Lexus IS-F saloon long-term test review

"And it was amazing just how little of the white snuff was needed to render the IS-F completely immobile.".... "Suddenly Audi’s all-wheel drive RS philosophy is looking rather appealing"

I laughed. :-)

There is some price to pay if you don't want your high performance car to understeer into a tree when cornering.

If you pretend you don't know what I mean, the explanation is @ 8.13 in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaZExdTHHjY

At this moment the VW Passat with a V8 (yes, Audi A4 B7 shared engines, transmissions, drivelines, chassis, platform, electrical, mechanical and interior components with VW Passat B5.5) ingests some trash and dead twigs from a gravel trap using its bloated grill as a vacuum cleaner.


If you still pretend you're somewhat incapable of interpreting what you see or read, here's a simplified version:

VW Passat V8 with Audi badge and higher price
Slalom: 69 mph
Skidpad: 0.88 g

Lexus IS-F (at least it shares nothing with Toyotas)
Slalom: 70.2 mph
Skidpad: 0.93 g

So it's some sort of Hamlet alike question, only in automotive world, between those to: "to hit, or not to hit" (this telegraph pole when exiting the corner).


References:

VW Passat V8: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Comparos/articleId=119784/pageId=120157

IS-F: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=123125/pageId=131766

Hamlet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet

Actually the Lexus IS and all Lexus models still share parts so I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing is 100% unique to Lexus my friend that's just what the marketers want you to think. I have a friend who works as a senior tech at Lexus and I was told otherwise. Also what kind "sports saloon" from an American-Japanese luxury brand would use fake quad exhausts? Tacky and lame to say the least.

Agent63, I'll now prove in an uncontested way that you're just a biased fanboy (towards anything that comes from Germany) and that your opinion, being completely inconsistent, is virtually worthless in any serious assessment. OK?

You once said:
| As for the R8, the car's built so well, and the sound of
| it is so sweet, nothing else matters. The V10 will only
| be better. Believe it.

Source: http://www.autospies.com/news/Spy-Shots-Audi-R8-V10-and-base-R8-hit-up-Nurburgring-31306/

And then you kept mumbling:
| I trust the engineering from Audi and Porsche much more
| than the all out muscle cars from America. The R8 and 911
| are far more tamed and more controllable. All in all
| better super cars.

Source: http://www.autospies.com/news/Audi-R8-vs-Corvette-Z06-Dodge-Viper-Porsche-911-Turbo-Supercar-Shootout-15997/

Finally:
| One word. BEAUTIFUL Two words. I'M SOLD! Three words. I
| WANT ONE

Source: http://www.autospies.com/news/2009-Lamborghini-Gallardo-LP560-4-Exclusive-First-Test-29797/

So you persistently kept praising Audi R8 and Gallardo.


Then, what you said about the Lexus IS-F in this thread:
| Also what kind "sports saloon" from an American-Japanese
| luxury brand would use fake quad exhausts? Tacky and lame
| to say the least.

So you praise Audi R8 and Gallardo and call IS-F "tacky and lame" because of fake exhausts.


Only, what you'd never know...
http://forums.subdriven.com/zerothread?id=4096503&page=1
...that both R8 and Gallardo have fake exhaust as well! And had had those a long before IS-F ever saw the market.


Conclusions:
- you're absolutely biased thus completely non-credible
- you're a fake car enthusiast: a true one would know that such exhausts are necessary in high performance vehicles to keep plastic/carbon spoilers and bumpers from melting since tailpipes get extremely hot in such machines
- you never experienced any Audi R8 in detail

Have a nice Sunday.

Before I start talking about anything. You either bookmarked all the comments I posted or you wasted your time going to each thread I responded to and dug out all this "information" so with that alone you're quite lame to call me out because I said some negative things about the IS-F with fake quad tail pipes.

Secondly, I am an LS and S550 owner so I don't know why you're calling me bias.

Thirdly I am a proud owner of an R8 so who wouldn't be praising the car? You've never driven one have you?

The IS and IS-F have horrible comfort and I would never choose one over the RS4, C63 or M3.

Call me a fanboy all you want but it seems like you're the fanboy around here. I don't need to be consistent and be loyal to each model of a brand I favor. Some are crap from Lexus and some are good. Same goes for all brands including my beloved "MERCEDES-BENZ". A car enthusiasts likes all companies not just one because they like one model. I say it like it is. I ain't no bandwagoner. You Lexus fanboys call yourselves car enthusiasts. Nothing enthusiastic about the IS-F let alone any performance car attempts by the company. They have a good selling point with great offerings and I like their company for that. But they have no reputation of being a PERFORMANCE BRAND. My favorite Lexus models are the GS and the LS and I liked the rebadged Soarer when that generation was still out.

