2009 Midsize Premium Cars Buyer's Guide

2009 Lexus GS
The Lexus GS premiered in 1993 with a body designed by the famous Italdesign Giugiaro firm. With a strong V-6 engine powering a rear-wheel-drive platform, the car was a closer sibling to the flagship LS than to the front-wheel-drive Camry-based ES models. Now in its third generation, the Lexus GS maintains that same enthusiast-oriented powertrain configuration, but with the added choice of 8-cylinder or hybrid power and with an all-wheel-drive option. While the standard rear-wheel-drive 6-cylinder GS 350 model earns EPA fuel economy estimates of 19 mpg city and 27 mpg highway, the hybrid GS 450h offers a gasoline-electric powerplant that delivers 22 mpg city and 25 mpg highway. When both the engine and motor work together they generate the power of a V-8—with 80-percent fewer smog-forming emissions (and the GS 450h also offers the best acceleration of any GS model, according to Lexus). As a testament to the Lexus GS’s reliability, in our 2008 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS), which measures vehicle problems after 3 years of ownership, the GS ranked among the top three models in its segment. For 2009, Lexus added sound-deadening acoustic glass to the windshield to reduce cabin noise in the passenger compartment.

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