Lexus IS 250 reviews

Lexus IS 250 Driving Impressions

The Lexus IS is a quick, taut car, but it's easy to drive. Meanwhile, in traffic jams, and crowded roads, any IS can be a serene cocoon. We found that there is hardly any road noise coming through the tires, very little vibration at the wheel and pedal, steering is light and easy, and wind noise is kept to a minimum.

On winding roads, the Lexus IS is nicely balanced. (This is especially true of the IS 350 C, which has a 52/48 weight distribution, front to rear.) The IS models transition from side to side with minimal body roll, and sharp brake/throttle/brake applications don't create appreciable front-end dive. The multi-link rear suspension offers a good ride with ample compliance over the bumps, with a commensurate level of road holding and competence under lateral transitions.

Steering is through an electric power-assisted system. The advantage of electric power steering is that it reduces energy consumption, yielding a 3 percent fuel economy improvement over conventional hydraulic systems. During an afternoon driving inland from the San Diego area, we thought the steering felt connected at higher speeds, with good on-center feedback at low speeds. Steering might not be as positive as that in a BMW 3 Series, but it takes less effort at low speeds, and the difference between the two seems small.

The IS 250 is equipped with a 2.5-liter V6 engine that delivers 204 horsepower at 6400 RPM and 185 pound-feet of peak torque at 4800 rpm. The IS 250 is EPA-rated at 21/29 mpg City/Highway. We found it offers plenty of power for everyday driving.

The IS 250, manual or automatic, is a fun car to drive. We drove an IS 250 with a manual transmission around the challenging Infineon road racing circuit near Sonoma, California. We found the 6-speed manual's shifting completely solid.

We drove an IS 250 C and found ride quality to be nice and relatively comfortable, though not soft, over bumpy neighborhood streets and decaying freeways. The top is very easy to operate. While motoring top-down we noticed our surroundings far more than in a hard top.

The IS 250 AWD, the slowest and heaviest of the IS cars, has a weight penalty of some 220 pounds over the RWD automatic model. That said, the AWD can still do 140 mph and 0-60 in 7.9 seconds, and offer all-weather performance in places that see significant rain and snow. The AWD is the only model that includes heated front seats as standard equipment.

The IS 350 is faster than the IS 250 by a large margin. The IS 350 has a 3.5-liter V6 that makes 306 horsepower, 277 pound-feet of torque, and can hit 60 mph in just 5.3 seconds. Not only does it have more power than the 250, it has bigger brakes and more aggressive rear axle gearing. On the Infineon track, we zoomed past another driver in an IS 250. There is ample torque throughout the rev range, so throttle management is a relaxed process under all but the most critical circumstances. The IS 350 is not a hugely demanding car to drive.

The automatic transmission is remarkably intuitive about sensing driver throttle demand, so when asked, it holds onto a gear past 5900 rpm, and perhaps more important, downshifts when appropriate. When we took control of the shifting via paddle shifters, the car demanded more attention and a willingness to manage the revs. We don't think we would use the paddle shifters on an everyday basis. On a winding mountain road, we found paddle shifting was fun for a while, but we're not sure it was all that much faster. On a racetrack, the paddle shifters can result in more mistakes, and mistakes are not good for lap times.

The IS 350 F Sport has a different character than the standard IS 350. It isn't difficult to drive, though on the race track it beckoned us to go faster and faster until our skills were challenged to drive the car as fast as it was capable. This is a car that has huge potential, in its cornering and brakes. We enjoyed the paddle-shifting transmission. On the street, ride quality is firm. We found the F Sport suspension annoyingly rough on neighborhood streets. A full cup of coffee would be sloshed all over your hand.

While on the track, we checked to see the role played by the electronic stability control system. We first drove an IS 350 F Sport with the electronic stability control switched on and found that it wasn't too intrusive. In fact, it kept us out of trouble at one moment. Then we turned it off, and let the F Sport drift, to feel its wonderful balance. Lexus said the 2011 suspension changes to the shock absorbers, springs, anti-rollbars and bushings have improved the precision of the handling a lot, keeping the chassis flatter.

Brakes on the IS 350 offer strong, straight stops and inspire confident driving. Light pedal pressure brings lightly progressive slowing but it's possible to invoke immediate stopping power with just a bit more pedal. The system is built around four-wheel disc brakes; the IS 350 gets four-piston front calipers. The tires are one size smaller in the front than the rear, which enhances steering response and the braking power of the front discs.

The IS F with its V8 engine has an electronically limited top speed of 170 mph and is capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds. The Lexus IS F is one fast car. The IS F comes with Y-rated tires, a stiffer suspension, 8-speed transmission and a full-throttle exhaust note that means business. The IS F is about three inches longer than an IS 350 in order to fit its 416-horsepower, 5.0-liter V8 engine under the hood. Even with the V8, the IS F has an EPA rating of 16/23 mpg.

The 2011 Lexus IS F features significant suspension changes. Among them: shock absorbers (new internal springs that limit rebound), spring rates, anti-rollbar stiffness, and control-arm bushings with steel inserts to increase rotational stiffness.

Active safety is much in evidence on the Lexus IS. For emergency stopping, there is four-channel anti-lock braking, plus six different electronic systems assisting with traction, stability, and emergency control. These systems are unified by the comprehensive stability control system Lexus calls VDIM (Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management) that makes electronic intervention much less obtrusive than any of the usual safety systems alone. We didn't get to a spot where we initiated action from the VDIM, but we have tested it in controlled circumstances in other Lexus vehicles, and we know how well it works. In an extreme emergency, VDIM can actually lock individual wheels to force a car through a turn it would never make by driver intervention alone. And it can do it without scrubbing off much speed. VDIM is billed as a safety system, and it is, but it brings such hugely effective handling enhancements we think it could be considered a performance system as well. The system is switchable, but VDIM is so much less obtrusive than stand-alone stability control that there are few occasions when we'd feel the need to switch it off.