Hollings

This is incorrect. Do some research and find what also uses the IS250 transmission and you'll see it's very capable of handling the power.

colHolM

Like a supercharged 1GR?

Bichon

I hope that if Lexus ever decides to offer a manual for the IS350, that they choose a more refined box than the one in the manual IS250 that inspired an Edmunds reviewer to say "As for the stick shift, fuggedaboutit -- it's easily worst-in-class." If they offered an IS350 with a clutch and tranny featuring the refinement, short throws, and perfectly matched ratios of something like a Honda S2000, they'd have me at the dealer pricing a trade-in.

ilocke

iTrader: (11)

Very interesting. I just said that because that's what the dealership told me. Under normal circumstances, I think I'd be a bit skeptical of what the dealer says, but TWO separate dealers told me the same thing when I was shopping around for my IS350. Bell Lexus in Phoenix and North Scottsdale Lexus. When asked, "Why doesn't the 350 come in manual?" Both stated:

"The trans used in the 250 isn't capable of handling the power of the 350. The 350 shares the same trans as the GS and Lexus didn't want to develop a new manual trans just for the IS350."

Pretty weird for them to both say the same thing. I wonder if Lexus trains them to say that, if it's incorrect.

colHolM

TRD built a done up Tacoma X-Runner a couple years back... supercharged 1GR-FE (4.0L V6)... same transmission as in the IS 250.

IIRC, it made around 400 hp and 350 ft/lbs of torque. Waaaay more than the 2GR in the IS 350

Sales of the manual 1IS and early 2IS models were not high enough justify the development and production of a manual IS 350. Its kinda sad that the bean counters can have that much say in product lineups... A lot has to do with the production allocations, and if there are a bunch of manual IS 350s sitting in the VPCs or dealer pools or dealer lots, there is a lot of capital being wasted.

But to truly compete with the likes of BMW, we need to offer a manual, whether it sells well or not!

edit: plus it would be just plain awesome.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

You've obviously never driven an IS-F. Manuals are dinosaurs and I own the best manual ever found in any Toyota product.

Just because TRD built up a Tacoma with 350 ft-lbs of torque doesn't mean the POS gearbox will tolerate it for long. The design of that box is so bad I can't imagine how the engineer who designed it sleeps at night.

The 350's gearbox is light years better than the Tacoma gearbox no matter what.

colHolM

Actually, I have driven several IS-Fs.

My point was the 6 spd manual can handle the power of the 2GR. I agree with you that automatic transmissions are leaps and bounds ahead of manuals, but this wasn't a thread about which is better.

I was trying to explain why Lexus doesn't offer a manual option on the 350, and why they used a truck transmission for the manual in the 250. To Lexus, the market simply isn't there... thanks in large part to the advances in automatic transmissions. So why bother with the R&D costs associated with developing a solely Lexus manual transmission for a rwd vehicle that would sell in such small volume.