Lexus IS350 Is a Shot of Energy for Toyota's Luxury Division

Lexus IS350

The IS350's powertrain has a naturally aspirated, hybrid-injection (port and direct) DOHC 3.5-liter V6 with variable valve timing and a six-speed automatic transmission. 

 'With the right switches thrown, the IS350 is a genuinely athletic and potent little Lexus, with some urgency and a little orneriness here and there,' writes Dan Neil.

 
 'It is a pretty fun car: strong, composed and quite stable, with a nicely keen and level edge at mid-speeds and mid-rpm,' writes Dan Neil.

The IS has an overarching newness about it, a sense of something reformed and redeemed


THE SCENE: twilight, in a deep shade of summer, on a winding and empty country road, hyper-green trees, headlamps blazing. The car: the 2014 Lexus IS350 with all-wheel drive, the fully swank F Sport edition ($49,737). The dynamic driving mode: Sport +. The satellite radio station: Bluegrass Junction. Yee haw.

I am holding the six-speed automatic transmission in manually shifted third and fourth gears—sequential-shift paddles behind the steering wheel, you know—so as to keep the 306-hp V6 on the boil. I am trying, without much success, to get the sedan's all-season radials to chirp and squeal, but they are reluctant to give up grip.

Lexus, Toyota's global luxury division, really needs this car to be great. Introduced in 2006 and perennially uninteresting, the IS has been thoroughly overhauled for 2014, gaining 3.4 inches in overall length and 2.7 inches of wheelbase, much of which is devoted to improving the rear legroom. The IS now shares suspension parts with the midsize GS model, with double wishbones in front and, in the rear, a uniquely compact multi-link rear suspension to preserve trunk space. It also shares the GS's 3.5-liter V6.

Meanwhile, IS's steel body has been laser-welded and epoxy bonded to a fare-thee-well. This thing is built like a little tank.

It is, after all, going to war. The IS (IS250 and IS350, with either a 2.5- or 3.5-liter V6, and no hybrid version in the U.S.) competes in the entry luxury sports-sedan segment, up against the BMW 3-series (about 100,000 U.S. sales last year) and Mercedes-Benz C-class (82,000). Also out for blood is Cadillac's ATS, Infiniti's G Sedan and Audi's A4. In this all-in, must-win market, where car companies find their lifetime buyers, Lexus sells one car to BMW's four.

Now, the truth is, as electro-mechanical beings, these cars are fairly close in performance, efficiency, specification and price. Here, the brand experience is everything, and the IS sells the whole Lexus thing really hard. The cabin materials are first-rate: glove-soft leathers, burnished metals and futuristic switchgear,
including electro-capacitive switches for the climate system that look like chromed hair pins. The interior sculpting is dignified, contemporary, by grown-ups, for grown-ups.

“With the right switches thrown, the IS350 is a genuinely athletic and potent little Lexus.”