Cut the crap and go bug somebody else.

Come on Agent63 one knows that you lie. You always lie and we can feel it easily. People here are maybe fanatic of a brand but are not stupid. So please! And we know all now and this since one year ago that you own an LS and an S and you prefer your S! But please stop lying cause it's getting realy annoying.

Just because you don't agree with me doesn't mean I am lying. This is an internet website. I have nothing to prove to you or anybody on here. I take the time to come on here to give in my two cents unlike some kids reading reviews from magazines dreaming to own a car they have on a poster. I work hard for what I have and I'm damn proud of it.

Call me a liar all you want but it just shows you are envious when you should really be asking me how the driving experience is like with the cars. I can't blame you though again it's an internet website and many people poop doo doo out of their behind. Real Estate and Day trading is where it is at, it's given me opportunities.

:)

So quit sipping on the hatorade kiddo, not everyone in the world is driving their father's car. I'm turning 26 this year and going strong. Step up to get you rep up. Need some Stock Investor Relations done for your company? let me know, need a website created and SEO along with it? let me know.

www.itbossinc.com
www.stockraven.com
www.orionseo.com

Oh Agent63 you're very rich. Good for you but it doesn't mean that you're the only one in this site who have enough money to own his or her dream cars. But obviously you need everytime to remind poeple that you're rich. Again good for you. This is my last words. No more time to loose.

Have nive day

I never said anything about others not being able to afford a certain car or not. This is a car fan's website and we are all here to talk about cars. Criticize me about my comments but when you accuse me of lying that's way off topic. You should have thought about saving your time saying something worth reading instead of wasting it on finding old posts where I wasn't "CONSISTENT" with my comments.

You are right, end it right now, it will never end anyways.

I should be saying "The IS-F is the king of sports saloons and I wish I had one". I wonder if I'll get major boosts from that.

There are only 5 cars on my next purchase list and the IS-F is 2nd. Ist choice for me is an 05 GS430 because it's roomier inside but both cars are awesome and are extremly durable. Man an IS-F is becoming more of a "gotta have it" factor. Trust me the word is getting out there about this car more than you guys think. Just think for a moment...........The LF-A will strike terror when it comes. Trust me that thing is going to be on a lot of front pages of everything. Imagine driving a real Formula 1 V10(muffled down to keep it street legal)inside a hot candy apple red convertible roadster w/ 600hp and a red line of 9500rpms...talkin bout wickedness...Man the day of reckoning is swiftly approaching.

I swear the LF-A was already DOA.
...and what kind of name is LF-A anyway? IS, ES, RX... Lexus needs some new nomenclature.

Are you David969? Because you sound like him?
"the day of reckoning"??? You are joking right?
You Lexus tools make me laugh, I wish I could round you up, and demonstrate to you properly how much inferior a Lexus is to any German car. All it would take would be to walk you around one of each.
You really amaze me you guys.

I have only one car on my next purchase list: Tesla Model S.

No more stupid Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Infiniti or whatever else!

I'll take the 300 mile range AWD Model S version please

Big whoop. Now it's just a hard-boiled egg. Put it up against a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and we'll see who lives to tell the story.

For poeple who are iterested to see the ISF VS AMG C tested by germans, here is the link part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzp7xHaC4NA&feature=related

Part2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV-OE6xgpxg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujsZJPY4nVM

Funny thing, it's Tsukuba raceway. Exactly the one where IS-F murdered the Passat V8, I mean the Audi RS4.

http://www.fastestlaps.com/track3.html

63. Lexus IS F 1:07.087
.
.
.
[helluva lot's of cars]
.
.
.
97. Audi RS4 (B7) 1:08.36

I would hardly consider 1 second "murder." The almost 2 seconds that the M3 beat the IS-F with, though, would be a bit closer to a "murder."

Yes, because M3 is a better performer than IS-F.

But I needed to explain a few things to this Audi lame fanboy farting about how inferior Lexus is to Audi.

