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Lexus GS review - the alternative executive car choice - Design

Japanese executive saloons offer a different take on the Germanic norm, with mixed success

Evo rating
RRP
from £31,495
  • Handsome; well equipped; GS 300h low on CO2; GS F high on individuality
  • No diesels to truly compete with the class-leaders; hybrids an acquired taste

Like the dynamics and the interior the GS is arguably the most successfully designed car in the Lexus showroom. Its front end benefitted hugely from the addition of Lexus’s current pinched grille, the GS standing out against its familiar German rivals.

There’s a real solidity to its bodywork, in a muscular rather than weighty sense, while the rear lights are neat and give some real visual width. F Sport models gain an even more assertive look at the front and unique alloy wheels making it the pick of the bunch if you really want to stand out.

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Climb even further up the range, to the GS F, and the basic shape is adorned further, with distinctive wide apertures in the front bumper, a quartet of exhausts at the rear and unique mesh-spoke alloy wheels. Perhaps best of all is the optional shade of metallic blue paintwork, which takes on an almost purple hue in bright sunlight and really differentiates the car's shape from the rest of the executive car herd.

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