2014 LEXUS IS 250 AND IS 350:$40,000 only, drive home this Sleek Wonder on Wheels…Lexus knows its Audience
*A Redesign That Hits or Misses
BY MORRIS MITCHEL/MOTORING EDITOR, CHICAGO
LEXUS 2014 IS350 model is surely a state-of-the-art vehicle everyone who cherishes good car should possess. Just walk in and pay American auto dealers of your choice the sum of $40,000; you will be amazed that this vehicle would be delivered to you right in your house. For the indifferent luxury-car buyer, the company offers the polished aloofness of the ES, its best-selling car. For enthusiasts, it builds the IS, a rear-wheel-drive (or all-wheel-drive) sedan intended to chip away at BMW by introducing the Lexus brand to younger, performance-minded shoppers.
At least that was the intention. Lexus made a strong start on this plan in 2001 with the original IS 300, a rebadged version of the Japanese-market Toyota Altezza that featured a smooth in-line 6-cylinder, rear drive and a sporty interior with a chrome gearshift ball and chronograph-style gauges. But when the IS was redesigned for 2006, the new car came across as softer and less aggressive, despite offering heady power in the IS 350 version.
A friend who worked for Lexus at the time — and who occasionally offered tantalizing news of prototypes that never made it to production, like a Toyota RAV4 fitted with an IS 350 motor and a manual transmission — provided some insight.
This person, who has since left the company, said that the second-generation model didn’t play in the market quite the way Lexus planned. Instead of acting as a gateway to more expensive Lexus models, the IS was perceived as just a nicer Toyota, an end unto itself that did little to change the brand’s Buick-like customer demographics. In other words, the aspiring Lexus sport sedan wasn’t sporty enough.
Lexus aims to rectify that with the 2014 IS 250 and IS 350, moving back in the direction of the IS 300 and further from the sedately
agreeable ES 350. To that end, the new car offers an F-Sport option for all models, with 18-inch wheels, stiffer suspension and a revamped interior that includes slick instruments, styled after the LFA supercar, with a motorized gauge bezel sliding above a video screen display.
The rear suspension is a completely new multilink design that Lexus says increases rear grip. The front hip point (effectively, the distance between your hip and the road) was lowered 20 millimeters, which doesn’t sound like much but helps deliver the feeling that you’re settling down into a sports car rather than heaving yourself over the gunwale of the ol’ family hauler.
The redesigned exterior, drawn taut behind the scowl of the new grille, definitely means business. Styling is subjective, but I’d say this is the best-looking car in its class.
And after chucking it around the road course at Rockingham Raceway in North Carolina, I’d venture that the revised suspension is benchmarked to the front-runners, too. Even on the marbled, damp surface of the Rockingham road course, a rear-wheel-drive IS 350 F-Sport felt happy
sliding through the corners and howling down the Nascar straight.
You know that within Lexus, this particular car was someone’s vision of the ideal IS.
But there were rival factions, evidently, because the IS exhibits completely different personalities depending on the model.
(Adding an extra dash of complication, the convertible IS-C and high-performance IS-F return for 2014 but were not redesigned.)
Profile IS 250
While the new IS was so thoroughly overhauled that they even improved the rigidity of the No. 1 bushing of the lower front suspension arm. (it’s doubled, so you know), a rather important element remains unchanged: the engines. Both V-6s are carry-overs, introduced eight years ago at the last redesign.
That’s not too much of an issue for the rear-drive IS 350, which gains a new 8-speed automatic transmission to augment its healthy
306 horsepower, 3.5-liter V-6 (E.P.A.-rated at 19 m.p.g. in town and 28 highway; 19/26 in the all-wheel-drive version). The IS 250 and all-wheel-drive versions of the 250 and 350 continue to use a 6-speed automatic.
But the IS 250 was underpowered in the first place. For 2014, it makes 204 horsepower, which is 11 fewer than the original 2001 IS 300
(whose power was rated using slightly different test standards). In terms of overall power-to-weight ratio, the IS 250 is outgunned by exotic machinery like the Kia Sedona minivan. E.P.A. fuel economy is 21/30 for the rear-drive IS 250, 20/27 for the all-wheel version.
I’m sure there’s a sheaf of market research that says the IS 250 is aligned with the base-model Cadillac ATS (4 cylinders, 202 horsepower) and BMW 320i (4 cylinders and 180 turbocharged BMW horsepower). But those cars are the shameless price leaders of their lineups.
