Rather than shoehorning a 5.0-liter V8 into the nose of an IS 350 and simply calling it the IS 500, Lexus has instead cooked up a far more dedicated sport sedan with its new 2008 Lexus IS-F.

According to Lexus, the "F" in Lexus IS-F is derived from Toyota's initial "Circle-F" designation of 20 years ago for what would become the Lexus brand itself. Circle-F later morphed into Flagship One or F1, which in turn became the internal code for the first Lexus car, the LS 400.

Lexus is using this convoluted pedigree to help explain the importance it attaches to the IS-F. It promises that this and subsequent F-type cars will give Lexus real performance credentials, and it hopes that the F sub-brand will become as synonymous with performance as BMW's M Division and Mercedes-Benz AMG.

Frankly, we would've been just as satisfied with a simple "IS 500" badge and far more subtle exterior styling. But from now on, it's all about the F-word.

F Is for Fury
Regardless of what it means to the luxury carmaker (and how it appears to the serious sport-sedan buyer), the 2008 Lexus IS-F is a serious piece of highly engineered hardware indeed. At its heart, the 5.0-liter V8 (2UR-GSE) comes from a stroked version of the 4.6-liter engine (1UR-FSE) found in the luxo-cruising Lexus LS 460. Now that Yamaha (a frequent collaborator with Toyota for engine projects) has had its way with it, an essentially all-new engine pumps out an impressive 416 horsepower at 6,600 rpm with 371 pound-feet of torque available at 5,200 rpm.

Exclusive to this Lexus V8 are trick cylinder heads with solid lifters and titanium intake valves, plus a water-cooled oil radiator. There's also an oil-scavenge pumping system that keeps the engine supplied with life-sustaining lubricant even in high-G cornering, and even the fuel tank uses an offset pump in a sub-tank for the same reasons.

The engine's lightweight reciprocating mass (said to be half that of other UR engines) combines with variable valve timing to produce a lofty redline of 6,800 rpm.

There's an instantly recognizable pubescent change in the IS-F's voice at 3,600 rpm when the dual-path intake system opens the secondary plumbing (located in the right wheelwell), immersing the passengers in a furious symphony of eight-cylinder baritone.

When you pour the 5.0-liter V8's power through the highly modified eight-speed automatic transmission (from the LS 460), the 3,780-pound IS-F is good for a 4.8-second time to 60 mph on the way to a quarter-mile in 13.2 seconds at 109 mph, and it's still accelerating hard — very hard.

The Competition
Frankly, we expected even better performance from such a good power-to-weight ratio. In our testing, the IS 350 has run to 60 mph in 5.2 seconds and done the quarter-mile in 13.8 seconds at 101.2 mph. Meanwhile, the BMW 335i sedan with an automatic clocks 60 mph in 4.9 seconds and the quarter-mile in 13.4 seconds at 103.9 mph.

And when it comes to BMW's official performance estimates for the 2008 BMW M3 sedan with its 414-hp 4.0-liter V8, the benchmark of 60 mph is supposed to come up in 4.9 seconds. The same stat for the 2008 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG with its 457-hp, 6.2-liter V8 is less than 4.5 seconds.

We admit we might've left a tenth or two on the IS-F's table, however. As much as we feel that Michelin Pilot PS2 tires are like sticky Lucky Charms, the IS-F's 255mm-wide rear contact patches aren't wide enough to duplicate a magically delicious launch.

That said, the roar of the rev-happy V8 is one of the most lust-worthy we've heard, rivaling the thrilling sound of the 4.2-liter V8 in the Audi RS 4, which also sounds like a flat-bottom drag-racing boat powered by a small-block V8 with open headers.

F Is for Fuji
Though if drag racing isn't quite the IS-F's sort of environment, road racing is. Besides the four other racetracks where camouflaged IS-F mules spent much of their time during testing, the car primarily was developed on Toyota's own Fuji International Speedway. A nice thing, if you can afford it.

What this did for the IS-F is readily evident in the car's ability to hold a line in the corners, the linearity and tractability of the engine's power, and the magnificent proficiency of the transmission's shift action in manual mode.

