Lexus Fans: The IS you've been waiting for

lol. 0-60 in less than 5 seconds. Golly how impressive...for 1998. And an automatic too! Wow, what luck. Now AMG buyers can look to Lexus for a car too.

pretty sweet. i'd rather get this than a m3 coupe.

Question is - will the driver drive the car or will the car drive itself? How many "helpful" systems will Lexus foist on us (all with their own abbreviation of course)?

I can't believe no one mentioned the styling, the car looks way overdone. Also, I want to know if VSC will take all the fun out of the car as on other Lexus models. Who is going to pay $60k for a car that looks like this?

It does have a bit of a rice-rocket air to it--certainly.
 
People will buy it though. Anything Toyota makes, people will buy.

1487, I know on some of the newer Lexus models you can actually defeat the VSC. I dont think the styling is overdone, its on the same level as the CTS-Vs additions, but we all know thats subjective.
 
Blueguy, as far as performance numbers and power are concerned Lexus (and most manufactureres BMW included) tend to be pretty conservative (BMW 335i is making much more than 300 crank HP as is the IS350). I beleive this V8 in the IS500 is derived from the new LS460's V8 which is pretty stout but Im not sure if its in the same engine family as the Tundras new i-Force 5.7. Im assuming it is as it would be cheaper to produce from an R&D standpoint.
 
If Lexus would offer a true 6sp manual tranny and I can COMPELTELY shut off the VSC then Id buy one that is if the wifey agrees but she is pretty damn "thrifty". Oh...offer a 6spd manual on the extremely quick IS350 also.
 
LP

BMW M and especially Mercedes AMG (and now Audi S-Line) all retain a certain amount of elegance in their transformations from ho-hum to extraordinary. Lexus took a car which really wasn't very elegant to begin with & gave it the Fast & the Furious touch. It looks tacky now & it'll just look worse as the design ages. A big thumbs down.

I'm glad it almost looks like a rice rocket, it should. There are enough stuffy cars out there, and this should help convince some of the fans of the original IS300 that Toyota hasn't totally moved away from them when it made the new IS more serious.
 
Except that damn automatic... I mean, we all know that Lexus is closer to Mercedes Benz than BMW, but once again we're reminded that Toyota really has forgotten fans of its once-sporty lineup (I'm thinking early '90s here). And I can't think of anyone else who would want to love this car more than them.

Wow. What a great looking Camry! Seriously. For all those folks bashing GM for the new Malibu (saying things like it looks too much like the Aura. HUH?), this thing looks like a Camry with an aero package. In this case though, that's a great thing. Without the Camry's wary on the nose, and with all the other goodies, this should be a great car!

For all the naysayers, the Lexus IS350 Sport just won a comparison test in Road and Track, and rocketed to 60 in under 5 seconds, so this should surely be faster. And people need to keep up - stability will be defeatable in this car....
 
~alpha

So how much is Pep Boys charging for that ground effects kit and the exhaust tips? Those things would look wicked on my '00 Focus hatchback.
Also, did anyone else notice the three plastic blanks under the driver's air vent? If Lexus isn't using them on the top of the line model, why are they even there?
For those upset over Lexus' choice of transmissions, I have to ask if Lexus using an AT for this car is really any worse than Audi and AMG using automatics for their performance sedans? What actually gets me is that the 0-60 for the IS-F is estimated to be in the mid 4 second range. alpha01 has already pointed out that R&T clocked the IS350 at under 5 seconds. So does that mean Lexus needs 94 extra horsepower to knock a few tenths of the 0-60 time?
I hate to tell the potential buyers of this car, but this thing is probably going to get wasted by the new M3 and AMG C-series. But hey, at least it won't be embarassing to be seen in it! ; )

No, oldmanshirt, it means that Lexus isn't divulging the real details of the vehicles performance - they didn't ever disclaim a sub 5 run for the IS350, though all the times I've ever seen published for the vehicle in the major mags (MT, C/D, R/T) have put it at 4.9 - 5.2 seconds.
 
Why don't we just wait and see how this car performs, before jumping to conclusions, eh?
 
~alpha

Well, whatever, I was quoting you on the sub 5 second time (although I read that R/T article too). But with 400hp, I get the impression that the IS-F is going to be grossly underpowered compared to the BMW and the AMG.EDIT: Sorry, I meant to put a mid 4 second time was estimated for the IS-F, not mid 5 second.

Are you all crazy? Why do you all think it looks like a rice rocket? Ohh..., because it's from Japan. If the GERMAN cars look like this car nobody would think it was a rice rocket. The M3 is a 3 series with a bodykit, The AMG C is a C series with a bodykit and the S4 is a A4 with a bodykit. So what the difference? They're all modified engines with bodykits. So those German cars are also rice rockets. I also read that the VSC will be able to be turned off. So, I 'm gonna get one of these but the only difference is that I'm gonna be able to drive my car instead of having it in the shop most of the time like those GERMAN counterparts (unreliable pieces of crap). I don't know about you guys but if I put down more than $50K on a car, I would like to drive it instead of waiting for the car to get out of the shop.

I'm not crazy, and I'm not blind either. The German cars you mentioned do all have body kits, but the difference is that you can use words like "subtle" and "tasteful" to describe them.  What makes you think there's such a bias against Japanese cars?  If an AMG, M3, or S4 looked like this, I'd think they were disgusting too.  In fact, many have said that the S4 looks a bit overraught with its large air intakes and its metallic side view mirrors.   So, you might be the one who's crazy.

No, I'm not crazy. For me, I don't want "subtle" cars, especially cars that are meant for performance.....Granted, I don't want the car over done or over the top but if a car is made for speed and is made to be distinguished from the rest of the line then I want a car that will not be mistaken from the "family looking" sedan. I want on-lookers to say "That's the IS-F" not " That's the IS350 but for some reason it looks a little different". If I'm going to buy a car for the performance, I want the car to look like it's meant to go fast.....