Lexus IS-F

Sometimes, I just don’t get car companies.

For example, Lexus is one of those companies well known for making technically sound upscale vehicles even though those vehicles often lack flair and excitement. And in the past, that’s apparently been OK with the higher-ups there because they view their owners as simply wanting to get from point A to point B (albeit wanting to do it in a premium vehicle).

Then along comes an engineer with a passion for driving and a penchant for performance and the next thing you know, Lexus has an M3 fighter – the IS F.

The brainchild of long-time Toyota engineer Yukihiko Yaguchi, the IS F was first shown to the world at the 2004 New York International Auto Show as the LF-C concept. That drop-top coupe defined the styling of the second generation IS sedan and was powered by a high-output V8.

The new IS sedan was unveiled at the 2005 Geneva Auto Show, with the high-output V8-engined IS F confirmed at the 2007 North American International Auto Show.

Lexus promotional material refers to it as “The Beast”. That has all those neat untamed, powerful connotations tied to it, but is it really appropriate? The car rolls along the highway like a … well … like a Lexus, with nary a hint of that unbridled fury for which beasts are known.

Maybe it’s not meant to be so much a “Godzilla” like beast but more of an X-Men like Beast – refined and educated but capable of unmatched power and quickness when fighting for a personal cause (and he’s blue, too).

Maybe the IS F is meant to convey more of a cheetah-like beast (powerful, quick and purposeful), but Lexus waited too long to make that connection and Infiniti beat it to the punch with its bionic-cheetah car (the FX crossover).

Maybe it’s more of a “Jekyll and Hyde” beast – meek and demure in everyday life but harbouring an uninhibited and violently powerful alter-ego – that can furiously shred a set of screaming tires with an agonizing howl of triumph.

It’s a “Sexy Beast”, that’s for sure, with crisp clean lines reminiscent of its less-powerful siblings and a well appointed leather interior.

The IS F’s 5.0-litre V8 (from Yamaha) makes 371 lb.-ft. of torque at 5,200 rpm and gallops with the force of 416 horses. It’s enough to spur the car to 100 km/h in a reported 4.8 seconds (equal to both the BMW M3 and the Audi RS4). A new iteration of Lexus’ dynamic stability control (VDIM) keeps the rear wheels from spinning away traction on launch or from looping the rear end on high-speed corners … that is, unless you turn it off!

The reins are eight speeds in an automatic transmission. Keep it in Drive and you can go about your daily routine in a docile fashion. Flip the leaver toward the driver and you can push and pull through the gears or use the steering wheel paddles behind your left hand to go down a gear, or the right to go up one. But, you have to remember to shift because it won’t.

A single beep tells you when you’ve successfully engaged the next gear up; a double beep tells you that a downshift has been rejected. A successful downshift is indicated with a blip of the throttle (just like the real racecar drivers do it!).

Lexus readily admits that it is showing off with this transmission – it wanted to dispel those thoughts that in order to have a truly sporty performance car, you need the characteristics and challenges that only come with a manual transmission. With this tranny, Lexus keeps the characteristics of the manual and banishes the challenges.

The suspension is a tweaked up version of the front wishbone/rear multi-link set up. Here, it keeps the car stable through just about every lateral manoeuvre, and keeps the nose up under braking and keeps it down under power. About the only time it gets tedious is over continuously broken pavement.

Wheels are, naturally, performance rubber from Michelin or Bridgestone mounted on 19-inch wheels – low-profile 225/40R19 at the front; wider, lower-profile 255/35R19s on the rear.

And if you get a bit too exuberant with the acceleration or the turning, Brembo 14.2-inch drilled and vented rotors at the front and 13.6 drilled, ventilated discs trailing bring the car to a standstill faster than you can say Porsche 911.

As for the interior … yeah, the IS F has one of those. And a trunk, too.

Lexus IS more sport than luxury

When we look back on 2008 and consider the best automotive value in Canada, some may look at the Hyundai Accent L and its dirt-cheap $9,995 MSRP, or on the opposite end of the scale, the Lexus LX570, a new model that went down in price by almost $17,000.But whereas you won’t have so much as air conditioning in the Accent and you still have to be substantially wealthy to be able to afford the LX570, the 2008 Lexus IS250 is a gorgeous vehicle that has a mind-bogglingly low price. The base IS250 is almost $5,000 cheaper compared to 2007’s model … and you don’t have to run your own law firm to consider it and its $31,000 base price tag.