For poeple who are iterested to see the ISF VS AMG C tested by germans, here is the link part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzp7xHaC4NA&feature=related

Part2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV-OE6xgpxg&feature=related

Mr Bratwurst, wtf are you smoking the IS is based on the Totata Altezza.
If you are going to voice any supposed opinion you think you have. Do a search and learn before you type. FYI, All Lexus are Toyota's re badged to be marketed in the US and Europe. for Gods sake even wikipedia has this info. How much do you not know???

also the RS4 is a B7 chassis the 96 + - to 01 A4 is a B5, VW used the Audi B5 chassis for the 98 to 05 Passat.All benifit to the consumer.
The W8 passat was a vr or narrow angle w8 and the comparo ifn't that bad when you consider that the passat was a people mover sedan not a hot 4 door
Beside this the IS-f will be discontinued by 2012
Please store this it can help you in the future

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

could you please tell from where you know that ISF will be discontinued by 2012. Could you please give us the source/link?

Mrbratworst

A Lexus IS shares platform components with a Toyota Corola, so please allow me to laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV1HIwdkYoI

Please take a look at this video, you will notice at 0:40 how much the IS-F wiggles while the Audi follows completely composed. Also Lexus needs a 5.0 engine to develop 414hp, while Audi needs only a 4.2 to create 420hp. You know what's that called, that's called engineering.
Yes, the skid pad is better and yes it is slghtly faster on the slalom, but marginaly, like the RS is slightly faster on 0-60. Those are small differences, that could be negated at any time, by either a different weather, a different driver or different tyres and those could go both ways.
Above $60K, you can't really go wrong, either of those cars, same with the M3 or the CTS-V. I am sorry "little Brat" that my comment offended you, I just read and quote the article, so you took offense, proving that YOU are the fanboi, and also proving your inferiority complex.

Here is TTAC, the Audi still finishes before the Corola. keep in mind that the B6-7 platform was already quite "old" compared to the other cars in that test.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/comparobmw-m3-vs-audi-rs4-vs-cadillac-cts-v-vs-lexus-is-f-vs-mercedes-c63-amg/

Should I keep going?

Why the hell can't people just leave Lexus alone?

Imagine the entire Lexus lineup branded as "Toyota". Would the cars be any less good? No. So why act as though seeing the Toyota name on a Lexus starter motor is akin to proof of some grand conspiracy against you and your fanboy crew?

Does anyone think the folks at Toyota/Lexus are trying to fool people into thinking that Lexus has nothing to do with Toyota? No.

Contrary to the ignorant, fanboy, immature, and repetitive nonsense displayed by so many autospies posters, the fact that Toyota DNA/parts/whatever makeup Lexus is a GOOD THING.

A lot of people here seem to relish in letting all of us know that Lexus is a part of Toyota. Welcome to 1989 guys. We all know this. You're not proving anything by repeating common knowledge. You're just displaying your douchebag personality.

If you don't like Lexus cars fine. You can say you don't like the way they drive, don't like the way the leather smells, or whatever other reason you pull out of your rectum. Not everyone likes everything.

But, you can't use the excuse that "Lexus are just Toyotas". Why? Because it doesn't friggin' matter.

Huu76
I did not conveniently left out the comment on RWD, I did laugh too on the "mostly BMW" but the post being about the Lexus, I did not see any relevance in posting such a quote.

— 1evlaudi

in case you haven't read the article till the end. The tester loves the ISF. And you can see here the comparision between ISF and AMG by german magazine. I cannot undersatant when we germans prefer the ISF and find it better than our über luxury cars why you non germans insiste do prove the oposite? We allways between us laugh about this fanatisme of non germans about our cars.

Von welchem Test sprichst du überhaupt? Und wo sagt der Tester, dass er den IS-F bevorzugt?

Wimmer

hier ist der Link über den Test zwischen ISF und AMG. Wenn du den Test genau bis zum Ende des zweiten Teils(2of2)ansiehst, kannst du verstehen dass der Testfahrer lieber den ISF hat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzp7xHaC4NA&feature=related

Part2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV-OE6xgpxg&feature=related

Grüsse LE34

LE34
I would take a minute to really try to understand people and their "love" for lexus. I worked for Lexus, and I work for a German brand now. There is no way I can explain in words what people fail to see in the Lexus brand and line-up. It would take pages and bore most of you guys. If we could post pictures directly on this site, then that would be easier. Or I could post a video walkaround comparing a Lexus to say, an Audi.
there is more to a luxury vehicle than a badge and pure performance numbers. There is the built quality, the attention to details, the fit and finish. A trunk liner should not be attached to the trunk with Velcro (Lexus IS). Manufacturing a car is "deep inside", far from what eyes can see. And that is the problem with most of the fanbois on this site, they judge on what they can see only. They don't look inside or underneath, they probably never drove those cars neither. I did, that's what I do for a living. I am no journalist, and I do appreciate the opinion of any professional but I do dot make my opinion based on reviews or marketing campaigns. I go sit my arse in the cars, I drive them, I inspect them from top to bottom, under the hood, under the carpet, how the hinges are built, how the wirings are put together, so on and so forth.
And even if a IS is a decent car, it is lacking overall value. It's a decent car, nothing less, nothing more.

