In the style of BMW's M3, the new Lexus IS-F is the brand's toe in the water of the factory-tuner segment -- though it's less like a toe than a fiery cloven hoof. This car started life as a Lexus IS350, a roundly capable and syrupy smooth sport sedan of no great note or interest. Boring, actually. Then it got rabies.
Now the car is very interesting: a rudely bulging front end, a 416-hp mountain motor bolted to a (count-'em) eight-speed transmission, gargantuan Brembo brakes and a suspension stiffer than Dita Von Teese's corset stays.
Pointless? Deeply so. Was there ever an answer to a question so unasked as a hyper-performance Lexus? Still, here we are, and we shouldn't be surprised. The hole in Lexus' bucket has always been high-performance variants to rival the Mercedes-Benz AMG cars, BMW's M-series and Audi's S and RS cars. These cars matter little to a luxury brand's bottom line but mean everything when it comes to landing magazine covers. And, God knows, Lexus -- the haute couture outlet of Toyota -- has the money.
Lexus aspires to sell between 3,000 and 4,000 IS-Fs in the U.S. in the first year, which would make it a very rare car, the automotive equivalent of Zoroastrianism.
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