The 2013 Lexus GS 350

Automobile

The GS 350 was always a solid mid-luxury sport sedan, just not one drivers swooned over. So Lexus’s stated goal with this fourth iteration was to create an “emotionally intriguing” car. An angular new face “turns up the visual wattage,” while interiors are “luxe and modern.” But the improvements to driving dynamics are simply too subtle. Lexus should “take the GS further in the sports direction.”

MotorWeek

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The refreshed GS 350 still rates as “a big step in the right direction.” The old GS was a better performer than it’s given credit for, and this one—though it “relies mostly on electronics for its increased capabilities”—is more agile still. The most welcome surprise is that the new GS offers a driver “genuine feel and feedback.” Lexus even allows you to shut off the car’s array of “electronic traction nannies.”

AutoWeek

The new GS 350 is solid, refined—“clearly not bland.” It’s loaded with “clever technology,” from its overachieving 3.5-liter, 306-hp engine to multiple suspension and handling refinements, including a rear-wheel-steer mechanism on the F Sport model. Inside, “everything one expects of a luxury car is available.” In performance terms, Lexus always seemed second-tier. That, we’d say, is no longer true.