Thank you for stating exactly what i have been saying on this site for over 2 years.

This site is populated by too many Armchair experts who have never been near or inside any of the vehicles they comment on.

I guess it suits the owners of the site as it just increases the silly back and forth you see and that increases hits count for the site.

Wimmer,
here your translation;
''Of which test do you speak at all? And where the tester says that it prefers the IS-F?''

Before buying my last car I asked some mechanics I know for recommendation. They both declined to recommend any car, what to pick was "personal preference". I then asked what to avoid. Both said avoid BMW and Mercedes because quote "the German cars don't have the quality they used to" and "parts for BMW and Mercedes cost 3 times as much". Edmunds.com echoed the parts price difference. I bought a IS 350 ( not the F). I'm very happy with it. The nicest feature is the "speed alarm". You can set it to go off when you reach a particular speed, then you speedometer lights up with an orange ring around it. I'm sure it's saved me more than one ticket. The car very easily drives far faster than I have any business doing on public roads. I'm sure other cards will go faster still, but I don't want to make the news for getting caught street racing and losing my license, which is what happens at a measly 150km per hour in Ontario. Pity, all these lovely cars that will go so much faster, but no place to drive them. I occasionally wish I'd bought the IS-F, or an M3, but the extra $20,000 to $30,000 pays for some other nice toys, or retiring 6 months earlier.


Get a nice car you enjoy and
then go enjoy driving it.
Have fun all.
J.K.

Happydriver
you have a very valid point. However it is amazing that you think that the "nicest feature is the speed warning". Do not take offense in my comment. but this is so typical of "Japanese near luxury" vehicles owners. Some little gizmo will impress you guys, even if there is a complete lack of engineering deep inside. (see previous post). And even if German cars had that feature a long time ago. My 2001 TT had speed warning.
This is the perfect example, and I am in no way attacking you Happydriver. I just used your story as an example.

My 1992 5-series BMW had speed warning!

case in point. ;-)

I was driving near a new M5 the other day, kinda getting bored of it nd the 10 Cyl doesn't have bass...Then happened to come up to an IS-F, now thats kinda different nd unique. IS-F is starting to look hott.

You know what I think is hilarious, are the people who "own" a certain product or "worked" for the maker of said product, which means they can't be biased against said product or brand. It's even funnier considering that most of them on an internet board have neither owned nor worked for the brand.

The IS-F is a great car, especially considering it's coming from Lexus. It's on par with the C63, M3, and RS4. Would I say that it's better? Personally, I think at this point it all depends on one's preference. At this point, all four of these cars are excellent.

its not a POS just not better than the competition. die hard fans love it but i've seen more x6's on the road than is-f's!

Here's my take. M3, C63, RS4, IS-F all fantastic cars. I had the money to get anyone of these, so how did I end up with the IS-F? You may be lucky where you live, but here is Seattle you have to deal with BMW of Bellevue. Their sales and service is legendary here so that ruled out the M3. M3 reliability is not good at the moment. A common theme is a blown rear diff. The car is about the total experience - well for me it is. C63, sorry but 12 MPG in the city, there's no excuse for that. And, no test drive allowed here. RS4, very nice and AWD which is handy here - liked that car a great deal. But you can only get it fully loaded and at $80k and that's just too much coin. What is undeniable is the Lexus service and after care. And more importantly, it's a car you can live with, it's my daily commuter. The only downside to the IS-F is being continually photographed by other drivers with their cell phone and I am not b.s-ing here. Favorite bit, the paddle shift in 0.1 s. It will snap your neck, well the wife's if she is not ready for it :P

And when you see the German Touring Car Driver Tim Schrick compliment it, wow. I'd never thought I would see the day a German would do that. http://lexusenthusiast.com/2008/11/07/d-motor-comparison-lexus-is-f-vs-mercedes-c63/

And BMW haters? I don't get it. I have only got thumbs up from M3 owners, and I politely wave back indicating they have nice ride too.

May be we could have some mutual respect here? Seems to work better for Obama than it did Bush.