Lexus gives guidance to the world through the windshield

The remarkably redesigned 2013 Lexus GS can now give you turn-by-turn navigation data with a heads up display projecting guidance information right before your eyes through the windshield.

Which brings up the question, aren’t audio navigation prompts good enough without taking your eyes off the road? One would think so, but as Lexus tends to ride the crest of the wave, we’re going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this subject.

This available Heads-up Display in the 2013 Lexus GS projects key automotive system data into a small color defined image before the driver's eyes, in a line of sight a few inches over the steering wheel. Your speed, current gear, coming guidance maneuvers, climate settings and eco ratings (helping you save fuel) are all available without ever averting your eyes from the road ahead.

Lexus has maximized visibility by making the data field appear to be six feet ahead of you and its placement can be altered to fit how high you sit in the saddle, so to speak.

In answer to our own query, the Heads-up Display may, in fact, work with auditory navigation instructions, which can be quickly confirmed with a glance. Its like the car tells you to turn right at the next street and the street sign lights up with a arrow flashing right, confirming vocal instruction with a visual indicator.

Of course this is but a small part of the cutting edge technology in the 2013 Lexus GS. Take the 12.3-inch centrally mounted multimedia display screen, for example, that can show a split screen detailing climate, audio and information controls at the same time as select smartphone stored, cloud based apps, like Open Table and iHeart radio.

Then there’s the sheer rapture of the available 835-watt, 17-speaker, symphony-tuned, soul-enveloping Mark Levinson sound system. The audio reproduction is so stunningly crystalline; it’s like having your favorite band in the car as you drive.

Add to all this the phenomenal new design style of the 2013 Lexus GS, plus the fact it comes in 350, AWD, 350-F and 450h trim levels, and you have a chariot befitting the Roman god Apollo, who drove the sun across the sky day after day.

We’re not sure if the 2013 Lexus GS comes in a sun-bright metal flake gold, but we do know in a GS 350-F, there’s a lot of fun to be had racing the sun.