IS500 is a better overall car but still slower so there’s that!

 

Its not confusing at all. It actually fills the gap between F Sport and full fledged F car. Its silly to have a 300hp car and all of a sudden you have a 470hp car. Now it just means there will be a powertrain making over 650hp, hybrid, turbo or a combo of both. I'm glad they didnt call it an ISF. It means lower price and avoids a direct comparison to full fledged M and AMG cars (if they dont go stupid with pricing) and it would have meant instant death like the GSF and RCF.

 

Fully expect the RC-F to be re-branded as "RC500 F-Sport Performance" soon, since it's mechanically almost identical to this. I don't expect a price drop to follow, if anything I expect this new IS to cost as much as the current RC-F.

 

looks like its stripped down a bit from the typical F model. The interior isnt F'ed out like previous with the special seats and trim. Mainly looks to be powertrain and chassis upgrade instead of a full on F trim like in the past. This should make for a less expensive vehicle than what a true IS-F would be. Thats fine with me

 

If it's priced comparatively to the M340, I would buy this easily. It looks better than any of its competitors and Lexus reliability is really nice. I really liked my IS350 but lack of power made me want to try something else. If they came out with this car in 2014, I would still have my Lexus.

 

find me a better performing NA 5.0 V8 on the market. The 5.0 V8 was massively refreshed in 2016 or whenever the RCF came out. Ancient?

 

 

OK - So let's see Back in 2008 Lexus introduced the first "F" car - An IS series vehicle with a 5 liter engine and called it the ISF. That car was produced until 2014. In 2015 Lexus announced the second "F" car the RCF next came the GSF. Both contained the same updated and now more powerful engine introduced in the original ISF. They then used basically the same engine in the LC500 introduced in 2018 - No "F" or F-Sport designation. So now we have an IS500, an F-Sport, not a real "F" car, that shares it's engine with the RCF and the LC500. Not to mention the LS500, same designation, but, wait a minute it has a 3.5 liter blown V6 The IS300 has a 2 liter blown straight 4, and the IS300 AWD has a 3.5 liter NA V6 Does any of this make any sense

Lou

 

Don't make it more then $60K, if they price in the 60's it won't sell.

 

I'm glad this exists, but l don't think it will sell at all.

 

Q50 RS 400hp/350 lb-ft
IS500 F-Sport Perf 472hp/395 lb-ft
TLX Type S 355hp/354 lb-ft
C43 AMG 385hp/384 lb-ft
M340i 382hp/369 lb-ft
S4 354hp/369 lb-ft

 

Exactly what I was thinking. A true F has more unique features including interior bits and this IMO is why the price of a true F car is so high. Since this car doesn’t have it I believe it will be priced right.

 

Umm you are wrong here.
RCF has F exterior styling with the flared side curtain. F interior styling (seats, stitching etc) and F specific wheels with wider tire setup. It also features more suspension improvements, bigger 6piston caliper brakes etc.

Pricing for IS500 will be between IS350 and current RCF.

You also were denying everything in the Best Car mag - seems that LC-F and other F and Fsport models are coming......

 

What’s interesting is while not a true F the exhaust looks more like a true F with the stacked exhaust tips. I love that.

 

Agreed the numbers no longer match the engine size making it confusing - the only certainty is that Lexus sedans with a 500 (LS500, IS500, LC500) have over 400hp.

At least they went all in with the IS offerings: 4cyl, 6cyl, 8cyl, turbo, naturally aspirated, rwd, awd - a little something for everyone. Already looking ahead that a 3yr old CPO IS500 will be a hell of a value.