1998 Lexus GS400 driving impressions

Few car enthusiasts will forget the debut of the Lexus brand in 1989.  The creation of Toyota’s premium line was viewed with both anticipation and skepticism in equal measure. It was the final step onto the world class scene for the Aichi based manufacturer, but in no way a sure thing considering a six-cylinder Cressida was Toyota’s most luxurious car to that point.

Undaunted, Lexus gave birth to a quiet, powerful, and incredibly refined V-8 luxury sedan called the LS400; a car that punched Audi, BMW, and Mercedes squarely in the nose with quality as well as competitive pricing. That first LS400 immediately stamped Lexus onto the luxury car map.

After all the fanfare died down, what to do next? The only Lexus on offer was a gussied up and lipsticked old Camry from the Japanese domestic market known as the ES250. That boxy, elderly thing was clearly a stop-gap measure to fill up showrooms until re-inforcements came along, and those none too soon.

Said re-inforcements arrived in 1991 in the form of the SC400 coupe and a completely redesigned ES300. Now truly off and running, Lexus gobbled up market share and delighted buyers with high quality, stylish cars. Superb residual values didn’t hurt either, which powered a growing market for automotive leasing.

Despite all this initial success, one target audience remained untapped; the sports sedan buyer. The LS400 and ES300 were far too restrained and pillowy to be considered sport-oriented, thus a new model needed introduction.

Cue the GS series of 1992. This one was a no-brainer for Lexus. All they had to do was source the Japanese market Toyota Aristo, massage it with some U.S. market adjustments, glue on Lexus badges and BANG….welcome the new Lexus GS300. Good reviews followed, praising its chassis dynamics and quality. Acceleration was  brisk if not sparkling; the 220 bhp, 3.0L 2JZ-GE inline six matched the power and smoothness of it’s 6-cylinder German rivals. That was fine except for one niggling problem. The Germans also offered V-8s in their sports sedans, Lexus didn’t.

There was one engine option up Lexus’ sleeve, the almighty and now legendary 300bhp twin-turbo 2JZ-GTE from the Toyota Supra. It could have easily been offered, as it was already an option in the JDM Aristo and smog legal in the U.S.  Alas, Lexus product planners strangled that idea and the U.S. market GS300 soldiered on with the 220 bhp six. Buyers lost interest after a few years, and the 1^st generation GS quietly slipped out of production in 1996.

Two years later, church bells rang once again for the GS series with a fresh and stylish re-design. The same 3.0L 2JZ-GE inline-six powered the new GS300, but the big news was the 4-liter, 1UZ-FE V-8 packaged into the GS400. Tweaked to put out an even 300 bhp, this was the engine that pulled the GS series level with the German competition. More fanfare and enthusiastic press reviews quickly followed.

Click here for GS400 Specifications

So how is that first GS400 12 years later?

Alltuner’s example is a beautifully preserved 1998 model with optional Navigation, 17” wheel and tire package, HID headlamps, rear spoiler, moonroof, and 6-CD changer. It stickered new at $50,959, and  has 72,000 miles. Aside from a set of KYB GR-2 replacement shocks and a pair of Dynomax mufflers, it’s completely stock. Tires are current Continental Extreme Contact high performance all-seasons.

The GS400’s  powerplant marked the first use of Lexus’s continuously variable intake valve timing system, VVT-i.  It also features the proprietary Acoustic Control Intake System (ACIS), which is a fancy-pants way of saying it has a variable length intake manifold. The rest of it is typical stuff;  DOHC aluminum block and heads, 4 valves per cylinder, forged steel crank, scintered steel rods, cast aluminum pistons. Tubular stainless steel headers expel the exhaust.

This remarkably efficient and compact package results in 300 bhp @ 6,000 rpm and  310 lb-ft.  of torque at 4,000 rpm. More similar in size to a Mazda rotary than anything else, I remember the first time I saw a 1UZ-FE V-8 in a street rod at the Oakland Roadster show. I examined it from side to side, front to back and thought, “is that it?” It looked positively tiny between the frame rails, especially compared with the usual street rod iron lumps.

