I share your concerns also. I think we are in the minority. I'd love to have the 300+ with AWD. I've driven the Audi S4 and loved it. I own a Volvo S60 R AWD with 300 hp and 290 lb of torque. Its a blast to drive. Power in every gear.

I do know that in winter there are a lot of Lexus RWD's on the road here. And we see our share of snow and ice. My Lexus dealer says with snow tires and its advanced traction and stability control the car will be fine in all but the worst of weathers.

I'm thinking of the IS350 with 18's. I'll change out the tires to a Toyo or Michelin ultra high performace all season which while not a true snow tire will work for what I need. When the weather is really bad I can switch to my wifes RX300.

Good luck on making a decision.

 

As I posted already, I share the same concerns regarding the IS250.

The point is that over here in Europe we won't have any choice since the IS350 will not be imported. If I had the choice, I'd go for an IS350 with winter tyres, together with the 'SNOW' position and all sorts of electronic devices such as VDIM and others, that should go easily on icy roads.

The actual power will be 204 hp, it never changed since the new IS was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show. The only slight difference between 201 as stated by lexus.ca and 204 as stated in Switzerland and elsewhere comes from the conversion between KW and HP.

I agree that the point is not power but torque, and even more at what rpm you get the maximum torque. It is annonced at 3800 rpm for the IS250 which is an average value. Considering that the car may be quite heavy, it will not be a fast car, but just a very good pseudo sporty sedan.

Still, I want to get one

 

I dont think you are in the minority - it all depends on what you are used to. For most people - it will be more than enough, but for some GS430 seems slow so naturaly IS250 wont cut it... But thats where IS350 comes in :-).

IS250 is for people who need luxurious, sporty sedan for some +30k, that is good looking, nicely built, very drivable, with decent power AND really good MPG. There is an good chance that IS250 will get 10% better fuel consumption than competitors, and that matters a lot these days. (remember - E46 sold 70% with 184hp 2.5L engine in the US).

IS350 is for the rest of us... who want to be on the edge, all the time. You want sports sedan, with state of the art technology, you want goodies that nobody else has, you want EVERYTHING. You will get it. You will get 310hp V6 engine, double VVTi, Direct Injection with awesome torque. You will get technology that nobody else offers (VDIM). You will get soo many goodies, that NASA boys would feel like at home.

I think IS will be the Lexus we all know it can be, it will be perfection on wheels.

p.s. TRD France - check Avensis with Clean Power engine - guys that went on dealer training said it was absolutly a w e s o m e. Very Fast, VERY quiet, even for Toyota diesel that is usually very quiet. I dont know why would anyone in europe get anything but IS220d from IS range.

 

Answer: Just for the sound of the V6 !

I must admit that the IS220D with 177 hp and HUGE torque (better than my 3 liters LandCruiser)
is awesome. But that's not for me, I like high rev, dual exhaust pipes, and the sound of the L6 or soon V6.

 

you gotta check it out first ;-). It actually likes to rev quite nicely due to aluminium lighweight design and it sounds like no diesel at all. Hey, I am coming from MR2 w/ Turbo, but these new D4D diesels are something else. Unlike old 2.0l engine, new 2.2l engines pull cleanly from 1,000rpm and keep the power up to after 5,000 rpm.

Of course, V6 should be fairly efficient - Autobild got some 10.8l/100km average on GS300, which is pretty darn good, but IS220d should easily get 6.5l average - not that I care about MPG that much, but it is still damn cool.

I think I was most impressed with the fact that it pulls from 1,000rpm, and that is by far more quiet than 2.0l D4D which is pretty darn quiet (especially compared to VW). At least, that was what people told me - I was not able to go to the training . sucker.

I can guarantee that if you check IS250 and IS220d next to each other, IS220d will win, even if you preffer petrol. IS350 is something else, but I am not sure that even IS350 will be able to match urgency of 400lbs - where it will excel it would probably be much bigger rev range, faster response and better sound.