The price isn’t the only thing that makes the IS250 appealing though - far from it. This may be Lexus’ entry-level vehicle, but it still retains many of the qualities of its more expensive siblings. It has a whisper-quiet engine, an absolutely pristine interior and Lexus’ attractive new L-Finesse styling.

It may not be sporty enough for those drivers who eat horsepower for breakfast and wash it down with a healthy serving of torque, but when you consider the whole package (not just performance), it makes a case for itself as a truly compelling compact luxury sport sedan.

Though the rear-wheel drive IS250 is the model with the aforementioned $31,000 base price, my tester was equipped with all-wheel drive. The AWD IS is a little heavier and its weight distribution is slightly less balanced than its RWD brother, but for a Lexus - a luxury badge not known for its sportiness - it’s still a lot of fun.

Even before getting into it though, it’s easy to tell that the IS doesn’t have the same attitude as other Lexus cars. It has a short back end and a long front end, giving it a roadster-like silhouette. The taillights sweep around the sides and grow larger moving toward the front, giving it the appearance of moving forward, and the exterior for the most part is uncluttered, so the focus here is obviously more on driving and not so much on just looking good (even though it really, really does).

Once you do step in, it’s difficult to deny that the interior does ooze Lexus from every air vent and cupholder. The seats are more soft and cushy than they are supportive - which doesn’t help when you’re testing out just how well the vehicle handles - and you’ll feel guilty every time you track mud or rain onto the floor mats. This isn’t to say the interior is bad. It’s actually downright immaculate, but again for performance snobs, this may not be enough.

The IS comes available with one of two V6 engines - a 2.5-litre and a 3.5-litre. A glance at the IS250’s spec sheet may not elicit much in the way of excitement when you look at its numbers, but it does feel like a finely-tuned sport sedan once you stop feeling the leather and gazing at the chrome, and start pushing the throttle, turning the steering wheel, and clicking the paddles.

Those steering wheel paddles come standard on the AWD IS250, and let you manually control the six-speed automatic, which is both good and bad. The transmission automatically kicks into fourth gear whenever you move into manual mode - which is great if you’re going 100 km/h and trying to pass someone on a highway, but it makes absolutely no sense if you’re trying to pass someone on a city street while in third gear and you need every bit of torque that peaks at 4,800 rpm.

I just made sure to choose from one mode or the other every time I got in the car; always give myself full control, or always give the vehicle full control.

There are other nice touches that make this a fun little sedan to drive, like an orange light that surrounds the speedometer and tachometer at whatever vehicle/engine speed you choose. It doesn’t make the car go any faster, but hey, it’s fun to look at.

And as enjoyable and truly luxurious as the less-expensive IS sedans are, there are still a wealth of options and packages available to make even the most discerning buyer satisfied. It’s a shame that Bluetooth is only available in tandem with the expensive navi package though.

The IS250 may not be up-to-par with other sports sedans when looking solely at performance numbers and behaviour, but it’s still a fine-handling machine, and with a base price as low as $31,000, its inadequacies can be forgiven.

Toyota Sequoia et Lexus LX570 2008, le pinacle des camions

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Je commence à croire qu’à moins que le litre d’essence tape 2.50 $ ou que le gallon américain rejoigne 5 $ l’unité, il y aura toujours des camions. Nous n’avons qu’à jeter un coup d’œil au Salon de Detroit et le dévoilement des Ford F-150 2009 et Dodge Ram 2009. Ces deux véhicules sont des outils de travail et font, d’une certaine manière, tourner l’économie. Dans d’autres circonstances, un VUS sert de véhicule familial par excellence sauf que la dimension de certains de ces derniers laisse sous-entendre que la grosseur de la famille nord-américaine moyenne doit être de cinq enfants.Ce n’est évidemment pas le cas. Dans certaines situations, ces mastodontes de la route ne servent qu’à transporter deux ou trois individus, tout au plus. C’est donc dire que ce VUS n’est pas utilisé à sa juste valeur. Et, il est là le problème. Les constructeurs construisent ces véhicules pour suffire à la demande. Étant conscientes de l’image qu’ont leurs camions, les compagnies s’empressent de créer des versions moins énergivores et plus vertes. Il serait peut-être grand temps que nous, les consommateurs, étudiions en profondeurs quels sont nos besoins réels.