Small in size but stout in operation, this “little” 244 cubic inch engine capably muscles the GS400 down the road. Granted, 300 bhp from 4 liters is no big deal today, but back in 1998 it was a major number. In practice it’s a delightful engine to drive,  with precise and easily modulated throttle response. The VVT-i V-8 retains good torque as you move through the rev-range, with extra poke up top compared to the LS400’s 260 bhp version. It has a strong midrange and the power continues in a linear fashion up to the 6,400 rpm redline.

It sounds great too, with more of a medium-pitch V-8 roar vs. the thundery rumble of a Corvette LS series engine. It approaches turbine smoothness throughout the entire rev-range, a result of precise internal balancing and  clever hydraulic engine mounts. You hear this V-8 a lot more than you feel it; there are no unpleasant harmonics as it powers to redline.

Fuel economy is relatively acceptable for a big V-8 car, around 18 mpg or so in mixed driving.  Use the cruise control religiously and you can bump that number up to 25 mpg on the freeway, provided your speed is 75mph or less. Any faster and mileage tails off significantly. Blasting around town puts consumption into the mid teens, so labelling it economical to run is a stretch….especially considering the requirement of 91 octane. EPA mileage ratings are 17 city, 23 highway.

The transmission delivered in the ’98 GS400 was a brand new design, known internally as the A650E.  Based on a tried and true torque converter format, it was Lexus’ first 5-speed automatic. Another first was the steering wheel shifter button setup, which allowed manual mode shifts without taking the driver’s hands off the steering wheel. That’s no big deal nowadays, but it certainly was back then.

The A650E 5-speed has an interesting gearing spread. 1st and 2nd gears are relatively short, allowing for good blasts out of the hole and brisk low speed reactions. After 2nd gear there’s a big gap into 3rd, which then gives way to closely stacked 4th and 5th gears. The engine’s strong torque easily covers that 2-3 gap; but the impression is that 1st and 2nd are the designated town gears leaving 3rd through 5th to cover the higher speed stuff.

Unintrusive in most situations, the A650E has no real bad habits or unusual traits. It simply lets the GS burble along at a relaxed pace, upshifting to the next gear when necessary. It will jump down a gear when a more shove is required, but as an older design its full-throttle downshifts are more deliberate than quick. This might seem a little lazy by today’s standards, but it never hunts for gears or gets confused.

In regular automatic mode, the GS400 will execute full-throttle upshifts at 5,900 rpm. When blasting along like this, the timing-retarded upshifts do feel pronounced, as the car sort of laaays over into the next gear instead of the immediate response by current twin-clutch designs. I’m sure it leaves a few tenths on the table at the dragstrip, but will most owners really care?

Clicking the console lever into manual mode lets you play with the steering wheel shift buttons. The upshift buttons are on the backside of the wheel, and downshift buttons on the side facing the driver. This manual mode allows the engine to go past the 5,900 rpm automatic shift point to the 6,400 rpm redline. That last 500 rpm on the tach isn’t just extra noise, there’s real power up there. Personally, I’d swear it  feels faster using the buttons, but seasoned dragstrip veterans attest that these cars are quickest when leaving the lever in ‘D’and letting it shift at 5,900 rpm.

Period GS400 literature focused on how 80% of the 1UZ-FE’s torque was available from 1,800 rpm on up, undoubtedly due to the trick new VVT-i and variable intake runner technologies.  In motion, the engine and transmission conspire to keep things burbling along at 2,000 rpm as much as possible. Keep the throttle pedal in the lower half of its range and the car moves off smartly, with the transmission continuing to grab gears all the way up to highway speeds and beyond…..maintaining that 2,000 rpm at almost all times. A rocket science degree is not required to conclude that this engine runs very efficiently with 2 grand on the tach.

