The navigation system said the speed limit on the four-lane, divided highway, in the middle of nowhere, was 75 mph, but experience and the flashing yellow lights told me to ease up on the throttle as I rolled into the intersection.
Good thing.
At that speed one travels approximately 110 feet per second. I was less than 50 feet from the intersection when a nice lady (I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt) in a big SUV lumbered out from a side road on the right and swung not into the outside lane (her lane), but into mine, the so-called passing lane.
This did not shock. I will not digress about how rarely I see turns properly executed in East Texas. In much less time than it took a four-letter expletive to find my lips, or my foot to shift pedals, the 2017 Lexus GS 200T immediately and forcefully applied braking.
This was particularly fortuitous, since the nice lady decided that violating my right-of-way was not nearly enough entertainment for one afternoon. She decided to turn left and, rather than move into the provided turn lane, decided to come to a stop in my lane, the so-called passing lane.
Again, I was not caught fully unaware. I was pretty sure the right lane was clear and a quick glance at the Lexus' lane-monitor indicator on the right outside mirror confirmed that I had an escape route. I snapped the car to the right, just in time to see that on the other side of the intersection a nice gentleman, hauling his riding mower on a trailer hooked to his pickup truck, began to ease out of a gas station and into the outside lane.
"Aha!" I thought. "The Elk Maneuver!"
This is a critical Scandinavian safety test, which emulates a giant elk wandering onto the highway at the same time a school bus is coming from the other direction. One needs to move left to avoid the elk, and right to avoid killing the children. Both events create some urgency.
The trouble, when one does this at high speed, is physics. A sharp swing in one direction compresses the springs on that side of the vehicle. A sharp swing in the opposite direction releases that weight like a jack-in-the-box, often with enough violent force to cause a vehicle to roll, or to lose stability.
In accident reports, this is described as over-correction.
I flicked my wrists to the right, allowed some milliseconds to clear the nice lady, and flicked them back to the left.
The nimble Lexus zipped through the maze with barely a hint of body lean. It was more like a wiggle of her slender hips.
Sweeet.
(She also chided me for changing lanes without signaling. Yeah, like I had time.)
This is where we are in the early 20th century, driving semiautonomous cars. Yes, the Lexus had the ability to detect an object in my path and hit the brakes, and do other things to keep me alive, but at no time was I passive, nor were my hands off the wheel.
As best I can figure, the greatest advantage to what we call a safety suite, the software applications and mechanical servos that can activate things brakes, keep a safe distance with the cruise control set and even give the wheel a little nudge to help keep the car in its lane, is that, unlike me-and other nice people -- the car always pays attention.
A few days later, I was driving in light traffic on an interstate highway and decided to see if the lane-keep feature would drive the car on its own. It did. It moved toward one line and corrected itself. Then it moved toward the other, corrected itself and then seemed to find a balance point. In a few seconds, however, I got flashed by big, yellow warning lights telling me to put my hands on the wheel.
Hey, I just wanted to know.
To summarize, the Lexus GS rides like a luxury sedan, but, when challenged, can be as nimble as a mathematician's thoughts, both literally and figuratively.
It is also technologically adroit, not only in terms of safety features, but also entertainment. The voice command on the navigation system was a breeze to learn and the optional Mark Levinson sound system upgrade keeps pace with Lexus' tradition of great music reproduction.
The competition
The Lexus GS runs with a fast crowd: Mercedes. Audi, BMW and Cadillac all have strong entries in this class. The Mercedes E-Class and BMW 5-series, both fully redesigned for 2017, may be the leaders, but the Lexus GS Hybrid, priced around $65,000, offers a tantalizing blend of luxury, performance and fuel economy.
Critics generally agree that the Audi A6 is the best car in class for engaged drivers. On the other hand, it's not that much better than the Lexus GS, and cannot match the Lexus' near-perfect reliability record. The fourth-generation GS hit showrooms in 2013 and it appears that Lexus has had the kinks worked out for several years
An intriguing choice in this category is the Genesis G80, the smaller of two cars offered by the luxury spin-off of Hyundai. Priced about $5,000 less than the competition, the Genesis earned high praise in this space for roominess, drive-line excellence, fit-and-finish, safety gear and warranties.
The choices
The GS comes in two basic models. The GS 200t is powered by a twin turbocharged, intercooled 2.0-liter inline four cylinder. It puts out 241 horses and 258 lb.-ft torque, which provides plenty of power for the 3,805-lb. car.
Power delivery is smooth, thanks in part to an 8-speed automatic, and shift points are varied by driver-selected modes of ECO, normal, or sport. It moves from 0 to 60 in 7.0 seconds and has a top track speed of 143 mph, according to Lexus.
We attained excellent fuel economy on a road trip to Dallas, averaging nearly 30 mpg on more than 350 miles of interstate driving. The EPA estimates the 200t will deliver 22 mpg in town, 33 highway and a combined 26 mpg. It burns high octane fuel.
We found the four-cylinder engine to have quick take-off and strong acceleration at speed, but that requires engage driving. The twin turbos don't kick in until somewhere around 4,000 rpm, so pushing the car through some back-road curves requires using the paddle shifters to keep the engine in the right rpm range. Otherwise, significant turbo lag occurs.
The GS 350 is powered by a 3.5-L V-6 with direct and sequential fuel injection. It turns out 311 hp and 280 lb.-ft of torque. It, too, runs on premium unleaded fuel. The fuel economy line is nearly as good-20/29/23
Both cars are rear-wheel drive, and all-wheel drive is available for the 350.
Bottom Line: There is great competition out there, but if you want luxury, performance and peace of mind, there's no way to go wrong with a Lexus GS.