Lexus IS F: Um ... sporty

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The words ‘Lexus’ and ‘sporty’ rarely share the same sentence, except perhaps when describing antitheticals. Lexus is synonymous with luxury cars: big, soft, quiet things. And yet the company has just launched a hard-core (that description seems like hyperbole right now, but read on) version of its IS compact sedan.

Previously, the most muscular IS was the 350, powered by a 3.5-liter straight-6. This one’s nose contains a 5.0-liter V-8 driving the rear wheels via an eight-speed gearbox. Yes, eight -- a world’s first for a sports sedan.

The apex predator of sports sedans is the new BMW M3 (also powered by a V-8), which has 414 horsepower. The IS F has 416. It hits 60 mph from a standstill in 4.6 seconds and has an electronically limited top speed of 170 mph.

Its chassis has been stiffened by 90% up front and 50% at the rear (although it’s still uncannily comfortable). Formula One technology has gone into the engine’s heads, the various traction control and vehicle dynamics systems allow for a lot of driver input, and the car even sounds good.

The IS F will be on sale in the U.S. by spring 2008. No official price yet, but something around $63,000 isn’t too far from feasible.

Lexus is obviously happy about how its new sporty venture measures up to such high-performance machines as the M3 and Audi’s RS4. But the company believes that potential customers could be those who have put away their childish Subaru WRX STI and Mitsubishi Evo cars and are looking for something more mature. Which might make a good marketing strategy if only those companies hadn’t also done an apparent volte-face and recently introduced more mature versions of those cars.

-- Colin Ryan