Booster

THIS is the kind of info I'm looking for! If you any other tidbits, please do share.

Thanks mate.

qhduong

Heh, this makes me glad I didn't wait for the 2016 model. I live in the PNW and AWD is pretty much required here. I also prefer V6 over 4 cylinders, smoother rides.

corradoMR2

Northern US states and all of Canada is mainly composed of AWD models sold in the IS range (and most other Lexus vehicles). If AWD will truly not be available in the 200t, sales may slip in Canada even though the 350 should still have AWD because the majority of IS sales today is the cheaper 250. The saving grace for Lexus is to somehow drop the price of the 350 AWD to be closer to a current IS 250 AWD.

@.qhduong: I agree with your statement on the 250 V6 a smoother drive, though the 2L Turbo is very smooth for a 4 cyl and once you get beyond the slight lag, the engine pulls really strongly in my NX. On a 400 lb lighter IS, it will be virtually as quick as the 350.

My0gr81

The NX is FWD biased with AWD assist, so the engine is mounted on top of the FWD drive train. This explains why Lexus announced that the ES will get that engine in China and I think they even announced it for the RX. There is probably more work needed to adapt the engine to a RWD platform.

tea

my sources say it won't be here for 2016

Booster

If they already had a private test drive for insiders, they have plenty of time between now and year end to roll it out.

What is Lexus going to do... sit on it until 2017? I think you have bad sources.

mingkwong

I feel that Lexus is not very keen to push the IS200T to the market. This turbo engine no doubt can deliver much more power than the IS250 but it somehow also nearly able to beat the 350 (under 4000-5000rpm) in many aspect.

Lexus need to be very careful to position the IS200T, especially when they only have one turbo engine available. 200T will inevitably phase out the 250 but it could harm the sales of 350 if they tunes the engine like NX200T. Even they keep the legacy 350 in the market but people may not be happy to get one as its performance is so closed to the 200T. Who will pay so much premium to get similar performance? Eventually most will just shift to 200T, if Lexus is meant to cut 2 models into 1 then they may even sell less car than before.
They can learn BMW to tune the same engine to deliver different power for 320i and 328i. or they quickly develop a 3000cc turbo to replace the 350, in order to remain 2 choices in the market.

Booster

i think they could coexist in the market just fine.

look at Audi S5 vs RS5. very close in performance, yet 20K difference in price.

S5 is smaller FI V6. RS5 is larger NA V8.

they have both been on Audi's roster for many years.

bull34dog

It will be interesting to see what impression the turbo 4 makes on everyone once they actually drive/live with it. Coming from my experience with my car(s) previous to my IS350:

2013 ATS 2.0T Performance RWD it was quick but there was lag, although subtle. Fuel economy was abysmal. I averaged in the 13s...THE THIRTEENS! My 1994 Grand Cherokee V8 4x4 got better than that. It also drank premium while the V6 lived on the cheaper stuff. Toward the end of having that car, it was in service so many times for quality issues (the reason I don't have it anymore) and I was in a 2015 ATS V6 loan car for a while and it sounded better, accelerated more smoothly, and got better economy. The turbo was fun, but there are definite downsides to forced induction.

Booster

but that's cadillac. most reports coming in about the NX 200T engine are positive.

also if cadillac can only muster 13mpg out of a 4T, then then need to sneak into BMW's factory and find out how Bimmer pulls 30+ mpg all day long out of their 240hp 260lb ft four pot.

it's 2015. it's not 1988 anymore. these car companies better advance beyond what was capable 30 years ago if they are gonna ask us to drop 50K on a modern car.

My0gr81

In 1988, most cars were capable of well over 30mpg using NA 4cyl engines. Then came the tree huggers, the oil lobby and all the mandated safety devices that just bloated the weight of the cars where consumption tanked (no pun intended).

Why aren't you looking at a bimmer, you seem to be hot to trot about them?

Booster

i'm not talking about 4cyl N/A cars. I'm talking about 250ish hp cars. I have a Supra Turbo. It's the nicest MK3 in existence, and it gets about 18-20 mpg. That's ok for the kind of power it has, but modern cars usually do better.

and I am shopping bimmer, but honestly the 328i falls behind my interest in Audi S3, S4, S5 and Lexus RC and IS.

spwolf

in NX comparo, NX was slower but got 2mpg more than X3. So mpg should be great.

Also, I am certain that 2.0t is coming this year for IS, RC and GS (in Europe), and it would be crazy to thin there wont be AWD version.

Someone mentioned ES, but it seems ES is sticking with V6.

As to the IS350 - V6 is also getting a lot of improvements at the same time.

daobn24

This is interesting...

ALE81

iTrader: (1)

Very Interesting!! That looks like the Redline color from the CT. This could possibly be the new IS200T. Great find! Where is that photo from?