ilPistone.com: Prezzi Lexus GS

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Narcoleptics beware; the new Lexus GS300 is about as relaxing thing to drive as it's possible to get without actually slipping gently from the grasp of consciousness. The three-litre six-cylinder is so well isolated that you can hear your own ear wax accruing mid-canal, and the only reason you know the damn thing isn't mounted in a vacuum, is that you sense a sewing-machine hum from somewhere in the bows.

Clever Toyota engineers are the reason; the all-new 245bhp V6 now comes with variable valve timing on inlet and exhaust valves, and even at higher revs, only just wrings out a pleasant tingle. Even that most gentle thrum sounds like it's engineered-in, rather than simply a random escape of gas.

Similarly, power is a silent waft through a new six-speed gearbox that glides through the gears as if the synchromesh is made of wool. The manual override adds more than a touch of fleet to the GS's foot, though when you push it there's no disguising the car's bulk, as well as the fact that the 300 has the least powerful engine in the range - something the 280bhp GS430 V8 will address. But it matters not, because hustling along is something that the GS doesn't inherently encourage. The car feels much more comfortable cruising than being hurled about like a Teddy Boy's girlfriend.

Levels of communication through the steering are also a nice surprise; the GS feels more connected through its slim-rimmed wheel than any other big Lexus product, although if you start to push, the tactility turns out to be a comforting fake. It makes a good impression, though, and there are very few cars that can be dribbled through town and country alike with such glacial calm. That initial feel to the steering helps you to judge radii perfectly, the gearbox always appears to be capable of choosing the correct gear and even the brakes, though blatantly a bit heavy on the servo, allow you to soft-stop without mussing your wig.

It helps that the interior is a place where you actually look forward to spending time, rather than a commuter tomb. The trick is the attention to detail. Someone with Rain Man levels of focus has been overcompensating all over the interior of the GS, making sure that the building blocks of the experience add up to a drive that's slicker than a greased-up panther. Initially, the cabin architecture feels a little busy, even with several occasional functions hidden away in a drop-down keypad to the right of the steering wheel, but you'll soon appreciate the efficacy of buttons on display instead of interminable menus. The high-waisted and traditional central display dominates the dash, and it's there that you'll find pretty much everything you'll need.

Buttons either side of that big central screen decide on the main functions (like audio/satnav/information), and the touch-screen menus chase down detail. Dead easy to understand and use, and everything works the way you think it should. The buttons do things they say they will. This reasonable theme carries through the whole interior; seat heaters and coolers do so with the thermic efficiency of an SAS raid on your buttocks. The windscreen wipers clip across the screen leaving it smear-free and hospital-clean, the excellent radio beats exactly how you want it to.

It's not boringly practical or without style either, the dials directly in front of the driver get shiny stainless steel inserts, which look bananas at night lit with white backlighting. It's an interior for people without computing degrees and yet enough of an IQ to want to make use of the positive cornucopia of toys that the GS range provides as standard. I even enjoyed the colour reversing camera, though I'm still unsure of whether or not I could park without checking the mirrors. If you do bump, a monster 12 airbags on models like this GS300 SE - including a new dual-stage knee-bag - will make sure you survive.

But the gravy does have some lumps. The boot is big but long, and if you try to reach into it to retrieve a heavy object you twinge with the stretch. Similarly, the rear accommodation is cramped for tall people, a result of that beetle-shaped rear. Ah, yes. The looks. Now there, we have a talking point. The fact is that the last-generation GS looked like a smaller hatch that had drowned some three weeks ago and swollen. Which didn't stop it having a kind of anti-hero cool. Blacked-out, gold-badged and possessed of big rims, the last GS was the chariot du jour of the Walthamstow gangsta underclass.

Which is unlikely to happen with the new car. From the front there are, it has to be said, shades of the BMW 6-Series in the way that it holds itself across the front arch. The front we can get used to. The front we can handle. But as you progress along the profile, the GS loses coherence. Too-small 17-inch wheels on this GS300 didn't help with the car's stance, making it look a bit tippy-toed and mincing, and being far too close in style to the rims mounted on current Corollas. But the rear is by far the biggest sticking point. The front feels brave, the rear feels like an Avensis or Primera - just not special enough and carrying too much weight. Saying that, we've seen the bigger-engined versions that look a bit more tied down and sporty - it certainly doesn't do them any harm visually.

The GS shocks. Genuinely shocks as to how comfortable and comforting it is over distance, how well thought-out, handsome and intuitive the interior is. Quality is excellent. It ain't gonna break. But the GS, at least in GS300 form is a bit too stealthy. It needs a touch more aggression in the stance, as well as a dollop more power to make use of its chassis. It's a great car that needs fluffing up and then living with. This is not an instant-love machine. But it makes all kinds of sense, in all kinds of ways.