IS-F Review from Drive at Moroso Park

This is posted in a C6 Corvette Forum. Thought you may be interested.

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short facts, I won't go into any story telling.

went up to Lexus drive they had at Moroso, and was pleasantly surprised, they allowed you to hammer the car as hard as you wanted as long as you weren't reckless.


My personal observations of the Lexus IS-F:

Appearance
The car itself does not look much different from the regular IS350 aside from the following
1. The hood has a power dome similar to BMW's M3 but larger to accommodate the V8.
2. the front and rear bumpers are slightly different, fog lights different
3. and of course the cladding, it's sort of you either like it or don't, (I personally don't like it) but the car does look better in person than in pictures.
4. oddly enough there was a lot of controversy on the quad tail pipes and configuration, the are connected to the exhaust and I ended up liking how they came out.

Interior
1. the white interior looks clean, can't imagine it wearing well though
2. the bolsters are more supportive and seats hold you in place in tight corners, and aluminum accents
3. no noticeable squeaks or rattles, other than that basically same as the IS350 with the usual IS-F badges.

Brakes
1. Huge Brembo brakes 14.2 F 13.6 R, hammered the brakes for 4 laps and that's after someone had driven the car, they felt strong and fade free, very good brakes.
2. a lot of brake dust, but considering the car has been tracked from morning and I drove it about 2pm, the pads still looked good and no cracks in the rotor holes, Brembo knows brakes.

Suspension
1. good handling car, handles well, but a bit too much nose dive, braking from about 125mph, made the rear feel a little loose.
2. too much body roll in corners, you can tell this car weighs 3800-3900 lbs
3. easy to catch over steer and pull back in though, instructor had all nannys off by mistake when I took the helm, I went completely sideways on the South end of the track but was able to recover easily.
4. under steers at the limit and like all high HP cars able to control via the gas, car handles well, but it's no corvette.

Engine & Drive train

1. Smooth with a nice but somewhat quiet exhaust note
2. a bit anemic before I say about 3800 Rpms then it begins to pull hard and sounds a bit nicer and louder.
3. one thing I must say is for an auto, the tranny was very impressive, fast shifts and fast downshifts, up shifts were done as soon as you hit the paddle, no noticeable lag, nice thing about the tranny it has a reminder when to shift to execute red line shifts, nice.



Is this a fair comparison no, for me the vette is a much purer sports car,
1. looks better
2. faster
3. handles better
4. better sound from the exhaust
5. vette will pull on this car in every category.


but then this car is not bad if you need to carry 4 people. The car is definitely slower than the vette, I don't know if it's the difference in torque but the vette feels faster than the quoted .3 sec in the quarter mile. Car definitely won't out handle the vette the vette is flatter in the corners, but it was easier to control the over steer in the Lexus, but I think our run craps have a lot to do with that, if we were to put some good rubber on our vehicle, I know it would be night and day in every category, off the line, corners, braking, etc.


Overall I liked the vehicle, I think it's a combination of luxury and sport. I will do well against it's rivals, very civilized vehicle.

One thing I must admit, if the vette had a transmission like this I would be extremely happy. I would not mind the brakes either, other than that, the vette reigns supreme.