So the 11 year old engine-transmission combination impresses, but what about the rest of it? The GS400 is a relatively big car, packing a 110.2 inch wheelbase and 189.0 inches in overall length. Width is 70.9 inches, seeing it almost identical in overall size to a W202 Mercedes E-Class. Styling is classic 90’s with short front and long rear overhangs as seen on BMW’s E38 7-series. The wide expanse of the car’s hood is the main view from the driver's seat, which adds to the sense of size. Low door sills and a bigger greenhouse than many current cars translates to very good sightlines from the cockpit. Rear seat room is plentiful. It also has good headroom, better than that of the new generation GS which sacrifices headroom for a stylish low roofline.

Exterior styling has held up over time, still looking fresh. It isn’t overly burdened with some of the 90’s styling lines that can look so dated now. Standard wheels are 16 x 7.5 in. with 17 x 8.0s optional,  yet neither completely fills the ample wheel wells. The Japanese market Aristo came with some terrific looking optional 18 x 8.5 inchers, which confirm that a +1 wheel upgrade is a great way to balance the car’s look.

The GS’s suspension design relies on MacPherson struts and an anti-roll bar up front, with a multi-link setup plus anti-roll bar in the rear. The front anti-roll bar measures ? in diameter, and the rear is a curiously thin little noodle only ? in diameter.

Steering is direct, accurate, and linear. You can move the car off line with just a 1/2 inch of input on the freeway, but it's not darty or nervous. Don’t expect a banquet of road-feel though, as Lexus engineers slathered healthy gobs of isolatory refinement into the rack which does away with just about all feedback. You can still feel big road impacts, but that’s about it. Encounter one of those impacts in a turn and you’ll be treated to a fair bit of bump-steer. It doesn’t knock the car off-line, but it will move the wheel in your hands a bit and you can feel some column shake with it.

The brakes are strong, progressive, and have decent feel. Vented front discs measure at 296 x 32 mm and the solid rears check in at 307 x 12 mm. Single piston calipers front and rear plus ABS round out the braking menu. Brake pedal travel is a bit long, but otherwise the brakes are capable and reliable. In operation there is some brake dive at higher speeds, but nothing excessive.

The standards of 90’s era luxury appear prominently throughout the GS400’s cabin. Controls are logical, gauges are clear and legible, good quality materials are used. The overall layout resembles a luxurious interpretation of period Camrys and Avalons. Remember folks, this was before interior design went all art-deco.  Luxury in 1998 meant upping the ante with softer leather, more features and wood. Today’s commonplace exotic metals and wild console layouts had yet to arrive with the Audi TT.

The navigation stack in the center console is a good enough design, with buttons logically laid out. Those buttons switch between climate, audio, map and destination functions, leaving the Navigation touch-screen to take over the sub-functions. There are also buttons for temperature control and dual climate control. It’s all comfortable and easy enough to adapt to, although considering all the buttons carry the same size and font you continually find yourself having to read them to select a function.

One welcome surprise is the sound system, which is absolutely superb and much better than many of the systems provided in today’s cars.

The Navigation system has to be one of the first ever produced for the US market. It certainly works well enough, meaning you can mark points of interest, dial up addresses, zoom in and out, etc. The graphics are predictably basic, a veritable Pacman display vs. today’s Pixar quality screens. It all works well, aside from its low position on the console. Functions are intuitive and easy to use, and the unit gives you a cheery beep with every selection. Having so many controls centralized here is quite convenient, but I wouldn’t want it to go belly up because you’d immediately lose most of the HVAC and audio functions…which would remain lost until you dug up big bucks for a new Navigation interface.

The seats are biasted more towards luxury instead of sport,  but they’re very comfortable and supportive. 8-way seat adjustability plus a tilt and telescoping wheel means most people can dial in a comfortable position. Rear seat room is spacious, with good legroom and comfortable seating. It is an easy car to be relaxed in, which is expected for a Lexus product. The HVAC responds with precision to temperature changes and the available venting options. On thing this car doesn’t have is any interior squeaks or rattles, which attests to superb build quality, something you’d expect from its initial $50,000 sticker.

