, switching between the Atkinson cycle when you’re lounging about and Otto when you’re legging it. The claims are for 25mpg and 260g/km to the M5’s 28.5mpg and 231g/km.
If you’re warming to the idea, consider this: the Lexus is £4k cheaper than the M5 at £69,995, but it’s also lavished with standard equipment: semi-aniline leather, carbonfibre and alcantara trim, sat-nav with a 12.3-inch display, and all sorts of safety gear that should stop you driving into things and people, blinding oncoming traffic, veering chaotically from your lane and demolishing walls while parking. The only way to give your dealer more money is to spec the Mark Levinson hi-fi (£1000) and sunroof (£1105), and according to the man from Lexus you’d need to add £12,905 to the BMW to equalise the spec.
The GSF is not a perfect car, but it refreshingly ploughs its own furrow as if the opposition doesn’t exist, creating a super-saloon as refined as it is exciting to drive. The opposition does, of course, exist, but the choice isn’t the no-brainer it might seem on paper.
The spec: Lexus GSF
Price: £69,995
Engine: 4969cc 32v V8, 471bhp @ 7100rpm, 391lb ft @ 4800-5600rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Suspension: Double-wishbone front, multi-link rear
Performance: 4.6sec 0-62mph, 168mph (limited), 25.2mpg, 260g/km CO2
Weight: 1850kg
On sale: Now
Up against
Better than: Toyota Chaser. Un-super saloon and GSF forerunner
Worse than: BMW M5. It wrote the super-saloon rulebook
We’d buy: BMW M5. Less kit, pricier, but dynamically sublime
Love: Steering, engine response, refinement, ride
Hate: Gutless down low, sloppy diff, slow gearbox
Verdict: Flawed, but a very likeable super-saloon alternative
Rating: ****