Lexus GS

Start with what the Lexus GS is: a 4-door sedan with 3.0&nbsp, built from 1991 to 2020, when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign (1988).

The background

The Lexus GS (Japanese: レクサス・GS, Hepburn: Rekusasu GS) is an executive car (E-segment in Europe) manufactured by Toyota and marketed by Lexus across four generations — launched in 1991 as the Toyota Aristo (トヨタアリスト, Toyota Ari suto) in Japan and as the Lexus GS for markets outside the Japanese market beginning in February 1993. It continued with the Toyota Aristo name for the Japanese market until January 2005, following the introduction of the Lexus marque in Japan. Lexus marketed the GS as a performance sedan competing in the mid-luxury class, between its compact executive IS and large/flagship LS. The GS shared its chassis with one of Toyota's longest-running nameplates, the Toyota Crown premium sedans until 2011. The GS featured six-cylinder engines and rear-wheel drive, with V8 engines offered for all generations. All-wheel drive and hybrid versions debuted in 2005.

Previously, all-wheel drive versions were already made available in the Japanese-market S140 series Aristo. The first two generations had a Japanese market equivalent, the Toyota Aristo (aristo is Greek for "the best"), which was sold from 1991 until the Lexus marque's Japanese debut in 2005. Though largely identical in exterior and interior design, the GS and the Aristo differed in their engine and transmission combinations as well as equipment packages. The GS name stands for Grand Sedan. However, some Lexus importers use the backronymic name, Grand Sport. The first generation Lexus GS began sales in the United States, Europe and selected Asian markets in 1993. It was originally introduced with an inline

The engineering

The engine is 3.0  other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Drive goes through a 4-speed Toyota A transmission#A340E / A340E (1991–97 Aristo 2JZ-GTE) / Toyota A transmission#A341E / A341E (1993–95 GS 300) automatic transmission / automatic / 5-. The wheelbase is 2779 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

Where it sits

In the Lexus line-up the Lexus GS has a clear place: the factory was Tahara, Aichi (Tahara plant), Japan. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Volvo 850, the Opel Astra, the Dodge Viper. Its Lexus stablemates include the Lexus ES (V20) and the Lexus GS 450h.

Owning one today

Buying one now means $20,200–$32,100 for a typical example, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $4,415–$5,670 a year. Insurance sits around $1,730–$2,620 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.