We drove the absolutely brand-spanking-new 2014 Lexus IS 350 F-Sport at the launch event in Dubai just two weeks ago. It was a great car, but we couldn’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed by it. Now we got the non-Sport version of the car for a few days, and we were keen to see if it’d be just as underwhelming. Ironically, we had more fun with it!
The previous-generation Lexus IS 300 was a compromised but attractive sedan, easily the carmaker’s sportiest offering for the better part of a decade, if we were to overlook the overpriced (and overrated?) LFA. It was going to be a tough act to follow in terms of styling, although it was a given that the replacement also needed to address the issue of interior space. After the rather good GS sedan, every model in the Lexus range got a “spindle” grille and now looks like clones of each other, so their designers had to do something drastic to make the new IS be more than just a GS-lite.
Carmakers share so many standardised parts due to having common parts suppliers nowadays that if one of these bits turn out to be faulty, several unrelated car brands are affected. Such is the case with the latest mass recall of 3.4 million vehicles produced by four unrelated Japanese carmakers between 2000 and 2004 for faulty airbags produced by parts-supplier Takata Corp. Information is also emerging that General Motors and BMW may also be affected.
Lexus is planning to launch a new entry-level crossover by the end of the year, according to Lexus International executive vice president Kazuo Ohara.
After soldiering on largely unchanged for the better part of a decade, the Lexus IS has finally being completely redesigned. And what a shocker it is from the conservative brand.
The 500th Lexus LFA was built this Friday, and it was the last one, as production has ended for the overpriced supercar in Japan.
This here is the latest Lexus LS 460L, that last “L” meaning it’s a long-wheelbase version. The carmaker claims it is an “all-new” model, and we sort of agreed with that when we drove it at the launch event for an hour or so. However, after bringing it home, we feel it still drives very similarly to the old one.
The 2014 Lexus IS is almost ready, and the prototype has already been driven by few journalists in the US. According to initial impressions, Lexus is looking to improve the ‘fun-factor’ in the IS and with this next model hope to finally take on the ultimate leader in the compact car segment when it comes to combining luxury and sportiness, the BMW 3-series.
Toyota recently set up a tuner arm in Europe. The purpose of Toyota Motorsports GmbH, or TMG as they’ve been dubbed, is a bit vague at the moment. But they’ve launched they’re first project, and it’s based on the Lexus LS 460.
Truth be told, we weren’t fans of the Lexus GS 350 we drove earlier this year. It’s a solid luxury car and all, but it lacked a certain yaarrrrgghhh in its character, which made it look as dull as the BMWs and Mercs it’s trying to compete with. But then we got this one, a Lexus GS 450h, the hybrid version of that same car. Only this time, it has the F-Sport kit.