The Lexus IS-F, launched in 2007, was one of the cars you thought about buying if you didn’t want an E90/E92 BMW M3, a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, or a Jaguar XF-R.
It offered comparable but slightly lower performance, vertically-stacked exhaust pipes and a sometimes indecisive eight-speed gearbox (one of the first of its kind) that had to make do with torque coming in high, at 5,200 rpm – some reviews said it was an annoyance while low-speed cruising.
Now, the car is on its way out, and we already have an all-new IS to base a new F model on. Still, it’s an interesting performance sedan, and MotorTrend’s Justin Bell, thought it’d be a good idea to give it some more attention, as it’s quickly approaching automotive Neverland.
And that’s a shame, because its five-liter V8 sounds really nice, and while it didn’t beat the Mercedes for exhaust note chills-up-the-spine factor, it was a nicer noise than that of the BMW.
Will it be missed in a few years’ time? Probably not.
By Andrei Nedelea
