#IS

What changes are in store for the 2021 Lexus IS? We compare old vs new to find out

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When Lexus took the veil off of the 2021 Lexus IS, it certainly appeared to be a noticeable improvement over the outgoing model which was really starting to show its age, and was falling behind rivals in a number of categories. But what can buyers expect in terms of changes, and is the new model indeed better than the outgoing IS? To find out, we spent some time behind the wheel of a 2020 model, and it certainly answered alot of our burning questions.   Fresh Styling Rules The Day: One of the most obvious changes that buyers will notice …

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2017 Lexus IS Preview – New Noses, Wilder F-Sport Upgrades and Quicker Sprint Pace

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The new IS is half-way here!  The revised model just bowed in Beijing with fresh bumpers, lighting, transmissions and infotainment. Why half-way?  We have only seen a partial look so far at the new US-market IS based on this debut.  The IS shown here in F Sport guise is wearing China-exclusive LEDs that are not the design we’ll see stateside.  The other show vehicle in China shows the base IS face, with new arrowhead LEDs, a slice of LED inside the lamp itself, and projector-beam main lights.  All good stuff — especially as these new lights have auto highbeams — …

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Road Test Review – 2016 Lexus IS200t F Sport

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2016 Lexus IS200t F Sport Review By Ken “Hawkeye” Glassman The Lexus IS series gets a new engine for 2016, a 2-liter, twin-scroll turbocharged inline 4 cylinder that makes 241-hp @ 5800 rpm, and 258 ft.-lbs. of torque @ 1650 rpm.  It replaces last year’s entry level, small 2.5 liter V-6, that made a meager 204 horsepower and a weak 185 ft.-lbs.  of torque.  This new engine is rated for 22 City and 33 Highway mileage figures. If the 200t moniker sounds familiar, it’s because it the same engine designation from the Lexus NX 200t, their small Sport Ute crossover …

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2015 Porsche Mission E – See Under Its Pajun-Previewing Panels Via 88 New Images and Animations

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Updated 9.16.15 We absolutely crave this machine. Ultra low, wide and expressive — the design is absolutely breathtaking. The engineering and tech down below is arguably even more impressive, however. The flat battery pack below the entire floorplan offers a suite of challenges versus a normal monocoque, but also presents some fascinating new opportunities. And Porsche is clearly relishing the new-found freedom of not finding room for an big engine at either end, or in the middle. The compact drive system allows most of the rulebook on safety, production feasibility and passenger comfort to be torn up. Rewritten for a …

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3.5s 2015 Porsche Mission E – 600HP Concept Is 4-Door Battery Boxster!?

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  A fascinating look inside the future Porsche lineup today via Frankfurt’s IAA. The just-revealed Mission E is absolutely breathtaking. Reviewing the images, my mouth was wide open in giddy shock and delight. Imagine the smooth and flowing bathtub Porsche silhouette, with curves like a 550 Spyder and stance like a super Cayman. The put in a beautifully minimal overhang at either end and four doors under an ultra low and lean roof. The look has every bit of the original Boxster concept’s star power. Running an all-new battery electric powertrain, the vehicle promises great things for future supercoupe buyers. …

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2017 Rolls-Royce DAWN Is Sleek New Wraith Cabrio – Updated With Configurator Details

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Updated 9.8.15 With 55 New Images, Inspired Collection and Configurator Link Huge news at Rolls-Royce today: the all-new Dawn cabriolet debuted at a star-studded Goodwood reveal. This new Roller is quite a special development for the world’s finest carmaker: a Wraith convertible positions Rolls to capture a far younger and far hipper buyer than the traditional owner base. Elegant and subtle in design while being a grand event of a machine, the Dawn will compete with the Bentley Mulsanne and GTC ragtops, the new S-Class Cabriolet and super-exotics like Ferrari’s and McLarens. Of course, its half-million estimated price also competes …

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HD Road Test Review – 2015 Lexus IS250 Nails Apex-Carver Fundamentals

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  The 2015 Lexus IS250 nails the sport-sedan fundamentals so hard, you forget all about mainstream mid-size cars after a block in the driver’s seat. That is a fact. A pure-cornering, rev-loving fact. Drive position in the Daytona GTB/4-style tan seats is instantly flawless, as are the major pedal anc control inputs. Crank up the SXM, rotate to sport mode…. and never look back. 4K Drive Video – 2015 Lexus IS250 Review INTRO The 2015 IS250 is such a fantastic sports sedan that we wanted to drive a 320i right afterward to confirm the RWD love for this Lexus was …

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Turbo 2016 Lexus IS200t and IS300 AWD Join Refreshed Range with F Sport Packs

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Two new Lexus IS powertrains are joining the rear-drive executive sedan ranks for 2016: the turbocharged IS200t and the AWD IS300. The 2.0-liter turbo puts out 241 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque from just 1650 RPM — ensuring it will have the fun drive manners of the NX200t. This is a really quick-boosting turbo with great character in its power delivery. Always charging ahead like a puppy. The IS200t replaces the IS250 to become the base model of the IS line — but also one of the friskiest. The turbo is rear-drive only and offered with or without the …

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TopCar Stinger 911 Turbo GTR Is Sexy and Mean In Onyx Black

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Updated 6.16.15 With Latest Stinger GTR PART TWO – THE STINGER GTR If you like the Stinger kit from TopCar for the 911 Carrera, brace yourself for the Stinger GTR pack for the Turbo and Turbo S. The GTR package focuses on true performance enhancement via its bodykit elements, with the aero pieces helping plant the 911 Turbo at 200-mph as well as turn heads at 20-mph. Versus the stock 911 Turbo on the left, you can see in the image below how vastly altered the Stinger GTR is. This widebody is so huge and intense that only the bottom …

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Future Classic Feature – 1999 Saab 9-3 VIGGEN Is Thunderbolt Legend – And This One Is For Sale!

