Anybody know if there have been any upgrades to this engine. It appears the car is being released with the same old powertrain. When the 250 came out power may have seemed adequate but can now be beaten out by a Camry, Accord, Avalon, etc. Considering the car has sporting pretensions it should step it up without having to go up to a 350, no?

 

Same engine. No differences.

 

Its the same engine as the 2IS but handles worse. All your paying for is the new look, new interior and more rear passenger room. The is350 has some new performance techs though.


3is250
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...rt_first_test/

3is350
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/03/25/2...-drive-review/
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...t_first_drive/

 

250 probably handles better than 350... just less power... transmission has been improved.

still, if people want speed, 350 is only choice.

 

Handles worse? Ive driven the car, pretty close to a 335i but much more playful. Handling is not as good as the 335i but the IS300h which I drove loves to be chucked around, much more fun than the 335i. And yes, it handles a thousand times better than the last one! Dont trust the reviews, I suggest you also drive one because youll seriously be impressed.

 

Is that all?? Hilarious.

 

The only thing that the 3IS does worse than the 2IS is in an autocross, where a shorter wheelbase is a huge advantage. In everything else, including the most crucial "feel" and "fun" factors, the 3IS does much better than its predecessor according all the reviews so far.

 

According to Car And Driver, the new IS350 handles better than the 335i.

Car And Driver : 3 Way Shoot-out Between BMW 335i M-Sport, Cadillac ATS 3.6L with Sport Package and Lexus IS350 F-Sport









A few choice quotes from the article:
Incidentally, the new IS350 F-Sport had the fastest slalom speed and won the 3 way shootout.

 

The 250 is a stop gap, till the IS 300h and upcoming small turbo fills out the range.

 

if you are concerned about speed, get IS350... as simple as that... while 250 does 0-60 in 7.2, which is not bad at all, it requires a lot of revving to do that.

 

250 vs 350 price difference went down from $5500 to $3500 and now you gain a 8 speed transmission. Why even consider the 250?

 

Because its faster than the IS300h and in the UK we dont get the IS350 + its plenty quick in the real world.

 

In real world driving, the electric torque might make the IS300h more responsive than the IS250.

 

To me this is one of the few negatives about this car. I thought I had read another poster in another thread (can't find it now) state that next year there would be a new engine for these cars. Can anyone corroborate this? I like the car, it has the features I want at a price range that I like. I'm just hesitant because there are so many manufactures bring out new higher efficiency engines and Lexus will have to respond, if this is in the 2015 model I will have wished I waited.

 

i doubt IS250 will be faster in real life than IS300h... mid range acceleration should be considerably better in IS300h.