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BACKSIDE BEAUTY: up the snarling a bit more by selecting Sport S mode. That was more like torturing a 90lb Doberman with a lump of steak on a stick because it turned quite violent.
And that was when I found out that the animal I’d been playing with was far, far worse than a Doberman. It was a fully grown Insanitaurus Rex and it was very, very angry.
The expression “surprisingly fast” falls off a cliff when applied to a Lexus GS F. Forget hybrids, this was a 478hp V8 so it wasn’t surprising that it hit 0-100mph in 10.3s on its way to 168mph.
Even so I totally unexpected the wild V8 roar as it took off with a thunderous and massive thump in the back, but I did know this... I loved it.
Now you’ll notice that I didn’t say what country I was in at the time, but I will say this: I wish I’d had it on a race track rather than a road.
The way its eight-speed DSG gearbox snicks instantly from gear to gear and just keeps hurling the car along the road at immense and still climbing speeds is totally addictive. By the way Lexus call it an SDS gearbox which stands for Sports Direct Shift.
Strangely, for the entire time I had the GS F, I immediately selected Sports + mode, except for one long distance journey when I bounced from Eco straight to Sports + as I needed to create the right effect by shooting past cars sounding and performing like a massive Ducati motorbike. fold in when the car is locked so you’ll always tell if you’ve locked the car just by looking at it.
Feels like you’ve been hit by a sledgehammer and sounds like a bomb going off when you put your foot down. WONGA WONDER: Rare, by modern standards, V8 engine could turn it into a cult car. Great value. WOULD CHANTELLE LIKE IT? Too big for Chantelle, who’s not impressed by lunatic speed either.
Rival