Lexus GS 430

Road test

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.

Tom Ford

14/20
We say: Fantastically comfy, brilliantly executed cruiser. But needs more pertness in the arse and bigger wheels
Price: £35,895
On your drive for: £885pcm
Performance: 0-62mph in 7.2secs, max speed 148mph, 28.8mpg
Tech: 2995cc V6, RWD, 245bhp 228lb ft, 1620kg, 232g/km CO2