Lexus IS 500 F Sport

[r0tor]

I feel like I have heard absolutely nothing about this thing and just stumbled on it... Not sure how that is...

A 470hp 5.0L V8 in a compact lux sports sedan for $57k.... Wut?!?!

https://www.lexus.com/IS500

[GoCougs]

The absolutely fantastic YouTube channel TheStraightPipes had a review up a day or two ago - they totally trashed it - and for a TBD the video has since been removed.

Summary: world class motor + LSD in an old Camry. Great fun but overall a terrible car - pretty much it's all mediocre to terrible, tranny, brakes, mechanical grip, infotainment. In NO way is it a competitor to the M3, S4, C43, etc. Jesus, it's even too slow given its power level.

The REAL story is base MSRP is only $57k. As bad as it apparently is, major kudos for Toyota in actually doing it. 

[r0tor]

Well yea, it's not an M3 competitor.  It's $20-30k cheaper and actually comfortable to use in the real world

[Submariner]

Interior looks pretty dated too.

[GoCougs]

Well yea, it's not an M3 competitor.  It's $20-30k cheaper and actually comfortable to use in the real world

It could have been an M3 competitor (i.e., ISF) - these days much of what defines the M3 is the motor. But Lexus literally didn't touch anything else on the car, and hasn't done much to the IS in 15+ years. It's probably worse than the TLX Type-S which is saying something.

The whole of Japan has given up on pretty much everything but the Camcords and CUVs - Lexus, Acura and Infiniti are now for people who want something a wee bit nicer than the Camcords and Rav4 or CRV. Shame given they make the best quality cars. Jesus.

[GoCougs]

Holy hell the Tacoma TO THIS DAY still has rear drum brakes. By my figuring it is literally the only vehicle on sale today in the USA so (ill) equipped.

[Submariner]

Genuinely baffling to see what has happened to Lexus and especially Infiniti.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

https://youtu.be/O_wPT592t2c

[r0tor]

It could have been an M3 competitor (i.e., ISF) - these days much of what defines the M3 is the motor. But Lexus literally didn't touch anything else on the car, and hasn't done much to the IS in 15+ years. It's probably worse than the TLX Type-S which is saying something.

The whole of Japan has given up on pretty much everything but the Camcords and CUVs - Lexus, Acura and Infiniti are now for people who want something a wee bit nicer than the Camcords and Rav4 or CRV. Shame given they make the best quality cars. Jesus.

It could have been an M3 competitor and cost $90k with an extremely limited market.  Instead it's $57k which has an immensely larger audience and can get you a loaded turbo 4 cylinder in it's rivals.

It's also going to ride and handle well in the real world and isn't lowered to the point of bottoming out everywhere like the M3 crowd.  The IS has always been a car that had a much better than average chassis in the segment.  This thing makes a lot of sense to the 95% of sport sedan buyers that will never get near a track

[SJ_GTI]

Its great that it has a V8 (as opposed to a V6 turbo) but it is only slightly cheaper than the CT4V Blackwing which seems to be more or less the whole package for a sports sedan (incl. a manual) which starts at 59,990.

[GoCougs]

Its great that it has a V8 (as opposed to a V6 turbo) but it is only slightly cheaper than the CT4V Blackwing which seems to be more or less the whole package for a sports sedan (incl. a manual) which starts at 59,990.

Repeating the same mistake as the ATS-V; ho hum turbo V6 rather than the class-differentiating (and world class) LTx pooprod V8. Nobody will buy this despite the whole car itself appearing to be class leading - also just like the ATS-V. A real shame.

[GoCougs]

It could have been an M3 competitor and cost $90k with an extremely limited market.  Instead it's $57k which has an immensely larger audience and can get you a loaded turbo 4 cylinder in it's rivals.

It's also going to ride and handle well in the real world and isn't lowered to the point of bottoming out everywhere like the M3 crowd.  The IS has always been a car that had a much better than average chassis in the segment.  This thing makes a lot of sense to the 95% of sport sedan buyers that will never get near a track

Huh???

[SJ_GTI]

Repeating the same mistake as the ATS-V; ho hum turbo V6 rather than the class-differentiating (and world class) LTx pooprod V8. Nobody will buy this despite the whole car itself appearing to be class leading - also just like the ATS-V. A real shame.

I agree its a lost opportunity. That being said if I had to choose between TTV6 w/ manual and NA V8 w/ automatic I'd take the TTV6.