Hi guys, does anyone know when the 2018 IS350 will debut or have some news? In April of last year we already had news on the 2017 models. It's almost August and nothing? The 2018 Camry has more features and a better v6 with direct injection than the current IS350 lol. Thanks.

 

Haha. Gotta love wrong wheel drive

 

It may not be that he's sold on the Camry, but that he's trying to make a point about Lexus being extremely slow to update their tech. I think it's kind of sad that Lexus is still using a 12 year old engine in their cars. I like a lot about my IS350 but the powertrain is the worst part of the car. The engine is severely lacking compared to its competitors and the transmission (especially the 6-speed in my AWD) is slow and clunky compared to the ZF 8-speed. I really hope Lexus puts the new TT V6 in the IS soon. Otherwise my next car may not be a Lexus.

 

^^^ Lexus, like Justin Bieber, likes to do everything despacito.

 

Ha!

Yeah I think the point of this post wasn't to inquire about the new car as much as to make a point about the Camry being newer... I do agree that the IS, GS, and co need new drivetrains, particularly for fuel-economy and acceleration competitiveness. I'd love to see that V6 from the LS 500 make its way into an IS, perhaps F, but I wonder what the base engines will be?

 

Just to be clear, though, the IS350 V6 also has direct injection. The Camry V6 is nearly the same engine, but with the ability to go into an Atkinson Cycle. That V6 is also used in the GS350 (and the Highlander, Tacoma, and Sienna).

 

I'm not sure commentary on a preference to the Camry is important. The original question stands - I would also like to know information about any changes for 2018. Anyone? Good luck.

 

Probably very minor changes. As '17 was the mid cycle refresh, you won't be seeing much "drastic" changes until the next redesign. (2-3 years)

 

Lets post guesses here. I say manual transmission.

 

LOL...that would get me back into an IS!

 

For a manual transmission I have a different nuts&bolts type of a car.
I love this 8-speed automatic, I think it is a masterpiece and you will never see that many gears in a manual.

 

It's not how many gears you have...it's how you use them

 

I agree that Lexus is "slow" relatively to its competitors - both in terms of speed and latest technology, but there is a reason they are #1 in terms of Luxury reliability, which comes from proven technology that's been refined and perfected over the years.

But to your point, if you knew this going in and before your purchase, why did you buy Lexus if you knew the competitors has a perceived advantage in this department?

 

In this case I happen to marvel at how well the automation is using them, sometimes it is fun to be a spectator.
The 8-speed transmission is also a marvel of engineering in terms of its compactness and weight and frankly in a 'luxury' class car I don't care to save 0.2 s in gear switching.

 

IMO the ratios are poorly chosen, and it's too eager to upshift and too reluctant to downshift. Think about if you would really miss a couple of the five ratios 4-8. They are barely used and so close together as to be silly, while the 1-2 and 2-3 gaps are too large.