2007 Lexus IS 350
Since it began producing cars, Lexus has always been known for doingjust what its advertising slogan suggests, and that is pushing forward in its “relentless pursuit of perfection.” We’ve driven many examples from the brand, and can safely say that this claim is not merely lip service. Rather, Lexus has always endeavored to build the most luxurious and refined luxury cars around, if not the most engaging. Lexus vehicles have always been competent performers, but sporty? Uh, no. The company seems to have recognized this, and focused their efforts on a willing platform, the IS series. The car was a real change of direction for Lexus in its first iteration—so much so that some people began calling it the Un-Lexus. The new one adds stunning styling and a better interior to the mix, not to mention countless other improvements.
We wanted to test the top dog—the IS 350—to see just how sporting the car really is. It certainly looks the part. It’s a handsome evolution over the previous generation IS 300, offering up a nice balance of rounded edges and sharp creases formulated by Lexus’ L-Finesse design language. It’s a proportionally sound look, and our metallic powder blueexample seemed to complement the car’s aesthetic. With purposeful 18-inch wheels mounted on meaty performance tires, a few eyebrows were raised at various stoplights and café patios. Was this simply an appearance enhancement exercise, or is this baby the real deal?
Getting into the IS did nothing to stimulate the adrenal glands, except for a set of gorgeously large aluminum shift paddles peeking out from behind the steering wheel. Settle into the supple seats, and you feel as if you’re gently being held by an old friend. One feature we grew particularly fond of was the cooled seats; very nice over a few days of hot weather. The sensation you get feels a little odd at first (a little like your pants are damp), but once I got used to it, it was bliss. The only fly in the ointment is the back seat, specifically how little room is present. Staffers not lucky enough to drive or sit shotgun began to miss the front buckets a whole lot, due to the shortness of legroom and thenarrow rear door aperture. As long as your passengers aren’t particularly tall and the driving distances are short, you should be OK.
Typical Lexus fit and finish is present in spades; we defy you to find a surface that has unseemly edges and contours or isn’t finished in quality materials. Dashboard legibility is its usual first rate backlit Optitron self, and navigation and audio controls work so well and intuitively that the owner’s manual may go unread for the life of the car. Speaking of audio systems, the 14-speaker 6-disc DVD-enhanced Mark Levinson sound system is so good that we heard things that we’ve never heard before while listening to our favorite tracks. It remained distortion free up to noise levels that should bode well for hearing aid sales.
Driving around town, the Lexus is a model of docility. You can see, hear and feel the painstaking work the engineers undertook to isolate youfrom the ills of commuter traffic. Impacts are merely a soft thump in the distance, and road and wind noise are startlingly absent, especially for a sport sedan. A leisurely cruise on the highway further reinforces the sensory-deprivation chamber motif, whisking you along in a refined silence so profound you begin to notice the sound of your own breathing. The ride is firmer than other Lexus products we’ve sampled, although never harsh. You begin to wonder if this machine will embarrass itself when you drop the hammer.
The big direct-injected 3.5-liter V6, which felt passive and dainty while cruising, suddenly becomes a broad shouldered linebacker under heavy prodding by an equally heavy right foot. Charging to redline with remarkable alacrity, it hurtles the IS forward in stunning fashion. The 60 mph mark passes by in a hair over 5 seconds, andkeeps on pulling hard well past that.
So the IS 350 has some serious suds under the hood. Thankfully, it’s got a chassis that is quite capable of handling the power. Balance is sublime, and the suspension movements are so well calibrated that we were reminded of a certain brand from Munich that’s particularly skilled at tuning ride and handling. The car has a fierce bite on turn-in, and understeer is pleasingly minimal. The brakes operate with the same precision, offering great feedback and minimal fade. They engaged so quickly yet never felt grabby. Even the steering, which felt a little too light for some, allows you to trace a scalpel precise path of direction.
There were a couple of demerits that kept us from being completely smitten by the IS 350. First on our list is the Orwellian stability control. There’s a switch on the dash that presumably deactivates the system. However, at the first sign of any judicious slip angles or loss of traction (read: fun) it rearms itself while beeping angrily at the driver. It’s not an enjoyable companion when carving up your favorite roads. Speaking of which, you’re better off leaving the transmission in Drive and leaving those beautiful paddles alone. The manumatic mode simply can’t keep up with the racy engine. One of the best kept secrets about this car is the ECT (Electronically Controlled Transmission) switch mounted just below the Start button. It offers Normal, Snow and Power modes. We usually dismiss switches like these as gimmicky, but not this time. While in the Power setting, we noticed a palpable difference in the way the car felt. Not only did it simply sharpen throttle response, it sharpened the wholecar’s response. Despite that, even during the most spirited driving, the IS felt a little too refined, always feeling a touch too distant.
