2019 Lexus GS

By Steve Kursur –

The 2019 Lexus GS is a luxury car that flies under the radar of most luxury car buyers.  This is a Japanese sports sedan that can hold its own with some of the best four door sedans coming from Europe.  Designed to compete against the BMW 5-Series, the latest GS has enough options to intrigue anyone looking to move up from an entry-level luxury class.

The first-generation Lexus GS initially appeared on American highways back in 1993, less than five years after the Lexus brand debuted here. Designed from the ground up to distinguish itself from its Toyota cousins, the Lexus sedans tended to stress an elegant luxury that became a hallmark of the brand. That superb fit and finish along with rock-solid reliability helped propel Lexus to the top of the luxury brand market here.

The base 2019 GS, with an MSRP of $46,610, is offered with a 241 hp, 2.0 liter turbocharged four-cylinder in-line engine that delivers EPA estimated fuel economy numbers of 22 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway.  The 2.0 liter is a peppy engine but it doesn’t really allow the GS to compete against the more muscular sedans like the Audi A6 and the BMW 5-Series.  To keep up with those Teutonic performance sedans, you’ll have to step up to the GS’s bigger powerplant, the 311 hp, normally aspirated 3.5 liter V6 engine.  Mated with the standard eight-speed transmission, this V6 transforms the GS into a car that can hold its own on the Autobahn.

For GS owners who like their sedans to stand out among the crowd, the Lexus F Sport package can be added to both engine choices.  This upgrade brings distinctive exterior and interior enhancements but it’s the track-tuned chassis, bigger brakes and a Sport + drive mode that is the real attraction. You’ll feel the difference with F Sport.

The spectacular interior of the new 2019 GS has everything you come expect from Lexus.  The Mark Levinson Surround Sound audio system has 17 speakers and rivals far more expensive home audio systems.  The standard adaptive cruise control uses both radar and a front-facing camera to detect vehicles and pedestrians and initiate automatic emergency braking if that becomes necessary.

Lexus is well known for quiet and elegant cars that often lack excitement.  The 2019 GS 350 F Sport is ready to shatter that misconception.