Lexus IS250 F Sport CAR review

By Ollie Kew

First

28 January 2014 16:00

So, was the right? We’ve tested the IS250 in top-spec F Sport on UK roads – time to find out if smugness is short-lived.

Is the Lexus the car to break the German monopoly on my fleet?

We won’t hold you in any longer – the IS250 will be a choice, because of its resolutely drivetrain. This £30,495 is a rival to the BMW 320i M Sport, and C-class C250 AMG Sport. right – petrol-powered compact whose sales are dwarfed by turbodiesels. There is no diesel of the new IS – it’s either straight or part-electric hybrid.

That’s not Unlike its German rivals, the doesn’t run a small four-cylinder In situ behind the love-it/loathe-it grille’ is a 2.5-litre, 24-valve, V6. Any turbochargers? No sir. It’s aspirated, and develops a somewhat 202bhp and 186lb ft.

Amassing 1645kg (an equivalent is 1495kg), the IS250 carries a weight penalty too – though it come in lighter than the IS300h hybrid.

Click to read CAR’s first review of the Lexus IS300h

And that adds up into economy figures, I suppose?

so. Claimed fuel consumption is 32.8mpg, while CO2 emissions are 50% than the IS250’s closest at 199g/km. And that’s for the most IS250. Upgrade to F Sport and bigger wheels wearing tyres mean 30.7mpg and £280 of annual road anyone?

Small wonder the hybrid IS300h, touting and 99g/km (£0 road tax, which the UK buyer will his or her arm forced toward.

Pity. Am I missing much?

yes. Before you set off in the IS, take a to soak up the wilful individuality of it In the LFA supercar-aping Ultra Blue hue of our car, wearing gunmetal alloys and F Sport bodykit, the IS any compact exec around German or otherwise, look as exciting as a cress sandwich.

too, the cabin is flawlessly and crammed with thoughtful like touch-sensitive temperature and a configurable instrument display. be, you sit lower than in the last IS, the steering wheel near-vertical and to your chest.

Only a of Toyota switchgear pieces and rear headroom detract an experience ten times more than anything Audi or BMW offer for thirty grand in class. The new Mercedes C-class have something to say about though…

Click here to find out why the new C-class is one of our Most Wanted of 2014

And what about the

Sorry, there’s yet more and delight. Get over the fact piloting a machine whose would have been out of with UK buyers a full ago and there’s much to like the IS250. Chief among is the slightly synthetic but undeniably V6 warble. Your ears treated to the really good until the digital tachometer is of 4000rpm, but peak torque arrive until 4800rpm so you might just indulge senses more often you’d think, and hang the

Our test car averaged 25.1mpg, and you leave the manual-shift paddles nudging the claimed 30mpg be manageable. Sure, that’s in the context of the four-pot turbodiesel sure, but worth it for a rare of drivetrain panache.

Is the gearbox still an OAP-spec

Thankfully not. Instead, the uses a six-speed torque auto (there is no manual In auto mode, it’s not as as the ZF eight-speeder used by BMW, or seven-speed S-tronic dual-clutcher. The absence of finesse shows you call on it for prompt acceleration, a slow kickdown teamed a lethargic response from the V6. The may have you at the traffic light prix.

Knock the selector the manual and use the paddles, we say. In mode, the transmission is a great for the sonorous engine, the revs on every snatched downshift. The of hefty kerbweight and middling means the IS250 isn’t but thanks to its soundtrack and trick dials, it pretends it’s a damn sight faster it actually is. Whether you think more fun than the other way is entirely your preference…

Does the weight problem the IS250’s dynamics?

No – Lexus has clever here. The electric is sharp just off-centre. that response with the body and its F Sport suspension, and granted proper agility.

the brakes have masses of right at the top of the pedal travel, speed with accuracy and without being too grabby. means of disguising a car’s we grant you, but they here – this IS250 is entertaining. You get bags of grip, body control, and every now and a cheeky sidestep from the to remind you Lexus benchmarked the 3-series when setting up its own challenger.

Verdict

Refreshingly handsome, inside, and at least as engaging as any from Munich: we really driving the IS250. But should you buy

For UK readers, we have to solemnly you back to the full version of the this review began ‘We suspect that the lighter with the conventional auto be a much more enjoyable car to It’s just a shame it be rendered virtually untouchable by its output’. Touché.

Interesting

• Lexus IS250 Parts and Automotive: Amazon.com
• Lexus — H11 4300k XenonDepot HID Kit
• Lexus IS250C — New Zealand
• Lexus IS250C and convertibles
• Lexus IS250C Road Test Review