I love it, except the auto transmission.
I like the styling more than the new 335i
I would have to agree with Jeremy Clarkson on bmw's stylingh:

 

I don't think it could do well since it is really small compared the BMW and the new MB. If the car had more rear seat room it would be more competitive at 50K. Another issue is the car sounds loud, I saw a video of it and it sounds like a muscle car and not a Lexus.

 

this is supposed to compare to the M3... we'll eventually get a GS-F and most likely an LS-F in the future


and say IS-F and tell me it doesnt roll off your tounge.

 

A lot of people complain about Lexus IS not having much rear seat space when compared to BMW 3 series, but what they fail to mention is that BMW 3 series feels less spacious in the front. Me, at 6'-4", I feel really cramped inside the 3 series. Not to say that IS is spacious, but at least I can position myself comfortably enough. Given that both 3 series and the IS are driver's cars, I believe the front space is what counts most. That being said, out of all small sports sedans, IS, 3, TSX, G35, the G35 is the most spacious. I was even comfortable in the rear seat behind my wife driving.

 

I think most of us here understand the difference between torque and hp, I'm just simply stating that it is weird that the 5.0 engine in the pefrormance tuned IS-F has less torque than 4.6 engine in a luxury tuned LS. Of course, they might have decreased the torque to increase HP, but that doesn't seem to be the case, as the HP only went up by 20, from 380 to 400, and with increased displacement and all that tuning, I don't think they had to decrease torque to gain only 20hp.

In comparison, GS400 debuted with 300 lb/ft, and lated receive a .3 liter bump to become GS430 with 325 lb/ft. If anything, the IS-F should have 390 lb/ft, up 30 from LS460.

 

HP = (torque X RPM) / 5252

and therefore

torque = (HP X 5252) / RPM

amazingly enough, this works! apparently torque does a lot more than give you quick take offs....

 

sherwood is right about both HP being retarded (a good example is when they changed the way HP was rated back in 04. NOTHING changed. it just looked like it did) AND about the "F" badging.

car companies rate torque and horsepower at different places on your RPM band. this is why people walk around saying "well my car has 139 ftlbs of torque AND 197 horsepower!" Fine. it does. but when your engine is producing 139 ftlbs of torque, it's only producing 161 horsepower. and when it's producing 197 horsepower it is only making 132.6 ftlbs of torque.

horsepower numbers are retarded. the fact that no car company seems to measure horsepower at the wheels makes horsepower ratings even MORE retarded.


and I think the F badging is nice. "Type-R," "Type-S" and "S" are way overused. who hasn't seen a toyota running around with a red "S" plastered on the back end? and the "Type-R" badging is practically a joke, I don't think I've ever seen a Type-R honda of any sort in real-life, EVER, yet there seem to be a lot of type-r badged cars running around.

F is something new. different. I'm not a huge Lexus fan, but IS-F is ear catching.

 

Has all the car companies used the new horsepower ratings yet? I know GM, Honda already changed to the real ratings.

 

i dont really care about manufacture specs. they're never accurate.
dyno>*
plus we all mod our cars. so stock specs don't really matter

 

but shouldn't you car if you spend $50K plus for a stock car?
The 0-60 improvement of the IS-F is too small over the IS350 to justify the high cost.