Lexus GS F | Spotted

Rare, capable, cool - and potentially a safe place for the cash, too

However inevitable the reality was, it’s still a bit sad not to see any naturally aspirated V8s on the Lexus homepage anymore. They hung on right until the bitter end, but now there’s nothing with fewer than five doors and no engine larger than 2.5 litres on offer. Pity. There’s still some weird and wonderful stuff at least: who else but Lexus could offer the LM MPV at £95k? The LBX looks funky, too, and there remains some hope that it could get the GR Yaris powertrain in time. It’s good to see Lexus still Lexusing, even in a more modest regard.

The F-badged Lexuses, and the LC500 for that matter, were always quite rare cars over here. British buyers like the German brands when it comes to sports saloons and flagship coupes, for starters, and none of them were class leaders thanks to not-quite-perfect automatic gearboxes and interiors that could be hard to fathom. It was as a longer-term proposition that the 5.0-litre cars really shone, which many owners will surely attest to, with bulletproof reliability, the famed dealer experience and the cool that comes with rarity in their favour. No 5.0-litre V8 will be truly affordable to run, but the Lexus experience made sure it was about as sensible as it could be.

This makes the cars hugely appealing secondhand: they aren’t the obvious choice, they go on forever, and it’s nice to arrive at a coffee meet in something different. The GS F is a fine example of the breed. Launched almost a decade ago, it occupied a middle ground between the M3 and M5 - more expensive than the former, a similar size but much less potent than the latter - that made it a hard car to rank. In isolation, the 5.0-litre GS was a joy, though by the cold, hard stats it was outgunned. And then there was the RC F around at the same time, too.

So it’s reckoned that only around 60 were ever sold to UK customers. There are probably that many E63s for sale right now. They were updated in 2017 with revised suspension, though fundamentally it was the same handsome hot rod for its years on sale: 5.0-litres, eight speeds, 480hp and a rear-drive chassis of real quality.

This is an early (2016) car, with just one owner throughout that time and 57,000 miles. In an ideal world, this would be a later version with the AVS suspension, but there remains an awful lot to appreciate here: there’s a custom exhaust for even more V8 thunder, a full main dealer history, a Lexus checkup just 600 miles ago, and a colour combo that’s very… Japanese. Let’s go with that. As is so often the case with Lexuses, it appears barely used despite almost a decade of use. And doesn’t the design still look absolutely superb?

Thanks, presumably, to the rarity and the general sense of satisfaction around these cars, the GS F is holding on to its value well. After an initial wallop (they were almost half price by just 2019), the big Lex’s significance began to be appreciated; what were sub-£40k prospects at just a couple of years old were still more than £35k come 2022. And now a smidge over £30k remains necessary. An M5 is more powerful and cheaper to buy, but which would you rather take on at 10 years old? Expect owner number two to be just as content as that original keeper.

SPECIFICATION | LEXUS GS F

Engine: 4,969cc, V8
Transmission: 8-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 477@7,100rpm
Torque (lb ft): 391@4,800-5,600rpm
MPG: 25.2
CO2: 260g/km
First registered: 2016
Recorded mileage: 57,000
Price new: £69,995
Yours for: £31,950

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Motormouth88

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