The brakes are also track-worthy. The fixed Brembo six-piston front calipers feature three different piston diameters and clamp 14.2-inch drilled and vented discs, while two-piston rear calipers squeeze 13.6-inch drilled and vented discs in the back. Sixty-to-zero stopping distances tumbled down with each successive stop with a best of 112 feet. We tired before these fade-resistant brakes did.

Thank You for Smoking
We had a few laps at a local track and can tell the IS-F is no stranger to an apex. We tried all three modes of stability/traction control and found Sport VDIM mode largely unobtrusive. It's pretty permissive and becomes slightly annoyed only if the driver's corner entry or exit is less smooth than Sir Jackie Stewart would recommend.

Still, we couldn't help but enjoy the drive-at-your-own-risk mode with the stability control switched off. When you briefly lift off the throttle pedal midcorner, then whack it wide open, the tail of the car is easily coaxed into a slide. The faux, brake-induced simulation of a limited-slip differential initially fights the slide, but it eventually relinquishes its hold on the tires and two plumes of magnificent white tire smoke finally emerge.

The IS-F's turn-in is breathtakingly quick, as the car takes a confident and very firm set through corners with pretty stubborn understeer on the car's limit. We measured 0.93g on our skid pad.

Though the steering action is as precise as any rack-and-pinion can deliver, the artificially heavy effort of the two-mode, electric power assist (a 42V system) still cannot communicate as much information about the contact patches of the front tires as other sport sedans we've driven. Even so, the IS-F weaves its way to an exhilarating 70.2-mph slalom run where oversteer becomes the limiting factor. Credit the car's weight distribution of 54 percent front/46 percent rear.

F Is for Fast
Automatic transmissions are slow-acting, power-sapping, indirect hindrances between an engine and a driver's will, right? Yet the IS-F's eight-speed Sport Direct Shift automatic transmission (AA80E) obliterates this notion with an entirely novel — and we think industry-changing — control system.

While the hardware again has its foundation in the transmission of the LS sedan, lightweight yet robust internals plus a complete rewiring of the transmission's brain have produced an entirely new definition of an automatic transmission. In manual mode, it comes as close to instant shifting as anything we've driven.

When manual mode (shifted via steering-column paddles or the console-mounted gearlever) is selected, upshift times drop from a Lexus IS 350's typical 1.3 seconds (0.7 second to initiate plus 0.6 second to change ratios) to a mere 0.3 second (0.2 second to initiate plus 0.1 second to shift). We also appreciate the perfectly timed tone that reminds you to shift just before you hit the rev limiter in each gear.

The gloriously quick downshifts (with matched revs) sound as if the car has a true sequential gearbox. It's unbelievable. The only other transmission that comes close to such quick, driver-friendly action is the dual-clutch DSG gearbox like the one in an Audi A3, or perhaps the latest $9,000, Formula 1-style automated sequential manual like that in the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.

When it's in Drive, the transmission behaves much like a traditional automatic with the personality and torque-converter lock-up habits of the latest BMW StepTronic, but with two or three too many gears from which to choose. The mundane cut-and-thrust of everyday traffic produces frequent shifting among the eight ratios and it takes some getting used to.

F Is for Freeway Hop
While the kind of on-track schooling the IS-F has received is generally a good performance-tuning practice that tends to breed more performance-capable vehicles, it doesn't always make for a livable car.

The IS-F short-travel suspension rides taut and firm like a racecar's — all the time. Without driver-adjustable suspension, freeway overpasses that are usually registered by the seat of your pants as a gentle, rolling hop become spine-compressing jolts. Consider yourself warned.

Generation Gap
What do you think of when you hear "Lexus"? Maybe it's not performance. Initial quality studies, customer satisfaction ratings and a luxury-car benchmark with a reputation for reliability are more like it, and that's why the median age of a Lexus buyer is older than any of its competition among performance-oriented brands.

The way Lexus sees it, all those WRX and Evo owners are getting older, have increased their earning potential and shortly will be looking for cars that satisfy their inner enthusiasts while avoiding the boy-racer stigma. So the IS-F is the right thing to do for the future of Lexus.

