Review Car

Lexus is the trump card for the value for money story when you see how much gear comes standard. Cheapest version is the 2.5-liter IS250 Luxury at $ 55,900, placing it well below the luxury tax threshold. 250 F Sport comes at $ 64,900 and the Luxury Sports, which we drove, was $ 77,990. 

Jump to a better performing 3.5-liter IS350 and lift prices by between $ 6100- $ 9,100, which is a hefty premium for the extra grunt. For the true green believers there are two 2.5-liter all-new hybrid version, which is called the 300h, the price of $ 58,900 (Luxury) and $ 67.900 (M Sport). 

Choose from the group: IS250 is surprisingly good and hard to justify the extra dosh for the IS350. OK, its faster but I think the IS250 is more nimble. The real surprise is hybrid. Its nowhere near as strong as the others, but as a player overall prestige is not half bad. 

Aging 2.5-liter V6 in the IS250 is good for 153kW and packs a punch when mixed blessing reasonable good mid-range torque (252Nm). But its time to replace it with a Lexus four-cylinder turbo and one is being developed. 

The IS250 and 350 both ride and handling offer a choice of normal, sport or sport plus. Switching the dial center console and corporate travel stiffens the steering effort and change the engine mapping. This machine is also suitable for the six-speed auto with sequential shift (complete with throttle blipping) through the steering wheel paddles or the gear selector when needed. 

The carryover 233kW 3.5-liter V6 in the IS350 runs two wheels are better suited to an eight-speed auto box, but the extra weight negates some of the advantage though car auto shifter is slick and has a wide set of ratios. 2.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline-electric hybrid system has a combined power output of 164kW, restore 4.9l / 100km is claimed, that we beat. It is mated to a CVT transmission with paddle shift six-step if you want to change gears themselves.