"WE'RE BUILDING A TRACK" - yes that is completely a Japanese way of thinking. Someone in accounting was going over the expense accounts and shipping costs and etc for doing Nuremburg testing. The executive team was sat down and given a choice. "WE'RE BUILDING A TRACK" was what came out of that meeting.

10:46 The LFA gauge is not gone. Its still in the F-Sport models. It was always exclusive to F-Sports models for this generation starting from 2014/15 whenever this generation started. The non-FSport models always had that conventional gauges

Great video. Hope Lexus and Toyota have success with there steps closer to enthusiast cars. Love that you said it now “listens” well to driver inputs and I hope the IS learns to “talk” more in future iterations.

I come for the reviews, but stay for the incredible friendship between these two men have. Great overview gentlemen on the Lexus which I think is a beautiful design. Thank you, Ravi Peiris M.D.

Needed this today.

Btw, what’s the adage; ‘killing 2 birds with one IS’?

Loved the view! Thank you.

"When has lexus ever cared about driving?" The first generation IS. That's it. And it's because the chassis designer for the supra and the AE86 developed a sedan for Toyota market called the Altezza, and Lexus just went "hey, that's pretty cool, if we put leather in it and the 6 cylinder engine from the supra we can sell it as a lexus in the US". Lexus actually thought "what if we were the Japanese BMW instead of the Japanese mercedes" and it was brilliant. But then they realized that all the customers they wanted were just buying E46's anyway so they gave up.

Not sure why there is so much road noise in this video? My wife just picked up her 2023 IS 300 AWD F2, and she loves it. It’s very quiet inside, unlike this video implies. The seats are amazingly comfortable. For context, she just came out of a 2015 TLX SH-AWD Elite (V6), and we looked at and test drove 2022 TLX Type S, Genesis G70 Sport, and Audi S4. Audi was a lot more $$, G70 had an engine issue when we test drove it (LOL) but was super nice inside, and TLX felt really cheap inside compared to everything else. Lexus is a bit smaller, Road feel for suspension considering low profile staggered wheels feels so smooth and confident. We did add Lexus dealer option sport exhaust, and it sounds really good, doesn’t drone on hwy.

Great video!! Hopefully you guys will be reviewing the RWD variants soon? Those are the ones I’m really curious about. Always been a fan of the original Altezza and interested to see if they have come back nearly full circle to that one.

The second gen IS aka ISF is what the correct answer to when Lexus ever cared about driving. That was the greatest IS ever made.

Excellent review calling out this as something different than every other 2.0 T compact sport sedan.

We should start a petition for a Lexus built on the 86 platform extended in wheelbase. Like a luxurious RX-8 style sports coupe with real back seats. I'd even be ok with if they had to raise the hoodline to use a non-boxer engine.

If this is a step back towards the XE10 IS300 I'm hyped to see what the aftermarket could do with this in 5-8 years

God, the weighted blanket comparison is on point. It drives like it is on rails, but to a fault..

The IS was never a mid-size, it was always in the compact class. And in the small end of compact, even. Puzzling that they made it made the back seats/doors feel more cramped than the last Gen though.

So glad the driver’s foot well intrusion was clearly pointed out, my 19’ RAV has small foot well for a man’s shoe IMO and I have watched many videos but I believe was never pointed out. Between the driver’s interior door handle (front lower corner) perfectly contacting my knee & small foot well causing the pedals to be a bit too close it becomes a deal breaker. This may offend some but again IMO: The (not each one) Toyota/Lexus brand is more designed for the small person.

Great review guys! Have you two driven the 350 F Sport since? I would love a review of that since many of the "shortcomings" you found in this model might be addressed in that one (More power, better steering feel, lumbar support, more gears in the RWD, etc.)

can we get a Lexus version of the BRZ/86, that would be killer

Was the tan portion of the dash soft touch? The part surrounding the glovebox looks awfully cheap considering the rest of the interior seems pretty nice. Sucks that they had to take the side air vents in the dash from the old corolla, they look pretty ungainly and out of place.

12:05 the door opening is actually smaller compared to the previous IS. I think the B pillar got made bigger towards the front.

First reviewers actually focus on what this car is about. Good job guys

THANK YOU LEXUS for putting the darn running lights, turn signals, and headlights in the same housing. I couldn't stand the ugly piece of plastic bisecting the headlights in the prior version. This is a refresh that significantly improves the look. I'm not sure the IS needed a light bar at the back, but hey, at least it's fairly well executed.

