technerd

Today is the official release day for the IS, so I used my lunch hour to take a test drive at Tustin Lexus in Southern California. My first observation was that my prediction is coming true regarding the product mix between 250's and 350's. I always felt that if Lexus stuck to their 4 to 1 build ratio of 250's to 350's, then 350's will be hard to come by, but 250's will be selling at big discounts in no time. They had 10 250's in stock in a variety of colors, but according to the salesperson that I talked to, they sold all 4 of the 350's that they had in stock this morning.

But about the drive... I drove a red 250 with 18's (they all have that), the standard suspension, and no Nav. The car is very quiet. You only hear the engine when you gun it. The engine is also smooth, but it doesn't quite have the turbine-like smoothness of my friends 325 which I drove a couple of weeks ago. The ride is exceptional. In that respect the 250 with the standard suspension is at least as good as a 325 with the standard suspension. The handling is excellent also. I took an unramp to get on the freeway at high speed and the car just stuck with confidence and didn't roll much. The steering had good weighting, but feedback is lacking. Overall the handling rates at least a 9 out of 10.

I was very impressed with the sequential shifter. It actually holds the gears. In all of the cars I've driven before that had sequential shifters, the transmission would downshift and upshift for you at certain points without your intervention. The IS didn't even downshift to first when I stopped. Nice! The fact that the paddle shifters rotate with the steering is a pain when taking tight turns and the steering wheel is turned mored than 180 degrees.

So far so good.. Unfortunately I would describe the power of the car as just adequate. It's not slow. The engine has to rev a little to produce power and once it does the car builds speed nicely. The problem is that it just doesn't feel like a performance car. From seat-of-the-pants it feels significantly slower than the 2006 Passat 2.0 T that I drove a little while ago. Some of that difference is due to the fact that it is so quiet and smooth that you aren't quite as aware of your speed as you are in Passat, which has a much louder engine and more wind noise. To me the acceleration of the 250 felt similar to a 4-cylinder Accord, which isn't bad mind you. I looked up the numbers and It's actually slightly (but not much) faster than a 4 cylinder Accord.

Although I love the looks and the fit and finish of the car, I'm not sure anymore whether I'm still a buyer. For $34,000 I think even a non-enthusiast is going to want a little more punch without having to move all the way up to the 350. I think Lexus is really going to regret not putting the 3.0 liter engine from the GS in this car.

picus

Nice post - I think you will find a lot of people agree with you. Some folks say "don't get obsessed with power", but in a sports sedan, you just need more. That said, I would bet my pinky finger we will see the 3.0l from the GS in the IS within 2 model years.

biker

If it doesn't sell well in the first 6 months it might be even sooner than that.

berg7445

Test Drove in West Palm. They had two IS250s that they had received the day before and looked like they just sold a 350. The 250 I test drove came pretty "bare bones" with only option the 18 inch wheels and summer tires. It came with leather and sunroof standard as some said before.

My impression was that it was not that slow for a 2.5 liter engine. I would compare it to a little bit less pep than a 325, but still decent power. But, I still think it is a bit slow and believe they should have put the GS300 eninge in the base model and kept the 350 as their high end. I would assume that a IS250 AWD would be pretty slow because of the added weight. Since it is a 6 speed auto, the gearing is such that it picks up speed quickly and is very smooth. You can bairly hear the engine even when the car starts and when you are idiling, you hear almost nothing. It had good grip in the rain when I drove and did not handle as well as say a 325, but similar to a G35.

The car is beautiful inside and out, even without the NAV screen which I think is quite pointless especially in FL when everything runs North-South or East-West. I like how the center console comes up high so you feel like you are sitting in the car, like a real sports car. The trunk is not very big but it juts out towards the end to allow golf clubs to fit in. I was dissapointed to find out that HID do not come standard since in a luxury car, at this point in the game, they should. Plus, it does not look like you can get a package with HID right now in FL. My ideal setup would be Mark Levinson Audio with HID and that is it, but I don't think I can get one like that fresh off the boat in about a month or so, which is my timetable.

spwolf

actually, thats why first mix of cars thats coming in has a lot more IS350's than what they "predicted" - 30-40%. Reason is to get all the people who were waiting for the power of IS350...

actham

I drove a red 350 today and was able to get it on some twisties though there was too much rush hour traffic to really test it much. Overall I was very impressed...the car looks better in person than in the pics. I was very happy with the dash as the instrument binnacle seemed kinda weird in the pics. The car was a base 350, $36K+ sticker and I think thats a steal for what you get. It had the 18's which didn't generate too much road noise until I got it on the freeway. Maybe I was used to the silence on surface streets? The acceleration is great but really kicks in above 4K rpm. A noticeable increase in power. The paddle shift seemed pretty responsive but I'd rather have a manual. I’m still not excited about the stock 18” wheels but the dealer had a GS300 sitting there that had a set of beautiful 10 spoke 18’s that I’d really love to get. They were similar looking to the 18’s on my G35 coupe but with 10 spokes. The IS would look fantastic with a set of those on it!