THE DRIVE

The GS400 is a comfortable cruiser. I’d definitely mark it as a “mile eater”, meaning long stints behind the wheel are comfy and don’t wear you out. It has a confident feel; big, plush and powerful, yet athletic at the same time. Those traits provide a wider envelope for avoiding trouble vs. getting caught up in it, which makes for a safer drive. The GS400 tracks decently, although the steering isn’t highly self-centering so you need to mind it. Front to rear pitch has a fun musclecar feel to it, lifting the front end under hard acceleration.

On backroads, the GS400 acquits itself admirably with good body control, limited understeer and good turn-in. Steering response in such situations feels a bit slow, with a fair amount of lock required in tighter turns. Turn up the dial to maximum warp on backroads and the car starts to feel its size and weight. Nimble and tossable aren’t in the vocabulary here, back-road hacking isn’t the GS400’s forte. Its period competitor E39 BMW 5-series is the king in this scenario, using superb chassis development to effectively hide its bulk. That isn’t a knock on the GS400’s character, aggressive canyon slicing really isn’t its intended mission. A smoother pace on fast sweepers finds it much more in its element.

When you get to those higher speeds, the steering sharpens into focus much like Mercedes steering systems of the era. The car attacks transitions with a smooth and confident fluidity, and lateral grip is very good. It’s a chassis with no real bad habits, no surprises, no quirks. It rotates well on the limit. If you tap the VSC button off, carve into an on-ramp at maximum cornering speed and jump out of the gas, all you get is a small tail wiggle. No drop-throttle oversteer here, meaning it’s nice to know the chassis has your back in such extreme circumstances.

Body control is admirable, and overall it corners comparatively flat although it wiggles around a bit when cornering hard on choppy pavement. It rides well, and isolates road imperfections quite admirably for an 11 year old design. Mild road noise is a factor, mostly from the tires. While its not as hyper-quiet and smooth as a similar vintage LS400, that’s not the expectation here.  Some luxury has to be given away in the name of sport. Big impacts do transmit into the GS400’s cabin, but not with excessive noise or chassis shudder. The GS doesn’t generate much wind noise, which is again impressive considering its age. Body structure is solid, perhaps not quite to the level of current cars. You can tell that it’s an older design structurally.  I’d be curious to see if examples at the end of the production run (2005) feel similar to this 1998 car or if Lexus quietly stiffened up the platform over time.

The skid control system (VSC) is effective, but when it does activate it can put in a significant amount of electronic “chill-out” to keep you on the road. Sport oriented drivers will definitely want to de-activate DSC for maximum fun and driver input, and there is plenty of torque to brake-stand the rear tires into a smoke cloud.

On an interesting side note, this car seems to have a lot of rolling resistance. Quite noticeable at freeway speeds, it could be the drivetrain, aerodynamics, or possibly a combination of the two. Regardless, let off the gas on the freeway and it will bleed off speed remarkably quickly as it coasts down.

My overall impression of the GS400 is that it's a luxury car which has been sharpened up for sporting duty vs. a sports sedan toned down for luxury. Perhaps a fine line there, but it’s palpable. With those impressions in mind, it is highly successful in its mission. It really speaks to the quality of the design that it acquits itself so well today, It also presents itself as a remarkable bargain in the used car marketplace, with prices hovering around $10,000 for nice earlier examples.

OWNERSHIP -

This second generation GS series (like the first generation before it), features superb reliability and durability. Capable of huge mileages, many have gone way over 200,000 miles on original engines and transmissions. They just run and run and run with consistent maintenance. Timing belts are due at 90,000 miles or 12 years (!), and must be addressed as the 1UZ-FE is an interference design and bent valves can result from a broken timing belt. Water pump replacement is a good idea while you’re in there, although the pumps themselves are quite reliable and capable of high mileages.

