Slideshow: 2008 Lexus IS F >>

Video: On The Track: 2008 Lexus IS F >>

Video: A Lap Around Laguna Seca Raceway >>

Video: A Ride with Scott Pruett >>

The Lexus reputation for building high-quality, ultra-quiet and fine-driving semi-sporting machines is about to come to an abrupt halt. Because what Lexus has here, with the new IS F, is a bona fide hot-rod — the most un-Lexus-like Lexus ever put into production.

The "F" designation comes from the "Circle-F" internal code that Toyota used more than 20 years ago when it was concocting the upmarket Lexus brand. From now on, F will designate a performance Lexus — of which company officials promise more of in the future. The F logo was inspired by several turns at Fuji Speedway in Japan, a track where the IS F spent much of its development time.

Lexus isn't embarrassed to admit that the IS F's 5.0-liter V-8 is based on the 4.6-liter version that powers the LS 460 and GS 460. In IS F form, this engine makes considerably more power — 416 bhp at 6600 rpm and 371 lb.-ft. at 5200 — and, of course, that extra power is stuffed into a smaller car. The IS F doesn't just get its power from the engine's increased size, but from such features as a forged crankshaft, forged connecting rods, titanium intake valves, high-flow intake ports as well as aluminum cylinder heads designed and built by Yamaha. A new variable valve-control system (Variable Valve Timing with intelligence and Electrically controlled intake cam, or VVT-iE) is unique in that it uses an electric motor to operate its cam phasing.

A feature that has a huge impact on the alluring sounds that emanate from beneath the car's bulging hood is the IS F's dual air-intake system. The secondary passage opens at 3600 rpm, boosting high-rpm power and turning the engine (if you're at full throttle) from Lexus-quiet to raunchy-V-8 loud. We love it.

Although the Lexus LS takes credit as the world's first 8-speed automatic transmission, Lexus claims the IS F has "the world's first 8-speed Sport Direct-Shift automatic transmission." It can be operated in the usual automatic mode or the driver can shift the eight speeds like a manual via large paddles behind the steering wheel or by using the center-console lever.

We really like that in Manual mode the driver has full control over the shifting — it won't upshift for you at the 6800-rpm redline, and won't downshift if you floor it. But the paddle-shifting works best only when the car is being driven very hard; drive it at half throttle but rev it to, say, 3500 rpm or higher, and the upshifts are quite abrupt. The transmission blips the throttle on downshifts, but at low revs the shifts are also jerky. Downshift from high rpm, though, and the shifts are smooth and deliver the kind of beautiful, almost unmuffled bark with each blip that we normally associate with race cars.

The 8-speed transmission helps the IS F achieve its remarkably quick acceleration numbers: 0–60 mph in just 4.4 seconds and the quarter mile in 12.8 sec. at 113.3 mph. The IS F's rear 255/35R-19 Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s put the car's 416 bhp to the pavement with just a smidgen of wheelspin, followed by a chirp as you jam home the 1–2 shift.

The IS F is based on the IS 350 and, surprisingly, does without any body strengthening whatsoever, despite the car's added heft, power and penchant for g-loading. Officials at Lexus say this isn't surprising at all, since the second-generation IS is based on the GS platform, which itself was designed to handle a V-8.

Continue Reading >>