The IS 350 is still a huge departure from the Lexus status quo. It offers a tantalizing taste of what Lexus is capable of when it flexes its sporting muscle. And while this top-line version has plenty of muscle on offer and is always willing to share it, there is still a touch of finesse lacking, or perhaps it is simply a lack of confidence that would take it to the next level, especially in the way VDIM won’t allow YOU to dance along the razor’s edge, despite my feeling that the chassis is a willing partner. Although we’d love a manual gearbox in this car, those that wish to shift their own gears will be able to do so only in the rear-wheel drive IS 250.
Still, the “Un-Lexus” IS 350 is worth a serious look for any sports sedan shopper
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May 25th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
The BMW 3-series is the benchmark for sports sedans. Sure, there are faster four doors; that Audi’s new RS4 handily beats anything from Regensburg, Dingolfing, Leipzig or even Rosslyn is hardly a point of contention, but there is simply no other sports sedan on earth that is as scintillating to drive, nor as popular as the Bimmer. With an inline six, rear- or all-wheel drive, and impeccable chassis dynamics, the 3-Series really came into its own in 1999, when the last generation debuted. That even the lowliest 325i possessed the same chassis as the vaunted M3 showed how capable it was, and that performance pedigree combined with BMW’s relatively excellent construction made every model in the 3-Series lineup an excellent buy. And try as they might, numerous attempts at dethroning the little Bimmer failed, with everything from Cadillac’s Catera and CTS to Jaguar’s ill-fated X-Type failing miserably by all comparisons (but the CTS-V is pretty intense - Ed.), to Audi’s A4 series being criticized for one too many dips into the VW parts bin. Infiniti’s G35 has done a pretty good job offering a larger car with more power and deft handling, and then there was Lexus’ first-generation IS.
A brand that holds perfection as the goal, Lexus had been targeting BMW’s market for quite some time, and in some segments had even had moderate success in doing so. Offering a similar luxury experience and arguably superior quality, Toyota’s upper echelon brand lacked but one thing: an attainable entry-level model in the sport sedan segment. Sure the well-priced ES 300, 330 and now 350 has long been a best-seller, but a youthful market is not what the front-drive four-door attracts. Contrarily, BMW’s entire North American business model relies on the 3-Series, and has done so since the demise of the 2002, with the aim of using it as a vehicle (no pun intended) with which to introduce the brand’s products to successful, financially secure, and (most importantly) impressionable young buyers. Thus, as the subject’s tastes and bank accounts matured, he or she would logically and predictably move up the product ladder, purchasing a 5-Seriesand eventually a 7-Series (with the 6-Series slotted somewhere in between the two as a sort of mid-life crisis-mobile). Unfortunately for Lexus, not having that all-important entry-level, sport-oriented model meant that they remained out of sight and out of mind for younger buyers.
So to remedy that situation, Lexus introduced the world to its diminutive IS 300 sedan in 2001. As the brand’s first entry-level sport sedan, it was greeted with open arms by the media and public alike, its aggressive shape being welcomed as an alternative to the relatively conservative styling offered up by its German counterparts/competitors. With a unique front fascia that reflected the IS 300’s youthful nature, the car had an almost bulldog-like quality to it, with a blunt nose and powerful fenders. Wraparound, angular headlights imparted an extroverted, sporty image that the A4 and 3-Series’ hooded lenses didn’t, and the deep-set, blacked out grille added to the illusion. A tall greenhouse and reasonably upright windshield retained a modicum of stateliness, and a thick, tapering C-pillar gave it a real aura of strength.
Out back, the Lexus’ most telling features were its taillights. A multi-element design, the IS 300’s chrome taillights soon became all the rage, and it wasn’t long before the Fast and Furious crowd started putting what they referred to as “Altezzas” (the Japanese domestic market variant of the Lexus IS 300 was the Toyota Altezza, and everything from Japan is far cooler so of course the moniker had to be taken from the JDM car) on their cars. Sort of like a tattoo on the lower back, the clear/chrome taillights let the world know exactly what age group this car was aimed at, so imagine everyone’s surprise when Lexus followed up the IS 300 sedan’s 2001 launch with the IS 300 SportCross (read: wagon) in 2002.
With a slightly revised and softened face, and of course a remodeled derriere, the wagon version also sported wider tires out back to better handle the added weight. Hardly successful, the SportCross’ weird blend of Impreza-like hatchback-meets-wagon styling relegated it to a world of sales failure, and the SportCross remains a rarity today.
