Road TestCar reviews - Lexus - IS - IS250 Sports Luxury sedanLexus modelsOverviewIn Sports Luxury guise, Lexus' IS250 has the credentials to take on BMW's 3 Series17 Mar 2006 IN top-line Sports Luxury guise, the IS250 is swimming in very dangerous waters amid killer German competition. After all, $80K is a lot of money for a model that kicks off at under $54,000. Yet spend a good deal of time behind the wheel and then tally up the standard features, and you’ll realise that Lexus is a deadly predator itself – not least because the Toyota luxury brand's latest baby exceeds in areas that the IS250’s rivals have been falling alarmingly short in of late. Model release date: 1 November 2005 to 1 June 2013 All car reviewsAlfa Romeo Abarth Alpine Alpina Audi Aston Martin BMW Bentley Chevrolet Chery Citroen Chrysler Dodge Cupra Ferrari DS Ford Fiat FPV Foton GWM Great Wall Holden Haval HSV Honda Hyundai Hummer Isuzu Infiniti Jeep Jaguar Lamborghini Kia LDV Land Rover Lotus Lexus Maserati Mahindra McLaren Mazda Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-AMG Mini MG Nissan Mitsubishi Peugeot Opel Proton Porsche Renault Ram Rover Rolls-Royce Skoda Saab SsangYong Smart Suzuki Subaru Toyota Tesla Volvo Volkswagen Previous modelTHE lesser of the last IS model’s dual offering despite having a bigger engine, the IS300 (launched here in 2001) lacked the IS200’s dynamic nimbleness and strong value-for-money appeal, even though it boasted 157kW of power and 288Nm of torque from a 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder engine. And while it outperformed the 114kW 2.0-litre IS200, the 300 was always going to be hamstrung here by a rather tardy five-speed automatic, high pricing and an unconvincing luxury car ambience. It was still fun to drive though, and miles better in most areas bar cabin space than its larger, front-wheel drive Toyota Camry-derived ES300 cousin. |
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