IS-F hots up Lexus brand

Not content with a rip snorting sports sedan, Lexus has become really serious with the development of the 413kW/480Nm LFA supercar that goes into production in about a year's time at the rate of 20 a month for two years. With just five cars ear- marked for Australia, it will be the most exclusive Lexus - and one of the most exclusive cars of any brand - ever to make it to our shores.

Ever since the arrival more than two decades ago of the first Lexus - the LS 400 - there has been no doubting the Toyota group's dedication to the task of establishing a brand and building cars that could hold their heads up high in the presence of the great Germans - Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. While build quality, luxury, standard kit and after sales service have from the start been second to none, what the Lexus brand did lack was motoring excitement.

Sure, owners and their passengers could wallow in and enjoy cars with great motoring refinement and exemplary quality but they did not have too much of the "wow" factor when it came to performance. Enter the IS 250 based IS-F sports sedan - a car designed to take on the likes of the $148,900 seven speed automatic Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG and the six-speed manual BMW M3 sedan with its $145,000 price tag. Specify the great dual clutch transmission and the M3's price jumps to $152,300.

These days, while the IS-F also has, in the eyes of some well heeled punters had to contend with the stupendous V10 powered Audi RS6 and the Jaguar XFR with its supercharged V8, they are both significantly dearer than the Lexus. The IS-F, with its eight speed sports shifting automatic transmission, is a fully equipped luxury sports sedan car whose only option is to delete the glass sunroof. It is now a tad more than the original $129,000 launch price, but at $132,900 it is something of a bargain - especially when you compare it with its direct German rivals.

More about the car later.

The history of the Lexus brand dates back to August 1983, the then Toyota chairman Eiji Toyoda convened a highly secret, top level meeting at the company's head office and there was just one item on the agenda. The people around the table had to decide whether the giant Japanese carmaker create a luxury vehicle to take on the likes of Germany's Mercedes-Benz and BMW? Before the meeting was over, a decision in the affirmative was made. Nearly two years later a study team conducted focus groups in the United States and a design team moved to California to develop concepts.

In a remarkably short time frame, just two months later the first LS 400 running prototype was built. In May 1986 test drivers began a performance testing program in the German brands' own backyard - the Autobahns - and four months later an extensive road test program kicked off in America. Twelve months later the LS 400's final design was signed off and the big luxury saloon and its smaller ES 250 sibling made their debut at the Detroit and Los Angeles motor shows. Just over two years after that the two cars arrived in US dealer showrooms and they were launched in Australia and the UK the following year.

In a result that surprised many industry watchers - not to mention the Germans - in January 1990 the LS 400 was named in the top 10 best cars in the world by America's Car and Driver magazine. Six months later Lexus appeared for the first time in the authoritative J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study that is based on a survey of thousands of owners on the quality of their new vehicles during the initial 90 days of ownership. In a remarkable achievement, Lexus was ranked as the number one car line in its maiden survey.

Australian performance sedan fanciers first saw the original IS-F at the 2007 Sydney motor show but because of some interior upgrades, the car did not arrive in local dealer showrooms till the following year. Typically, the development of a new Lexus model requires between 1,500 and 2,000 people but for the IS-F, chief engineer Yukihiko Yaguchi, he only had between 100 and 300. To overcome the people shortage, he called on favours and contacts within Lexus and Toyota and as well as Yamaha, who did the engine work, Brembo, Bridgestone, BBS and Toyota Technicraft all added their muscle to the project.

Lexus describes the IS-F's development program as the most intense it has ever undertaken for a new production model and the confirmation testing program was conducted at Germany's Nurburgring, the Paul Ricard track in France, Belgium's Circuit Zolder and the challenging Laguna Seca in California. And Australia did not miss out on the shake down program with other tests conducted at Victoria's Winton and Phillip Island circuits.

At the time of the Australian launch, Lexus Australia boss John Roca said the IS-F brought a strongly competitive force to the performance sedan market and he described the car as a "new breed of Lexus." He's not wrong. The new hot Lexus is powered by a five-litre, double overhead camshaft, 32-valve V8 that boasts peak power of 311kW at 6600rpm and a handy 505Nm of torque that arrives at 5200rpm. The engine is actually a re-engineered version of the one that's under the bonnet the Lexus brand's LS 600 flagship saloon and while the block is the same, Lexus commissioned engine specialists at Yamaha to work their magic on the V8.

They tweaked the engine by endowing it with revised cylinder heads, wider valve angles, titanium inlet valves and dual variable valve timing.

The engine is red lined at 6800rpm and transmission to the rear wheels is via an eight speed automatic. In "sport" mode, the transmission's revised electronic control unit programs torque converter lock-up from second to eighth and it can deliver gear shifts in less than 0.1 second with the driver using either the paddle shifters or the console mounted shifter. With the console shifter, the changes go the wrong, less intuitive way. I like to go forward for downshifts and back for up-shifts - not the reverse.