The 416-hp 2008 Lexus IS-F also intends to take a preemptive bite out of the high-performance compact-sedan pie currently sized up by the forthcoming BMW M3 sedan and Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG.

The price of the 2008 Lexus IS-F might make it persuasive. Though the official numbers won't be announced for a bit, Lexus says our estimate of $59,900 isn't "embarrassingly inaccurate," so we used the current IS 350's optional $2,550 navigation system price to calculate this IS-F's $62,540 as-tested price.

The F-Word
If it seems that our enthusiasm for the IS-F is mixed, you're right. While we can appreciate all the work that went into this performance-minded, track-worthy Lexus, we're more than a little put off by its harsh ride on the street. Is this truly a usable high-performance car, or just a car for extreme profiling?

There's also something about the gimmicky styling. The most telling trace of disingenuousness can be found in those stacked quad exhaust "resonators," as Lexus describes them. We discovered that not one of the chromed ovals is directly plumbed to the muffler and are instead part of the rear fascia. They're there just for looks.

There's too much of this car that reminds us of the supersonic jet-powered sports cars we all used to draw on our denim binders back in third grade.

F Is for Future
Yet there's a whole lot more invested in this notion of a high-performance Lexus than the ill-fated "L Tune" kits for the first-generation IS, which were little more than stiffer suspensions, tacked-on body parts and loud exhaust systems.

Depending on its success, Lexus says the IS-F is but the first in a series of F-division vehicles, with the next obvious, though not confirmed, candidate being the GS-F.

We applaud the effort and support Lexus' path down this road, but we hope they spend a little more time on city streets and a little less time on race tracks.

What does the "F" in the name of this new four-door, 416-horse velocityraptor from Lexus stand for? Company boss Jim Farley doesn't much care. "Maybe 'Fuji,' our racetrack," he says (the F logo is shaped like Turn One). "Or 'Circle-F' [the original code name for Lexus Division]. Or 'Flagship.'"

Allow us to offer a suggestion, Jim: "Fenomenal."

Based on the platform that underpins the IS 250 and IS 350 sport sedans, the IS F is a carbon-spewing, tire-vaporizing mutant, the gentrified Lexus family's black sheep (and you know how much fun black sheep can be). Given Lexus's carefully cultivated reputation for civility, the rip-snorting IS F shouldn't even be here. And yet, by sheer force of will (see sidebar), it is. Lucky us.

For sure, nothing else in the Lexus stable has the IS F's street-bruiser look. Two inches wider up front than the IS 350, the F also sports a larger grille (improved engine cooling), fat brake ducts in the front air dam, 19-inch, dark-gray BBS forged-alloy wheels, quad tailpipes in a dual stacked array, and a pronounced hood bulge that hints of something menacing lurking underneath.

It's in there. The engine, based on the direct-injection 5.0-liter V-8 that serves in the LS 600hL, was codeveloped by Yamaha; it's upgraded with new high-flow heads, hollow cams, a head-scavenge oil pump (to help maintain even lubrication during high-g loads), titanium intake valves, a dual-inlet air intake (the second intake opens at 3600 rpm for enhanced high-rpm breathing), and other performance goodies. The net result is 416 horsepower at 6600 rpm and 371 pound-feet of torque at 5200.

The IS F doesn't offer a manual transmission--and nobody's going to complain. Instead, standard is an eight-speed automatic with manual mode and paddle shifters. While the transmission uses a conventional torque converter in first gear, in manual mode the lock-up clutch remains engaged from second through eighth, directly connecting the engine's output to the rear wheels (lift off the gas, and the engine compression is immediate, as with a conventional manual transmission). Adding to the "manual" feel is ultra-fast shifting; Lexus claims the tranny can change gears in just 100 milliseconds--as quick as the Ferrari F430's F1 box.