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The SAAB 9-3 Viggen is a legend of a car. Named after the Thunderbolt fighter jet, the Viggen celebrated all that made the Saab 9-3 the firm’s most-successful model throughout the marque’s storied history. Front-drive, mad power and turbo antics were all paramount with the Viggen — but in typical Saab fashion, this was not a badge and stickers job. The upgrades list over the standard 9-3 Aero is absolutely huge — with what amounts to an all-new, direct-injected engine just the start of the custom elements in the Viggen.   EXHAUST NOTE VIDEO INTRO The 225-horsepower and 258-pound-feet of …

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2015 Exige S Automatic Is Quickest LOTUS Streetcar EVER! 3.8s 60mph Sprint, Race Modes and Coming to USA

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Lotus has just announced details on the quickest production car ever — the new Exige S Automatic. We cannot think of another street-ready and USA-legal Lotus that has ever been so quick — with nearly all of Lotus’s hottest technology, biggest powerplant and raciest equipment, all on the most-hardcore and lightest model. The latest Exige S is really a king-maker on any racetrack, but also a delight on the roads there and back. It is 50-state legal and priced from about $75,000. In terms of thrills per buck, the Exige S will make a Porsche 911 look like a giant …

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2014 Audi TT Sportback Concept Is a Stylish Escape From Current Audi Styling Funk

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Audi design is in a major funk. After a full 15 years of making BMW and Mercedes seem old and tired and boring, Audi lost the plot some time around 2010. We are not sure what exactly happened, but the magic seemed gone. The cars started to look like cheap copies of earlier Audi ideas – with the current A6 and new TT perhaps exemplifying this major design problem best. Sure, its proportions are cleaner than ever in 2015, and its new lighting is very dapper indeed. But what the heck? It looks like a 1999 model. This is a …

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Road Test Review – 2014 Lexus IS350C F Sport – Convertible Coupe Perfection?

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The market for cabrios hit the skids hard during the financial crisis, when any wind in your hair seemed suddenly too-lavish, and too-decadent. Even luxury shoppers pulled back during that unprecedented stock market decline. This makes sense: those in the market were the most exposed to big on-paper losses. As such, it was a pretty inopportune time for Lexus to launch its best-ever convertible: the ISC. This amazing machine entered a soft market with competition from the all-star BMW 3 (and now 4 series) droptop, as well as the better-sounding Infiniti G37 (now Q60) Convertible. So what has Lexus done? …

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2011 Volkswagen Cross Coupe SUV Concept is Future MQB-Sized BMW X4 Competitor

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Volkswagen has been flirting with an expanded large SUV line for more than five years, with this 2011 Cross Coupe concept a sportier Touareg variant. Since then, we have seen the CrossBlue Concept and the CrossBlue Coupe Concept, but both are believed to carry underpinnings from the US-market Passat. This extra-wide machine is clearly from another family altogether — despite its quoted MQB (Golf) underpinnings. VW CrossBlue concept VW CrossBlue Coupe concept The look of the car shown here is quite interesting, but may or may not be en route to production. Volkswagen’s adventures in the Phaeton-land have established a …

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Concept Flashback – 2008 Mazda Furai is 450HP, Rotary LMP2 Car That Met Two Tragic Ends

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What were the two tragic ends that met the Furai concept? One: Laurens van den Acker leaves Mazda to take the top design job at Renault, where he delivered the Clio 4 and cars like the Twizy — and has imprinted his influence on ever product since 2010. The tragedy for Mazda’s NAGARE design philosophy is that it was hard to continue van den Acker’s ‘Flow’ themes without the true creator’s presence. So, despite being globally celebrated after its launch in late December 2007, the Furai was fairly doomed from the start. Designed first, and engineered second — the fantastic …

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2015 Lexus IS250 and IS350 Still Gorgeous – Now With LED Foglamps and Heated Steering Wheel for AWD Models

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Is the Lexus IS one of the best-looking, best-made and best-sounding luxury cars on the market? Yes, yes it is. The BMW 320i is competing hard on price with the entry-level IS250 this year, as the Audi A3 is nosing into the fray as well. But none look quite as sexy or dynamic is this rear-drive Lexus. Below are photos from a quick spin in the Fall with the IS350 AWD, plus 60 official press shots — with the car looking outstanding in nearly all of them! Below are the full details on the 2015 update – which does not …

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Road Test Review – 2014 Lexus IS250C F Sport Is Sexy, Top-Down Summer Cruiser

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  Written By Special Contributor By Ken Glassman 2014 Lexus IS250C F Sport After suffering through a horrendous winter in Chicago, I was really psyched to get to drive a Lexus IS 250 C convertible for a week this spring. The only thing I enjoy more than cruising down the road in an open air car is doing it on my motorcycle. For 2014, the Lexus IS sedans got a major makeover, but the convertible versions are basically the same as the 2013 models, leaving some to believe that the metal retractable roof model won’t be continued for next year. …

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2014 Lexus IS350 AWD F Sport – First-Drive Photos

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2014 Lexus IS350 AWD F Sport – First-Drive Photos   2014 Lexus IS350 AWD F Sport – Interior Gallery 2014 Lexus IS350 AWD F Sport – Under the Hood 2014 Lexus IS350 AWD F Sport – Exterior Gallery The Lexus is also available in a more-efficient 250 engine spec, as well as a variety of tastey shades.   Here is a gif of these 32 images with a subtle delay, and no audio. The Lexus IS felt great, with a far lower seat than I recall from the previous IS350. Check it out this weekend with or without F Sport …

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