Inside,the IS 300 offered up much of the same luxury as the Bimmer, albeit without the same staid design of das Germans. With a myriad of textures including (but not limited to) rough pewter, chrome, stainless steel, plastic, and fabric, the IS 300’s cockpit echoed the exterior, paying homage to the 3-Series’ blend of sport and luxury but with a healthy infusion of youthfulness. Drilled aluminum pedals and a big cueball shifter settled amongst various chrome trim rings and bezels, while the traditional Lexus waterfall console housed what some believed to be too many buttons and switches.
Likewise, the gauge cluster received poor reviews for its odd layout that placed the speedometer above the tach and useless analog instant fuel economy gauge. While making the speedometer relatively easy to read, this layout left the ancillary gauges with nowhere to call home, so they moved inside the speedometer, on the right hand side. As a result, they’re tiny and almost impossible toread. Interior room is much the same as the BMW, although the IS 300’s shorter wheelbase means there is less rear seat room. Interior comfort was also comparable, although the IS 300 did fall down in a few places. It’s surprisingly loud, for example, and both tire thrum and wind noise penetrate the interior quite easily. Additionally, leather wasn’t available until 2003; a boon on any car costing over $30,000, and the navigation system was poorly integrated, with the screen motoring very niftily out of the dashboard but the controls being placed down at the bottom of the console. The stock audio system, however, was stellar for an OEM stereo - critical for its target market.
Driving the IS 300 exposed some of the car’s idiosyncrasies. With an inline six that had its roots in the Mark IV Supra, the 215 horsepower sedan targeted somewhere in between the lower- and mid-point of the 3-Series scale. The choice of a steering-wheel-mounted, button-shifted automatic or a traditional, and vastly more effective five-speed manual made power delivery sufficiently sporting, and the car’s acceleration times are competitive with the BMW, with 60 mph coming up in 7.1 seconds. The nifty automatic was a good idea, but being a regular old slushbox it is equipped with a torque converter, and some thought the push-button transmission too slow of thought and shifting to be predictable, and the steering wheel buttons are admittedly difficult for most people to use.
Pressing the “power” button firms things up somewhat, but the cog swaps still take too long for real performance driving. The manual, on the other hand, earned kudos for its light clutch and solid feel, and allowed the driver to make better use of the inline six’s VVT-i supplied balance of high rpm power and torque, not to mention it also let the driver wind the lusty inline six out to the upper end of the tachometer’s sweep, where the Supra-sourced motor sounded best.
The suspension was quite capable, trading Lexus’ soft and quiet ride for a more stiff and nimble feel. For their first attempt at a sports-tuned suspension, the IS 300 excelled, and was only moderately thumpy over hard, sharp hits. Broken pavement, rough roads, potholes and any other urban obstacle never upset the IS 300’s poise, and the ride instilled confidence in the car’s ability to round corners at speed. Unfortunately, that confidence wasn’t wholly deserved, and the car’s electronic nannies cut in far too early to be any fun at the limit. Even more dismaying was the nannies’ necessity; turning them off resulted in early tail-out slides that, while fun for some are downright dangerous to most. Finally, while certainly offering up an excellent ride and a good level of sporting capability, the IS 300 never quite bests its European rivals, with slightly inferior road feel and balance. There have been many, however, mostly of the “Altezza” crowd, who have taken advantage of its smaller size and correspondingly lighter weight, by tuning both the suspension and engine for optimal performance, ending up with a seriously impressive sport sedan. Actually, given the widespread knowledge that the IS 300 relies on the famed Supra’s motor for motivation, many IS 300s have been modified,with power outputs well over 500 horsepower. While some can provide excellent bargains for those looking to go really fast in a relatively unassuming car, modified cars are generally a no-no when it comes to used car ownership.
For those looking for a good used sports sedan for a slightly more conservative purpose, mind you, the stock IS 300 offers up a long list of benefits. Usually a few thousand dollars cheaper than a similar 3-Series, the Lexus has earned a reputation for being quite reliable. With many examples immaculately cared for, and no National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recalls issued, buying an IS 300 is a pretty stress-free exercise, although one should look out for a faulty in-mirror compass and a chirping noise upon clutch depression (in the manuals only, of course).
All in all, an IS 300 will give you a sporty yet luxuriously appointed ride for a reasonable price, get you where you’re going and back home again with Lexus’ legendary dependability, and do so with an air of exclusivity that no BMW 3-Series owner can hope to enjoy. Buck up for an Altezza badge and you’ll even get respect from the tuner crowd.