Chris Harris Drives: BMW M5 30 Jahre vs Lexus GS F (Video)

[Jason]

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Chris Harris Drives: BMW M5 30 Jahre vs Lexus GS F (Video)

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The BMW M5 - here tested in near-600bhp ‘30 Jahre’ guise - is the default benchmark performance saloon. Can the Lexus GS F and its atmospheric, 471bhp V8 compete?

Chris Harris finds out.

[ppDoc]

BMW hands down

[BEMR]

Love the M5 just wish it looked like the M4 instead of the 7 Series from the front end.

[NoImDirtyDan]

I always respected the IS-F but would have chosen the E90 M3 over it every time. Same goes for this, I do like that it is N/A, but for that price I'll go for a fully loaded F80.

[shakfu3]

Keep in mind that the street price for the GSF in the US is $20k off of MSRP

[amw896]

The new Lexus cars are storybook examples of what happens when you let accountants build dream cars instead of real engineers.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by BEMR

Love the M5 just wish it looked like the M4 instead of the 7 Series from the front end.

ha! just the front? How about from the side? The 5 is the new 7... and getting bigger with the new version..

[JMD]

...WoW! He's complaining about grip on a wet,..icy,..slippery,..twisty road in a 30 Jahre M5! Quite amazing!

[M5essex]

Yeah, probably not the best weather conditions to give the 600hp M5 beast a fair review! We all know in warm dry conditions that thing holds on to traction by a thread so on a snowy, icy, hilly road you're gonna struggle to see the potential or purpose of this car!

[Arcades]

Well I mean... the F10 M5 has always had trouble putting it's power down... RWD in that condition is probably an no no lol.

Chris should know this... he does drive a F80.

[Phatcat]

Originally Posted by amw896

The new Lexus cars are storybook examples of what happens when you let accountants build dream cars instead of real engineers.

Also probably why Toyota is the world's most valuable car company though

[Eddien123]

Originally Posted by amw896

The new Lexus cars are storybook examples of what happens when you let accountants build dream cars instead of real engineers.

You're kidding right? that's exactly what BMWs are today... All car companies besides A select few are run by accountants.

[ppDoc]

Originally Posted by shakfu3

Keep in mind that the street price for the GSF in the US is $20k off of MSRP

You could add $20k of mods to the Lexus and I'd still take the M5

[6ixSpd]

Originally Posted by Eddien123

You're kidding right? that's exactly what BMWs are today... All car companies besides A select few are run by accountants.

Seriously, that poster doesn't know what he's talking about. If anything, Lexus is today what BMW of yesteryear was. The IS is smacking the 3 series in driving fun. Lexus is the one making NA V8 symphonies while BMW doesn't have a single non-turbo motor in the entire damn lineup.

If anything, BMW has truly sold out to the accountants harder than any brand that comes to mind since Honda in the late 90s.

[Unkle Steve]

Originally Posted by Jason

The BMW M5 - here tested in near-600bhp ‘30 Jahre’ guise - is the default benchmark performance saloon. Can the Lexus GS F and its atmospheric, 471bhp V8 compete?

Chris Harris finds out.

Attachment 1577542

That's not even fair. This should be put up against an m550i.

[N & M]

I have to respect where he comes from in terms of talking about driver joy coming out as surprise from the underpowered car. The fact that M2 demonstrates this against numerically superior rivals from within the BMW stable and with outside competitors shows a similar point.

I have to say though that the conditions where the tests were conducted are less than ideal for BMW. I would have loved to see a more real comparison showing the new M550 against this Lexus.

[RobbyMack]

Kinda of a silly test essentially in the snow with a couple of high hp rear wheel drive cars. That being said I get what Chris is saying. IMHO the Lexus GS sh*ts all over the F10 when it comes to out of the box driving dynamics. Now I will caveat that with DHP the F10 becomes slightly more competitive, but I'd still take the GS over a F10 535 if it came down to simple driving joy. You gotta give Lexus/Toyota credit. They are taking all those uninteresting Prius and other hybrid purchases and putting that up against their CAFE standards so they can still producing high revving V8s where it makes sense. For that they get an A in my book.

[Eddien123]

Originally Posted by 6ixSpd

Seriously, that poster doesn't know what he's talking about. If anything, Lexus is today what BMW of yesteryear was. The IS is smacking the 3 series in driving fun. Lexus is the one making NA V8 symphonies while BMW doesn't have a single non-turbo motor in the entire damn lineup.

If anything, BMW has truly sold out to the accountants harder than any brand that comes to mind since Honda in the late 90s.

Spot on

[titium]

I'd take an e60 m5 over either of these cars.

[M6-Coupe]

Neither weather nor the type of cars were proper for this battle.
Even the numbers (power/torque) are not at the same page.

[trey100]

Originally Posted by Eddien123

You're kidding right? that's exactly what BMWs are today... All car companies besides A select few are run by accountants.

Every car company is in the business of making money. There are no exceptions.

The issue is each brand has a buyer expectation that they must satisfy.

Toyota in my opinion is more likely to make total vehicle sales the number one priority as their brand is not about excitement/sportiness. They are about quiet, reliable, quality vehicles. They can do that. No one expects more. They can lose 100 comparisons in a row and wouldn't lose a sale.

BMWs brand is different. The buyer expects a reduction in reliability for an in increase in excitement and brand cache. If BMW dropped the M cars and started building replicas of camrys as their only vehicle, people would just buy the Toyota. So the accountants at BMW must walk that fine line where they attempt to attract more buyers which means making it slightly less focused but by no means can they just drop what they are known for and expect success.

So yes all companies are run by accountants but those accountants know what they need to do to increase sales and it's not always to build the most boring reliable car.

[mister2d]

Originally Posted by M6-Coupe

Neither weather nor the type of cars were proper for this battle.
Even the numbers (power/torque) are not at the same page.

And this is why CH says he likes the GS better in these conditions. It puts the power down better. Suspension and steering were better in his opinion.