The affluent boulevards and hill country of car-crazy Southern California seemed like a perfect testing ground for the debut of Lexus' third all-new car for 2006, the stunningly fast and fleet-footed IS 350. And despite getting stuck in some spectacular lunch-hour traffic amid the most expensive vehicles I'd ever seen in real life use, once we got off the more well-traveled path, it was a great place to see and feel the new IS in action.
This year's IS has been pushed more squarely in the luxury sport sedan direction than previous models, with a couple of different variations on the theme: There's the super-powerful 306 horsepower V6 IS 350, capable of 0-60 times of 5.3 seconds, as well as the IS 250, powered by a 204 horsepower V6 and available with either a six-speed manual transmission, or as might be more suitable for High Country motorists, all-wheel drive.
Full review here