Lexus IS F Makes a Great Winter Drifter (Video)
Luxury sedan takes on Honda Element in ultimate winter-drift showdown.
The Lexus IS F is good at a lot of things, like smoky burnouts, embarrassing other sports car drivers, and even drifting. So, it goes without saying that under wintery conditions, it’s even easier to get sideways in the IS F. But how easy is it to actually drift, as in keeping the nose pointed in and close to the cones? That’s real drifting, not the typical parking lot hoonage you carry out on late Saturday nights.
The dudes over at The Straight Pipes headed out in the snow to find out. And, of course, they turned this “experiment” into a friendly little competition to make things more interesting. But instead of picking a suitable opponent like a Mercedes AMG C63 or even a BMW M2, they chose something a little different. Well, a lot different. The IS F’s foe on this day turned out to be a Honda Element!
The Straight Pipes kicked things off with a standard corner cone drift, which the Lexus carves up until losing it at the end. The Element starts out wide, but closes the gap for a nice finish. Next, we see the Element cut a super-wide figure “8” that is also hilariously slow. Not to mention, the four-banger sounds like a 10-year-old lawnmower.
The Lexus, on the other hand, cuts a beautifully-tight turn and makes much sweeter music. It goes on to make mincemeat of the Honda while completing a reverse Scandinavian Flick and outruns it in the slalom. After splitting the counterclockwise circle, the Lexus edges out the Honda in TSP’s “official” scoring by only a half point. Not too shabby for a rear-wheel drive, V8 powered sports car. Check it out above.
