For years Lexus used the slogan "The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection" to underscore the automaker's obsessive attention to engineering detail that went into designing and producing luxury vehicles.
With the release of the 2013 GS 350, that tag line needs to be revised to "The Relentless Pursuit of Perception."
For in this all-new fourth generation GS is all the performance DNA required to go wheel-to-wheel with the big boys of the mid-size sedan luxury sport category, in particular the class-leading BMW 5 Series.
The new GS's chassis is performance tuned; the race-bred V6 engine produces in excess of 300 horsepower; the 6-speed manumatic gearbox with steering wheel-mounted paddle shifts has lightning quick shifts; and the acoustically manipulated exhaust note from the rear pipes is music to a gearhead's ears.
Lexus engineers have done their work; now it's up to the automaker's marketing team to convince prospective sport sedan buyers that the GS350 should be mentioned in the same breath as the 5 Series.
In other words, changing the entrenched perception that Lexus vehicles aren't just well-made luxury cars, but are in fact heart-racing track demons that can keep pace with the fine-tuned German sport sedans that dominate the Canadian marketplace.
The first step in doing just that was inviting members of the Canadian motoring press to Carmel, Calif., a coastal community renowned for its scenic roads and uncongested valley highways. And more importantly, it's proximity to the Laguna Seca racetrack, one of the most legendary and demanding circuits in the world.
Under a cloudless sky with temperatures in the mid-teens, journalists were given the keys to all four of the new GS models - the GS 350 rear-wheel drive, the GS 350 all-wheel drive, the GS 350 F-Sport and the GS 450h - and told to have at 'er on the racetrack and on a coned autocross track. The latter also featured a BMW 5 Series and a Mercedes-Benz E-Class to be driven in anger for comparison's sake, an exercise that proved invaluable to understanding just how good the next generation GS is.
But more about that a little later; first, what makes this new GS 350 so much better than the previous model?
Let's begin with the exterior, which introduces the new Lexus design language called "Waku Doki" (roughly translated from Japanese as "heart pumping, adrenalin racing").
The look is aggressive yet clean, with the front spindle grille setting the tone for the sharp lines and curves that carry through the entire body execution. Whereas the previous generation embodied that luxury appearance so often associated with Lexus, the new GS takes on an esthetic inspired by the Lexus LFA supercar that screams sportiness and performance.
One look at the slippery shape of the GS 350 and it's little surprise Lexus claims it has the best aerodynamics in its class.
Of course, you have to walk the walk if you talk the talk with such an exterior, and Lexus engineers have worked long and hard to incorporate many of the technologies learned on racetracks around the world into the new GS models.
In addition to big improvements to the engine, chassis and brakes over the 2012 model, the new GS comes with a performance-tuned suspension featuring anti-dive and anti-squat geometry and other upgrades that reduce unsprung weight and increase rigidity (translation: goodbye wishy-washy handling).
And in the F-Sport model, there's a feature called Lexus Dynamic Handling that combines variable gear ratio steering with dynamic rear steering to vastly improve performance on curves that call for greater control and confidence.
Which brings us back to the Laguna Seca, a race circuit with more ups and downs than a Canuck season, and a main straightaway that tests the acceleration of the machine as much as the courage of the driver.
My hot laps in the GS 350 were eye-opening on a number of counts, most notably the handling down the six-storey corner sequence called the Corkscrew, one the most famous corners in all of motorsport. The demands of the complex corner - from setting up a blind left turn after racing up a rising straight to nailing the apex and carrying through the torsional transition to a right-hand sweeper - truly separate the sport pretenders from the sport contenders, and as I gained more confidence with each passing lap, the GS never felt out of shape.
Likewise, acceleration and braking were precise and what you'd expect from a German sport sedan.
Speaking of which, the autocross comparison with the BMW and Mercedes was also revealing. After driving both through the tight, coned course, I hopped in the GS350 F-Sport and figured it was in tough against both German sedans, each of which had done just what they were told, with the Bimmer slightly more precise in handling than the Benz.
After just one lap in the F-Sport I had bettered my time in the Mercedes and it took just two more to beat the BMW mark. True, the F-Sport is the performance GS model and therefore will be up against the M5 and Mercedes AMG models, so Lexus engineers might have to add more grunt to the 2014 F-Sport to hang with that high-powered company, but in terms of handling, they're already there.
One place they won't need to improve on to surpass the German automakers is within the finely sculpted cabin of the new GS.
Lexus has long set the bar for its interiors in the luxury brand segment, and the new generation GS moves that bar higher.
Engineers worked long and hard on improving the already excellent ergonomics, resulting in an industry first 18-way power adjustable driver's seat (said to have been a five-and-a-half year project). Combined with a sport steering wheel, a 17-speaker Mark Levinson sound system and an optional 12.3-inch display (bigger than a Macbook Air and also an industry first), the GS's cabin blows away BMW, Mercedes and Audi cockpits. Other class-leading attributes include best front legroom and most standard airbags (10).
"GS is a halo vehicle for us," Lexus Canada marketing head Warren Orton told me earlier that day at the Carmel Valley Ranch during the vehicle presentation. "We believe the new GS will bring new guests into the Lexus family, drivers who have not previously considered a Lexus."
As I took a break to eat lunch in the Lexus suite overlooking Laguna Seca's turn 11 - with GSs hard on the brakes before releasing and going full throttle into the long front straight - I thought this is the perfect vantage point to begin changing the perception that Lexus vehicles are more about luxury than performance.
That, and the ear-to-ear grins on the auto journalists when they climbed out of the cars and took off their helmets in the pit row below.
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