Lower front ball joints must be regularly checked for excessive play, replacement is highly recommended once they meet their wear tolerance as they can fail with spectacular results. Shocks will also need to be replaced from time to time, although it’s more than just a bolt-in proposition. Upon replacement the car will need a steering angle zero-point calibration so the VSC and ABS can continue to function normally. Specialized computer equipment is needed for this procedure, so be sure to ask your independent shop if they can perform it. Otherwise, it’s a half hour of labor at the Lexus dealer.

A number of owners have reported mold or mildew collecting in the HVAC system. This is not a malady unique to the GS series, it’s a common complaint across many Toyota/Lexus model ranges. Many Toyota and Lexus dealers successfully employ a procedure where they drill a hole in the bottom of the blower casing and flood the system with a mold killing foam. That procedure is wisely combined with a cabin filter change plus liberally spraying Lysol into the fresh air ducts. Keeping the HVAC system on fresh air instead of re-circulate helps prevent the mold from re-occurring.

Beyond that there have been occasional reports of bad window regulators, clogged sunroof drains, misbehaving HVAC units, recalcitrant shifter mechanisms, and so on. This is typical stuff for cars that have gone past 100,000 miles, Consumer Reports consistently lists Lexus quality as way above average.

UPGRADES -

These cars have been around for a while, meaning the mod-crazy Japanese tuning market has created a wide range of products for this second generation GS series.

Curiously, only a small number of options exist for increasing horsepower in the V-8 VVT-i engine. Bolt-ons like intakes, headers and exhaust are available, but only a few aftermarket companies have delved deeper into mods like camshafts and stroker kits. Interestingly the saving grace is Australian tuning firms, which have turned out to be an fertile source for go-fast 1UZ-FE parts. Owners can look there for help. Otherwise, custom supercharger or turbo setups can always be fabricated.

Intake: Swift Racing Technologies (SRT), K&N, Rod Millen Motorsport
Headers: S&S

Exhaust: Artisan Spirits, Auto Couture, APEX-I, 5ZIGEN, Blitz, C-One Motorsport, Fabulous, HKS, Jic-Magic, Junction Produce, Prussian Blue, Borla, Rod Millen Motorsport, Sessions, Tanabe, Tom’s Racing, TRD Japan, TTE, Greddy

Engine/Supercharger/Turbo: TTC Engineering, Lextreme, Ross Pistons, Carillo Rods

Suspension: When it comes to suspension products, there is an absolute galaxy of springs, shocks, coilovers, adjustable control arms, sway bars, etc. available for these cars.
Springs: Eibach, Tanabe, Tein, TTE
Shocks: KYB GR-2, Koni Sport
Coilovers: AirForce, Apex-I, C-One Motorsport, Jic-Magic, TTE, Sessions, Tanabe, Tein, Tom’s Racing
Anti-roll bars: TRD Japan
Suspension bushings: Ikeya Formula
Suspension links, control arms, camber plates: Ikeya Formula, Tom’s Racing
Strut and chassis braces: TRD Japan, Tom’s Racing, Ikeya Formula, Tein, TunedParts, Win Racing, SRT, Rod Millen, Lextacy

Big Brake kits: Rhys Millen Motorsport, Toyota USA (Supra kit), TRD Japan, Rotora
Brake rotors: Brembo
Stainless Steel lines: Goodridge
Brake pads: Axxis, Project-Mu

Owners can also upgrade with a limited slip differential. If you really want to go nuts, these cars can be converted to manual transmissions, but it is a swap best saved for mechanical wizards or the financially obese.
Drivetrain: Dragon torque converter
Toyota USA Limited Slip Differential, TRD Japan Limited Slip Differential

Comments

[me]

Great spread. Love the info

1998 gs400 with 160,000 miles and still purrz everyday..