Review: 2022 Lexus IS500 F Sport Performance

[Hagerty]

This is a tale of frustration. It is also a tale of how a small complaint can kill the core of an otherwise nice experience, but then you shrug and carry on anyway. I digress; we are skipping ahead. We are discussing a throwback. A sport sedan.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/new-car-reviews/review-2022-lexus-is500-f-sport-performance/

[tarpatel]

I wonder if Lexus has ever put this engine in front of a manual gearbox. If only for internal testing purposes...feels like they have never gotten the 8-speed auto gearbox right in these 5.0L cars.

[Germanicus]

There are 2 major reasons you'd buy this car over the competition besides the V8: you won't have to worry about big repair bills down the line, and if IS F values are anything to go by, it'll be worth a shocking amount of money a decade from now.

[danhise]

I composed a spiffy comment, but it would not post. If this one posts, I will not be happy.

[danhise]

Aaargh!

The Ancient Mariner "stoppeth one of three." I have a similar record with posting comments at this otherwise cool website.

Not to worry, Sajeev. Sam invokes the Stoics, so I will, too.

[miata93]

Always copy and paste your comment into Notepad or Apple's text editor before hitting the onscreen post button. I've been burned too many times on this and other websites.

[verdict11]

Sam, you should know better than to incorrectly use "nonplussed".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCXOpHprmn4

[miata93]

Take a look at the Mazda 3 Turbo. 50% of the price, 90% of the fun of the Lexus.

[MajorTomB]

The car I still have on my list is the 2002-2005 IS300 with the 5 speed. A sedan body wrapped around a Mark IV Supra. And the prices for these keep climbing.

[Tsaxman]

Lexus means perfect = boring.

No road feel, no sound.

[Maestro1]

The ugliness of the front end alone would be reason not to buy it, let alone all the unnecessary technology. It is as if drivers had forgotten how to read. Anything. I can afford all the new junk on the road but i drive old mechanical cars. I will not put my life in the hands of a chip.
And the car certainly does not deserve this kind of excellent writing. Thank you, Sam.

[Gary_Bechtold]

So when the 3rd generation IS appeared everyone remembered the second generation IS and particular that IS F. We wanted that car as the final 2014 IS F ended and the new gen car was making an appearance. It only took 8 model years and a refresh of the 3rd gen car to do it. Better late than never I guess. Having said that I am waiting for one to become available in Ultrasonic Blue Mica 2.0 or possibly Infrared which is also a great color. As it stands production has been spotty so it looks like if I get one it will be a 2023 model. This is going to be the last of the breed. We will not see another naturally aspirated Lexus V8 or possibly any V8 of any kind again from Toyota/Lexus. The 8 speed isn't the best but it also isn't bad. I learned what made it happy and for a daily driver with a sporty side it's great. The Aisin 8-speed is not ZF 8-speed track day great but I don't plan on doing a track day in this car. I have done track days in the RC-F and GS-F which share this transmission so they could do it if needed.

The 2UR-GSE V8 in the IS 500 is the same as in the LC 500, RC-F and GS-F but not the IS F. It is related but the cars after the IS F have an engine with many little changes which adds up to the 51-56hp difference. In typical Toyota fashion they share the exact same engine code so most are not aware. I've seen some posts about the catalog of changes.

[topside]

Ahh, electronic overkill...I'll pass. Lexus likely knows that 1% of purchasers will ever drive their cars above maybe 50% of their capabilities, as has happened at BMW, MBZ, etc. But even if I had the money to buy one, I couldn't look at that thing - or the new BMW nose styling - and feel at all good.

[ed]

I've never been able to get past the large-mouth bass grill for any of the latest variants. Even passed on a reasonably priced LC500. My last Lexus was an SC430. I am spoiled.

And the whole Toyota thing of being unable to 'resume' the cruise control after puttering through some traffic. Do they know better than the rest of the industry?

[Tinkerah]

I think the grille looks just as much like Darth Vader's mask.

[RallyRaid]

This was a good review.
I’d noticed the hybrid Infiniti Q50s from a decade ago had started to become quite cheap. On paper they’re a pretty amazing car - quick, economical, good looking enough. But every period review - that wasn’t a lazy advert - mentioned the bizarre drive-by-wire system.
I feel like the flaws mentioned in the older cars were forced compromises (E39 V8s left no room for steering racks, the 6.2l AMG sacrificed finesse for fireworks), whereas the shortcomings of new models are largely errors of judgement.