Do you have 120 or 90?

 

In Europe there is an Mercedes C230 (not kompressor).It has a 2.5 liter V6 with 150 kW ( 204 hp). C230 accelerates from 0-100 in 8.4 sec with manual transmission and 8.9 sec with automatic.Thats probably exactly what the IS 250 will do.The "Lexus magazine" writes something about 8.4 sec for the IS250.

http://www.lexus.co.uk/about_lexus/m...generation.asp

 

The engine of the 220d is the same as the Avensis 2.2 D-4D. I drove it and you just don't feel the 400Nm of torque. According to the specs sheet, the 2.2 D-4D Avensis needs 8,6 seconds up to 100. I'm sure the 250 will be the first choice and much more "Lexus-like". OK, the 250 is not a rocket but it sure will perform very well. The reason why I stick with Lexus is not the speed or hp number - it's the car as a whole. If I would worry about power at first, I rather would get a Subaru and Co. but not a Lexus.

BTW, I was told by Lexus that the 250 will accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 7.6 sec.

 

Well, I have the IS200 (155 hp) automatic now so im not worried at all The IS250 automatic will be much faster anyway .I really like Lexus and I would not buy any other car just because of the acceleration figures.But good performance is fun!

 

Compared with your auto IS200 (0-100 in 11.2 secs) , the manual IS200 is much faster (0-100 in 9.5 secs) , the auto IS250 will be reasonnably faster (0-100 in 8.x secs) than the manual IS200, that will sure make quite a difference for you.

But I'm not expecting the auto IS250 / 250 Nm to be any faster than the auto IS300 with 288 Nm, that means 0-100 km/h between 8 secs and 8.5 secs, that should be enough for me even if I would have liked to get below 8 secs.

On the street today, I compared 0-400 m perfs between my IS200 and a BMW 320D (yes Diesel), after 200 meters, I was 10 meters behind, afetr 400 meters, the BMW was far ahead!
But I agree, the choice of Lexus for me (second IS) is not related to HP's or speed, that's something else.

 

I feel your pain, man! I have a IS300 SX and if the 250 gets more or less the same number, then that's just fine!

Ok, there's nothing to say against power (let's disregard higher petrol price, taxes, insurance etc. - man! Europe sucks!!), the more the better, but still: It's a LEXUS and not a damn Impreza!

 

I juts received today the Lexus MAG, as every three months, and they introduce in page 42 the new IS.

Specs:
IS250
manual 6 or AUTO 6
2499 cm3
150 Kw @ 6400 rpm
250 Nm @ 3800 rpm
0-100 km/h (62 mph) = 8.4 secs
VSC, EBD, TRC, EPS but NO VDIM

IS220D
Only manual 6
2231 cm3
130 Kw @ 3600 rpm
400 Nm @ 2000-2600 rpm
VSC, EBD, TRC, EPS, AND VDIM.

there is no word of IS350for France, nor AWD.

 

A diesel without auto.. They won´t sell many of those diesels,that´s for sure! Why no VDIM on the IS250?And finally: why no IS350 or AWD? .BMW 3 and Audi A4 has atleast 5-6 different engines ,3 different gearboxes (including DSG and SMG), and AWD available on almost every model. It seems like Lexus doesn´t understand what people in europe wants.

 

I am puzzled as much as you are.

 

I also would love to see the 350 here in Europe... Anyway, I'm sure they will introduce it in 2006/7. Same situation with the IS200 a few years ago. We haven't had the IS300 at the launch of the IS Series...

 

Actually, there are not many sales of auto diesels in Europe, probably less than 5% of diesel sales. Toyota does not have an suitable auto box to handle diesel torque, which is evident in all of their models...

But I dont think IS350 wont be in Europe for a long time, they are probably waiting to see how the demand plays out...

I certainly dont know about the pricing - Avensis 180 is very expensive car, it is almost 30k Euro by itself!!!