TechnoBabble Battle; New GS uses technology to chase the 5 Series.(Lexus GS 300 and Lexus GS 430)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

You've heard comparisons listing the relative computing powers of Apollo 11 and various modern automotive functions. (e.g., "Why, the key fob alone could have landed our astronauts on the moon!'') Well, the new Lexus GS has more computing power than the space shuttle, the International Space Station, the Hubbell space telescope and any leftover Russian and Chinese space junk crashing through orbit today.

Or at least it seems that way when reading the spec sheet.

While the rest of the all-new car has the improvements you'd expect in a new Lexus-more power, longer wheelbase, wider stance, new body panels, etc.-it's the technology onslaught that stands out and overwhelms.

There is everything from VDIM to PCS, and even things you'd never think of, like the function with no acronym that automatically countersteers the car into a crosswind. (Crosswind Resistance Adjustment Program?) Every letter of the alphabet gets a workout in this car. To cover it all would take two more pages of the magazine. Why all this gizmometry? The all-tech, all-the-time BMW 5 Series was the benchmark in development of the new GS.

"We did not set out to build a better 5 Series,'' said chief engineer Shigetoshi Miyoshi. "Our goal was to create something different, and in its difference, something superior in overall performance.''

Superior to the 5? Hey, man, that's talking some serious smack, Miyoshi-san. To gauge whether he succeeded, let's have a look at these new cars, the GS 300 and the GS 430.