From the company that's synonymous with a cloudlike ride comes a suspension that's as cushy as a manhole cover. Front spring and shock rates are up 90 percent; the rear rates have climbed 50 percent. Larger anti-roll bars front and back minimize body roll even more, as does a ride height lowered about an inch. Inside the huge forged-alloy wheels (said to be 40 percent lighter than cast-aluminum wheels of the same size) lie six-piston Brembo brakes up front (the vented and drilled discs are an inch larger than the IS 350's) and two-piston vented and drilled Brembo rotors (up 1.4 inches) at the rear.

If by now you think Lexus has forgotten everything it knows about coddling its buyers, the cockpit will immediately put your mind at ease. It's a racy place--shift paddles behind the wheel, four deeply bolstered sport bucket seats, oil-temp gauge, aluminized composite trim--yet it's still very Lexus. All the typical amenities are standard or available, including heated seats, navigation, Mark Levinson surround-sound audio, and radar-guided cruise. Our tester also featured the optional (and gorgeous) high-contrast interior, with dramatic white-on-black leather.

Acknowledging that their new IS F offers higher-performance limits than any public road can handle, the Lexus team unveiled their new black sheep at Laguna Seca racetrack. There, it took about, oh, two or three turns to realize the Nrburgring-tuned IS F is going to make serious trouble for the likes of the new BMW M3, the Audi RS4, and the Mercedes C63 AMG. The car is, quite simply, a monster: Acceleration is brutal, the brakes are wicked-strong, and handling grip is immense (a Sport mode for Lexus's VDIM stability-control system increases steering weight, boosts throttle response, and allows the tail to step out usefully before the electronics step in; Lexus says Sport produces faster lap times than switching off the system altogether). You could easily convince yourself you're driving a track car. The engine note completes the illusion. Given that Toyota runs its own F1 team, you expect the V-8 to scream like Jarno Trulli's single-seater. Wrong series. Instead, the IS F bellows like a Nextel Cup Toyota Camry (redline is a relatively low 6800 rpm).

Back in L.A., senior editor Kiino grabbed the keys and came back from a sprint through his favorite canyons all but frothing at the mouth: "This may be the best Japanese car I've ever driven! Under normal driving, the 5.0 feels like a typical Lexus V-8--super smooth and quiet--yet stomp on it and all of a sudden it's like there's a honkin' Hemi on-board--one that got its Ph.D. at the University of NVH. Shift speed is remarkable--feels like a DSG. And you can flog the suspension and it never gets upset. This car is a riot."

The test gear confirmed our giddiness. The IS F blazes to 60 mph in just 4.7 seconds and stops from the same speed in only 106 feet. It'll also churn up a nice, warm, vibraty feeling all through your gutty-works: Max grip is 0.91 g. Got a long driveway? Top speed is electronically limited to 168 mph, making the IS F the fastest Lexus ever.

How much? Lexus won't say yet, but there's a special Neiman Marcus Edition IS F set to make its debut soon for $68,000. Subtract $5000 for the N-M edition's included Skip Barber Racing School package, and another couple thou for some special goodies on that car, and you're probably looking at a base sticker of around $60K when the IS F goes on sale in late February or early March.

We don't plan to wait that long to drive the IS F again. Memo to comparo-test coordinator: Bring on the M3.

F Troop

Lexus didn't want the IS F. Yukihiko Yaguchi, formerly in charge of brand strategy at Japan's Lexus Center, did. Though Lexus was already producing world-class luxury sedans and several impressive sporting cars, Yaguchi dreamed of a Lexus that would run with BMW's M, Benz's AMG, Audi's RS Quattro division. He pushed his idea to the conservative higher-ups--and won. Like that, he became chief engineer, Lexus IS F.

"Most chief engineers have development teams of between 1000 and 1500 members," the quiet, unassuming Yaguchi says. "I had 200 to 300." But like Kelly Johnson's famed Skunk Works team at Lockheed, whose skeleton crew designed such ground-breaking aircraft as the SR-71 Blackbird, Yaguchi's enthusiastic F troops often worked on the IS F on their own clocks. Yaguchi enlisted the help of long-time friend Takaai Kimura, senior officer at Yamaha, to develop the IS F's engine and borrowed engineers at Toyota Technocraft (which builds everything from police vehicles to race cars) to design the chassis.