The IS300 and AWD badging on the trunk is so incredibly wonky

Something about the way the new IS sits... it looks like lexus is taking the threat for the G70 seriously. It's got much more of a G70-like stance than it did before. I just hope lexus' 2L 4 banger has an iota of soul in it, it would be one iota more soul than the genesis 4 pot has. I wonder if Lexus is recognizing that the people buying sedans are the ones who care about driving, all the people who want to be disconnected from the drive are all flocking to CUV's. It would be nice if BMW had that realization. Real dials! Yes, Lexus! Real dials with real needles! Does anyone really need an AWD lexus IS? They should just do a limited slip differential option and sell it with an extra set of wheels for snow tires. To be fair, the E46 AWD models also intrude in the passenger compartment. The problem, Paul, with the RWD-based AWD systems that don't have a lump on the side of the transmission (think Subaru, Audi) is that they require that the flywheel of the engine be ahead of the front axle. That spoils the dynamics of the chassis, hugely affecting weight distribution and pumping up the polar moment of inertia to over 9000. At least subaru designed their engines to only be 10" long. I'd much rather work around a lump than have the engine cantilevered off the nose of the car. Sorry Todd, got to disagree- don't put the V8 in the IS. It makes sense in the GS. IS buyers are not V8 people. Paul's got it. Lexus will have to downsize their V6 and add turbos. If lexus does a hot vee 2.8L turbo V6, and puts the best tune of that engine into the IS for the IS-F, they'll have a winner. It maddens me that the 2JZ-GTE existed and the first gen IS had the 2JZ-GE, but Lexus didn't to the IS-F until the 2nd generation. How easy would it have been to make a factory 2JZ-GTE, with a manual gearbox and a limited slip differential? Well, easy enough that lots of 1st gen owners who don't live in California have already swapped the motor in. Can you imagine the head to head between the naturally aspirated E46 M3 and an 2JZ-GTE powered IS300F? Can you imagine how high strung the S54B32 could have gotten if BMW had real competition in that space? RIP birds! Sorry for the comment spam, guys! A+ video quality like always!

...but the real question should be, "can it be stanced?" 🤔 did it have a CD player; I didn't notice? In Japan, that bulge is in the passenger's footwell.

The rear side body sculpting is pure Supra design which they also grafted on the Highlander. No LFA there. Too bad about the pricetag. They either need to make it $10k less or give it something other than a Camry V6 in top trims. A TRD Camry will out perform this IS. That's an issue.

Thanks for mentioning the driver's side hump ; it's a deal breaker for me.

I'd love to see you guys get the IS350 F-Sport. better yet i'd love to see this as a TRUE F with the V8... or atleast the TT V6 out of the LS.

If Lexus would sell this car with a manual I'd actually consider it. I'd still probably prefer my 2JZ to any turbo 4 or V6, but given that there are literally only 6 or so NEW cars under $100k that I'd even be willing to take a test drive in, that's high praise from me.

And the V8 is finally coming!

Paul, I'm interested if you agree. If we were to "fix" this car's design, I'd start with the rear light bar. I think it's 2 inches too low down on the body.

Is the mic having issues or just road noise?

Camry TRD or V6 Camry is a better vehicle if you don’t need a luxury badge. Camry interior is not that much apart either. IS300 is a very small car inside best suited for small women or teens. Still test drive one you will like it but only if you under 5’10 and thin

Is is really elegant.. New look very beautiful.... Premium Japanese car

so niceeeee omgoddddddddd

what if the iS500 comes with the NA 5.0L V8 with 498HP?

It’s BMW, Mercedes and Lexus in order of driving feedback from the car. But it’s Lexus, Mercedes and BMW in order of long distance driving comfort, at least in US speed limit. Lexus is trying to make the most comfortable touring sedan which happens to be categorized as luxury sport sedan and they are successful at it. Considering the build quality, reliability along with the final price after all the options, European cars in the segment are not really in competition Lexus. It’s a high end Toyota that sensible people who never goes to tracks appreciate and that’s a category by itself.

If only they had something similar in a coupe version

So you are the guys Car Care Nut talks about when he says to Lexus to not listen to.

Tippi hedron autographed model... Small doors and lump in floor ... deal killer

the lfa gauge is only available in the f sport pack

RIP birbs

a well-handling lexus is enticing

Those poor birds smh. I hope they survived but they shouldn't be chilling in the road

I have reported this video to Animal Control 🤣🤣🤣🤣

need more road noise

Grill still looks bad, interior is still subpar, drivetrain is from 1928, infotainment is terrible, side view looks great, rear 3/4 is also great...

u probably killed two birds (unintentionally) and you laugh damn

I feel like this video, from the tone of it, is from an alternate reality where the GS-F and the LC 500 (the V8) don't exist...did you guys forget about them? This latest version of the IS isn't their first gesture towards enthusiasts since the LF-A.

Overall exterior styling of the new IS looks nice. BUT there are a few things that would stop me from getting it. The powertrain situation confuses me, you can get a 2.0T, but it’s RWD only if you want AWD it’s still called an IS300 but it has a terribly underpowered V6? Some configurations have a 6 speed auto, others have 8 speed autos. Yikes. Next, the outdated interior.. it doesn’t match the exterior AT ALL. The only thing they did was make the screen bigger and made the already horrible infotainment system, touch screen which doesn’t help it.

13:25 lol our fault for lhd lmao

Nurses doesn't do xray, radiology tech does.

Bozos