One nice feature of the automatic is the way it blips the throttle on downshifts. The computer will however intrude to override the driver's intentions if it thinks the revs are a bit high and at times this is quite annoying. Another transmission issue that may annoy some IS-F buyers is that the eight speeder's ratios are the same as those used in the very different LS 600 saloon and while this is fine for cruising up the Hume, lower ratios and even a couple less "cogs" could add to the car's driving excitement credentials.

While the IS-F's main rivals, the C 63 AMG and the M3, all rely on V8s for their dazzling performance, their respective figures are quite different. What they do have in common is that all three sound wonderful. The 6.2-litre C 63's 336kW of peak power arrives at 6800rpm and it delivers a hefty 600Nm of maximum torque at 5000rpm. The red line sits at 7250rpm. In the case of the M3, its four-litre V8 is good for 309kW at a dizzy 8300rpm and 400Nm of torque that arrives at 3900rpm. Lexus claims a combined fuel consumption figure of 11.4-litres/100km and a sprint time to 100km/h of 4.8 seconds for the IS-F. Top speed is governed to 270km/h but do it anywhere but on a race track in Australia and you won't be driving your toy for quite a while. It could even be crushed under so called "hoon" legislation.

In late September this year, Lexus announced an upgrade for the IS F and it included new performance, convenience and design goodies. Most noteworthy is a new, compact Torsen limited slip differential that supersedes the previous brake LSD function.

Lexus claims the new Torsen equipped IS F has lapped the Fuji International Speedway two seconds faster than its predecessor. Without limiting engine output, the Torsen LSD re-distributes the torque that is lost when a wheel loses traction during cornering.

Also in the upgrade is a new differential oil that suppresses the "stick-slip" phenomenon present in a LSD and the addition of the latest 2009 model navigation, with improved route guidance, functionality and map view. The 14-speaker Mark Levinson audio system comes with a new USB iPOD input with new software to allow selection of tracks via the vehicle's touch screen navigation unit. The improved software includes support for fifth generation iPod (firmware version 1.2 and protocol version 1.0.1 or later), iPod Nano (1st, 2nd and 3rd generation), iPod Touch and iPod Classic.

There are also foldable rear head restraints, an F logo on the ultra thin card key and a new steering wheel and centre cluster design. Also on the upgrade menu is a new look leather wrapped steering wheel, more user friendly audio switches, a new facia around the navigation system and air conditioning unit and redesigned moon roof controls. One of the IS-F's key electronic goodies is its switchable "vehicle dynamic integrated management" or VDIM system that manages the VSC stability/traction control and ABS brakes with the engine management and electric power steering systems.

The VDIM system offers sport, normal and snow modes and drivers who want to make things more interesting and razor edgy can switch it off when the car is stationary by holding down the button for three seconds. Other standard kit includes radar operated active cruise control, a pre-crash system and eight airbags including front knee bags and full length side curtains. While the Lexus IS 250 on which the IS-F is based is a five-seater, the hot new model is a four seater and both the leather upholstered front and rear seats are superbly crafted and supportive. Also, it comes as no surprise that the interior fit and finish are impeccable.

Styling wise, the IS-F differs from the IS 250 because of its new look front bumper that sports a mesh grille and F-shaped lower air inlets, a revised and more bulging aluminium bonnet, a subtle rear spoiler, side skirts and different exterior mirrors. From the rear there is a totally different bumper treatment that sports a pair of oval shaped, vertically stacked chrome exhaust outlets on either side. Actually the outlets are just for show. The car's dramatic stopping power is delivered by a Brembo brake system that uses six-piston monobloc aluminium calipers that grab 360mm x 30mm ventilated rotors at the front and two piston units working with 345mm x 28mm discs at the rear.

Speaking of the brakes, one serious disappointment is that the IS-F has one of those horrible foot operated parking brakes.

The seats are beautifully shaped and supportive and that combined with full steering wheel adjustment means the perfect driving position can quickly be locked in. The great looking 19-inch alloy wheels are shod with 225/40 Bridgestone Potenza REO50A tyres at the front and beefier 255/35s at the rear.

While the IS-F's suspension is pretty well sorted, there are times on rougher road surfaces that the car's rear end becomes some- what unsettled, but the well weighted precise steering and its excellent front to rear weight distribution helps keep things nice and manageable. Some full on laps with plenty of high speed cornering at the Phillip Island track confirmed that the car sits remarkably flat. If anything, the car tends to understeer slightly.

In summary, the IS-F is quite an achievement for Lexus and there's no doubting that the development team has come up with a car that's right up there with its Mercedes-Benz and BMW rivals. Not only that, the arrival of the hot sedan adds a new dimension to the prestige Japanese brand's credentials and, for the first time, a car with the Lexus badge can really set a driver's pulse racing.

Ian Crawford