Recently, Lexus had a bunch of journalists down to the NASCAR-famed Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina to test drive the remodeled 2014 Lexus IS. I was there to burn rubber (actually happened), trade paint (an embellishment, perhaps) and get a little sideways in the rain (happened often).
| STATS | Starting Retail Price | As Tested Price | HP / Lb-Ft |
| 2014 Lexus IS 350 F Sport | $39,465 | $46,750 | 306/277 @4,800RPM |
| EPA Rating MPG | As Tested MPG | 0-60 MPH | |
| Rating: Buy It! | 19/28 Combined 22 | Combined 20.1 | 5.6 seconds |
Now in its third model generation, the 2014 Lexus IS lineup is a far cry from the first IS which debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show some 13 years ago. Gone is the mundane sounding engine, the minute back seat and the Fast And Furious tuner looks synonymous with aftermarket accessories during the late 1990s. The IS lineup has evolved from a smallish four door compact, to an almost mid-size feeling luxo-mobile. With its sight set on disrupting the sport sedan neighborhood populated by BMW’s 3-Series, the Mercedes C-Class and Audi A4, the latest offering from Lexus hits many of its targets, but can’t quite claim victory.
The fastest, most muscular, and sexiest of the redesigned lineup is the F Sport. As a TFLCar reader, you crave this kind of coverage—so that’s what model this review is all about.
Styling/Design
The Lexus branded spindle grill finds it way to the IS lineup, and the F Sport model is no exception. When the grill was first introduced in 2011 on the GS model, I lived in Haterville. Now, after spending a full day with the F Sport model, I’ve relocated to Lovitville. I’m glad Lexus was able to find a way to hide front bumpers. Supercars don’t really make them obtrusive, so why should your high performance daily driver? Well done, Lexus.
Beneath the wavy, black grill is an updated, violent-looking front fascia. Its visual presence generates ideas of some serious wind tunnel engineering time to get things right.
Ticking the F Sport box ($3,620) on the IS 350 factory options sheet gives you four staggered corners of aluminum alloy wheels (18” x 8” front/18” x 8.5” rear) wrapped in Bridgestone Turanza rubber. Also, you get that Lexus spindle grill in a full-mesh iteration, LED headlamps, sport seats, sport-tuned suspension and something ripped right out of the $400,000 Lexus LFA hyper car: a center-mounted tachometer with motorized bezel. The 8-year old in me couldn’t stop from tapping the button on the steering wheel to make the bezel slide from right to left. It’s a gimmick, sure—but one done right.
My F Sport pre-production vehicle was also equipped with the Luxury Package ($3,665), which includes Premium Package ($1,050) features—LED headlamps (if you don’t already have them through the F Sport Package) and heated/ventilated front seats—plus perforated leather interior, linear wood trim, dimming rearview mirrors, blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alert and a few other bells and whistles. Basically, if you’re going to get this car, opt for this package to be the envy of your techie friends.
The rear seat provides 32.2/36.9-inches of legroom/headroom, which is about 3-inches less legroom than the competing 3-Series BMW. If you’re a 5’-8” passenger like me, you’ll be plenty comfortable. Six footers might want to sit up front, where they’ll enjoy 44.8/38.2-inches of legroom/headroom.
Sculptured fluidity, athletic curvature, aggressive posturing and a bunch of other auto design buzzwords could be used to describe the rest of the car. I’ll just let the pictures above speak for themselves.
Powertrain
The 6-cylinder 3.5-liter engine sounded and ran quite smooth, with just enough rasp to let me enjoy its ability to run the 60-MPH dash in 5.6-seconds. Mated to an 8-speed automatic, the paddle shifters were fun to use, but I see little need for them in everyday road driving, just like in most other cars.
Since I was flooring the IS 350 F Sport every chance I got on the track. As a result, I encountered horrible gas mileage, somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 MPG. On the road however, when driving at sane speeds, I observed a much more respectable 27 MPG on the highway.
Handling/Ride
Flying through the infield road course of the Rockingham Speedway at 101-MPH, I started thinking about the racing legends who graced the track with their skill and tenacity for the 40 years the tarmac was used on the NASCAR circuit. Just then, I realized I was entering Turn 4 a little too hot.
BRAKE!
Luckily, I didn’t end up off the track. The Lexus’ ABS ventilated disc brakes (13.5” in front/12.20” rear) put that embarrassment scenario to bed, quickly allowing me to ease back on the throttle and get the back end of the rear wheel drive car to stick out a bit in the wet. Is this really a Lexus?!
There was an acceptable amount of body roll through tight turns, which I doubt most drivers would encounter at 70-MPH in their everyday commute.
Competition & Recommendation
So who is this car for? I think it’s for someone who wants an athletic four door that doesn’t have the repair bill or reliability concerns of its German competition. It’s for someone who appreciates the value of a dollar, as the 2014 model costs 2.1% less than the outgoing model, yet you get more features standard. The 2014 IS 350 F Sport will find its way into the garages of those who crave a sporty ride that won’t break their back, and appreciate the latest in automotive tech wrapped in luxury.
The F-Sport finds itself in a highly competitive space. Each premium car manufacturer has a skunk works that adds an extra level of performance to one of their “regular” line models. As a result, competition from BMW offers M cars, Mercedes delivers AMGs and Audi has their S cars. For Lexus, the F-Sport badge is their stamp of performance approval. Unfortunately, all of the competitors offer much larger engines with gobs more power and torque. Just take the Mercedes C63 AMG for example, which dishes out 451-hp/443 lb-ft of torque. If the Lexus IS 350 is a knife, its competition is a bazooka. Of course when it comes to price, the Benz and the Lexus are almost $20k apart. Advantage: F Sport.
On the TFLcar scale of:
▪ Buy it!
▪ Lease it!
▪ Rent it!
▪ … or Forget it!
I give the 2014 Lexus IS 350 F Sport a Buy It!
Check out this video of Roman and Nathan reviewing the Lexus LS 460. Roman wishes he got to review the IS F 350. Eat your heart out, Roman!
