As long as you don’t want a four-pot or a V8, you can still buy a brand-new (and refreshed) Lexus IS sedan.
Apart from a few select automakers, your options for buying a luxury sports sedan in 2026 continue are still fairly slim. Acura dropped the TLX, Volvo is out of the sedan and wagon game, Cadillac is just hanging onto the CT5, and Lexus is getting rid of the LS sedan that kicked off Toyota’s luxury marque in the first place. Surprisingly, Lexus is not killing off the IS just yet, and there’s even a freshened up version for the new year. If you want one, though, it’ll cost you — and pretty dearly, at that.
Why? Well, apart from the IS seeing another refresh, Lexus has pared the range down to a single model: the V6-powered IS350. The four-pot IS300 is out the window, and that plus the changes result in a $6,260 hike to the baseline price tag. Now, the rear-wheel drive IS350 F Sport Design will set you back $48,090.
From there, adding all-wheel drive to the mix will cost you another $2,000. The only other option is the F Sport, which is a higher trim despite having a shorter name. So, the F Sport Design isn’t a full F Sport, but the F Sport is an F Sport, and there’s no IS F because that hasn’t been a thing for many years now…got it? If you want the F Sport with some more goodies on it, pricing starts at $50,540 for the rear-wheel drive version (and again, you’ll pay $2K if you want all-wheel drive).
One model, one engine
Speaking of a full-fat F model, or the IS500 F Sport Performance as we formerly knew it, you’ll no longer get a 5.0-liter V8 option with the 2026 model year. Instead, all 2026 Lexus IS350 models carry forward the 311-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 engine. If you get a rear-wheel drive IS350, that engine sends power through the ground through an 8-speed automatic transmission. Opt for all-wheel drive, and you get a 7-speed automatic instead.
The 2026 Lexus IS range, if you can call it that, does get some quality-of-life tweaks in addition to the styling updates. Lexus’ engineers have tweaked the car’s suspension and given it electric power steering. On the inside, you get a larger 12.3-inch infotainment screen instead of an outdated 8-inch unit, with the switchgear arrangement on the center stack also getting a glow-up. Two USB-C ports front and rear modernize the connectivity a bit, while you also get a wireless charging pad and can spec a 17-speaker Mark Levinson sound system.
Lexus’ updated 2026 IS350 should be hitting dealers as we roll into 2026. Happy New Year, everyone!
