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| 2006 Lexus Is350 Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Road Test | |||
Wait, that changed too: the car formerly known as IS300 has split off into the IS250 and IS350, signaling the replacement of Lexus's long-running inline six with 2.5 and 3.5-liter editions of Toyota's freshest V6. The new guys may not have their cylinders lined up in a neat little row, but they do have a few tricks the old timer didn't: direct fuel injection at the front end, variable valve timing at both ends, weight-saving aluminum blocks and heads, Earth-saving ULEV emissions, and racier 6,600 RPM redlines. This is what one calls a "fair trade."Power has traded up - way up. Even the little one makes 204 horsepower, and armed with both direct and conventional fuel injection (the latter for low speed efficiency), the bigger block barks out 306, crushing every six-cylinder short of an M3's. 60 MPH, 100 MPH, and the quarter-mile are yours before anyone else's, and victory takes but a prod of the foot as the deft-shifting six-speed auto takes care of the rest. And Lexus has the chassis savvy to build evenly. The first IS already shocked everyone with its nimbleness in handling and extremism in footwear: 215/45R17 tires on 7-inch-wide wheels. Those sound like bowling shoes next to the new IS, which grew the feet an inch fatter and the tires 10mm/30mm wider (with 18-inchers still optional!). The IS can dance on its Dunlops to near 0.90g in grip, and in the 350 Lexus set its stability control system to max lax, letting the driver have some tail-out good times before pulling the plug. On the freedom scale, that's like going from permit to license. But if the IS350 wants to be the sports sedan it hints at, something's missing. It's not the lack of a manual transmission, or how the manual mode on the automatic doesn't even work as advertised. It's not that the stability and traction control systems can only be fully shut off with a secret start-up ritual (1. start car with parking brake on, 2. stomp brakes twice and hold, 3. reengage parking brake and hold, 4. repeat 2 and 3 until successful), and heck, it's not even the way hard braking cues the IS350's Pre-Collision System to strangle you to death with your own seatbelt. It's more that its creators seem a bit naïve in their definition of athlete. The electronic throttle snapping open in low-speed traffic - is that sporty? The slight lurch that accompanies half of all upshifts - is this sporty? The steering that responds oddly fast just off center or the brakes that occasionally have a Toyota Prius spasm and grab you to a halt - how about these? Also, Lexus picked up a bad Benz habit: mounting fatter rear tires on a car that wears its weight mostly up front. And the steering, oh, how we shall miss thee. The IS300 was perhaps the one Toyota-built car in the cosmos to give fun and feedback to the fingertips, but the new car's switch to electric assist has cemented "Lexus steering feel" into a universal oxymoron. Mostly, the sport factor on this IS350 seems to begin and end with the engine, and even that piece conceals its personality until half throttle. Fortunately, the IS has other talents. Certain roads jostle the suspension enough to provoke repeat references of a "skateboard-like ride", but it could still pass for good. This is also a remarkably hushed car. Except for a steady stream of tire hum on worn-down roads, the naked ear says the IS could be best of all at filtering noise (credit goes to sound deadening in the roof and floorpan, acoustic windshield glass, and magic sound-absorbing sun visors). It's not every day that a big V6 cracks 26 MPG on the freeway, either, and the new car brings adaptive cruise control to make short work of long cruises. City life should also be easier with its modest turning radius and crystal clear backup camera (on cars with navigation), and the new tire-pressure monitor keeps an eye on what's happening below. The numb steering is still responsive and precise, the transmission usually picks the best of its six gears, and the brakes feel linear when you take it easy. Its small, well-suspended, rear-drive nature provide the basics of pleasure, and finally, this little Lexus brakes in a shorter distance than any rival. That would make it the champion of going, turning, and stopping, wouldn't it? For sure, the IS350 is the master of many games. It would be nice if the driver could play, too. |
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