"The luxury market is going to change dramatically in the next decade," says Lexus general manager Jim Farley. "In six years, 50 percent of our buyers will be 30 to 40 years old. The IS F is an experiment for us. I don't know if it'll steal buyers from BMW and Mercedes, but we've learned that prestige buyers like to be surprised. If the IS F does well [Lexus hopes to sell 200-300 cars per month], you might well see a wider application of F-branded cars."

"In Japanese," Yaguchi says, "'go' is a word that used to describe a large ship, moving forward and unstoppable." No wonder, then, that this radical new Lexus owes its existence to a team nicknamed "Yaguchi-Go."

Why the letter “F” in the new V-8–powered, 416-horsepower Lexus IS F? Simple: Toyota’s luxury brand and the letter F have a long history. In the mid-1980s, the Lexus luxury division was then just a classified notepad document codenamed “Circle F.” The first Lexus LS400 of 1989 was known internally as the “F1” or “Flagship.” And the stylized Fs on the 2008 IS F are drawn, it’s said, to mimic a few hairpin turns of Toyota’s Higashi-Fuji test track.

This first F (there’ll be more Lexus models with the F treatment soon, most likely) is a V-8–powered sledgehammer that rockets to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds—fleeter by 0.1 second than the new M3—has a 172-mph speed governor, and generates 0.92 g on the skidpad. It also keeps us grinning through hard track laps, even though the frequent fill-ups of premium were inhaled by street driving at the rate of 16 mpg. We’ll have to wait until March, 2008, when the IS F goes on sale at an expected price around $59,000 to see how many buyers are interested in a wicked-performing Lexus.

Developed in cooperation with Yamaha, the IS F’s engine, or the 2UR-GSE as Toyota calls the 416-hp variant of the 389-hp 5.0-liter V-8 found in the LS600h hybrid, sans hybrid gear, is peakier, actually losing 17 pound-feet of torque on the operating table as the changes pushed the horsepower and torque peak higher up the revs. Solid lifters and titanium intake valves with 10 percent more lift reside in new higher-flow cylinder heads. At full throttle above 3400 rpm, a barn door in the box snaps open with vacuum released from a small reservoir, and the unleashed induction noise is raw and thrilling.

Polished paddles put your fingers in charge when you wish it. And they’ll be busy, the swift-revving engine and ratio-stuffed, eight-speed automatic gearbox bringing forth the redline cutoff with annoying frequency. With all that engine fettling, the warning beep reminding you to upshift at 6400 rpm and the cut-out at 6800 rpm feel a bit low. The new 414-hp BMW M3’s engine screams all the way to 8400 rpm.

Despite the bling of braided-aluminum trim on the doors and shifter console, temperance rules indoors. Blue-lit gauges and blue seat stitching, alloy pedals, a digital gear-position display, and the subtle F logo on the wheel are the differentiators that drivers see. The base car’s rear bench is divided in the IS F into two non-folding buckets with a ski pass-through.

At leisure speeds, the air is hushed, Lexus-like, with just a distant snort from the engine and the extra thrum of the fat summer Michelins disturbing the peace. Given the low profile of the rubber mounted to the 19-inch forged aluminum rims, the ride is tightly controlled but commendably mellow. The ride-and-handling balance is perhaps the IS F’s biggest achievement. It makes allowances for road fissures and drops the body into holes with cushioned lurches.

It also permits the 3800-pound car some restrained roll through the esses but not enough to wither confidence. The IS F’s steering rack accurately puts tires where they’re needed and provides talk-back, albeit faint, on how things are holding. And hold they do, with excellent grip.

The all-important sport button also perks up throttle response and relaxes the stability-control system to allow some controlled tail-out action. Lexus also allows you to shut the system completely off, but the shutdown can only be called for while at full stop. Brembo-sourced front calipers on broad cross-drilled rotors deliver solid braking but with a soft pedal.

The muted interior, the slightly watery controls, the heavy price tag; the IS F is at core a Lexus with extra muscle, not as raw as the BMW M3 or Mercedes C63 AMG. The next steps for F may decide if the performance sub-brand thrives or is only a brief experiment.