Toyota est une des firmes qui investit énormément de fonds dans la recherche et le développement; vingt-trois millions de dollars par jour pour être plus précis. Leurs efforts sont apparents au travers leurs gammes de produits et même leurs camions pleines grandeurs en reçoivent des bénéfices. Lors du même lancement médiatique, Toyota m’ont permis de faire un court essai de leurs nouveaux Sequoia et Lexus LX570.

De la tôle musclée

Pour ceux qui s’attachent à ce type de véhicule, Toyota, comme tous les autres constructeurs, réalise que pour vendre des dizaines de milliers (1 500 environ au Canada) de ces camions aux États-Unis, ils doivent avoir un look accrocheur, quelque chose qui indique que le véhicule conduit n’est pas un dernier venu qui se prend pour un autre. Ces deux VUS utilisent une approche très différente. Le LX se présente comme étant plus civilisé, plus obtempérant, mais toujours prêt et capable de tout. La première indication de ce tempérament est sa calandre qui ressemble beaucoup à celle de la LS. Aussi, le LX se faufile mieux dans l’air ambiant grâce à son coefficient aérodynamique de 0,35 Cd.

Le Sequoia à son tour, joue le vrai rôle d’un « truck ». Ce n’est pas surprenant quand sa source d’inspiration se nomme Tundra. La devanture du Sequoia est énorme, massive et ne plaisante pas. De profil, ces deux camions ont une ceinture de caisse solide est des ailes évasées comme se doit d’avoir un véhicule dans cette catégorie. Les roues de 20 pouces sont dorénavant communes, car elles sont de série partout sauf sur le Sequoia SR5 de base.

Les habitacles des deux Toyota sont d’une qualité d’assemblage impressionnante. Certes, le LX démontre une attention aux détails plus approfondie et une sélection de matériel d’une qualité supérieure. Une chose est certaine et c’est que nous ne parlons pas de camions de base; même le Sequoia SR5 propose des sièges recouverts de cuir comme équipement d’origine. Ces derniers sont confortables et devraient le demeurer même lors d’un long séjour au volant. La deuxième rangée dans le Sequoia propose plus d’espace que celle du LX; normal, car l’empattement du Toyota est plus long de 250 mm. La troisième banquette (rabattable chez le Sequoia et repliable le long des parois du coffre pour le Lexus) est réservée à une utilisation sporadique ou aux enfants.

Quant à l’équipement de série des camions, la liste est longue, particulièrement du côté du Lexus. Comme je l’ai mentionné plus haut, le modèle de base du Sequoia est le SR5. Les deux autres versions sont Limited et Platinum. Cette dernière inclut évidemment tout. Le LX n’a qu’un seul groupe d’option et se nomme Ultra Premium. Disons seulement que si ce groupe ne rencontre pas vos exigences, c’est bien parce que l’option n’a pas encore été inventée.

Des V8 pour tout le monde

Encore une fois, le pauvre Sequoia SR5 est un peu différent. C’est en fait le seul qui reçoit un moteur V8 de 4,7 litres et une transmission automatique à cinq rapports. Aussi disponible chez le Tundra, il dispose de 276 chevaux et 314 lb-pi de couple. Pourquoi pauvre? Car tous les autres peuvent jouer avec le puissant V8 de 5,7 litres. Non seulement est-ce qu’il produit 381 chevaux (383 pour le LX) et plus de 400 lb-pi de couple, il consomme moins d’essence que le 4,7 litres grâce en partie à une boîte automatique à six rapports.

Le moteur de 5,7 litres est un monstre raffiné qui aime le travail et qui s’adonne très bien aux randonnées quotidiennes. Au volant du Toyota, on l’entend révolutionner et le son peut mettre un sourire à vos lèvres si vous aimez la mélodie d’un V8 en pleine santé. Au volant du LX, c’est différent. Le bruit est presque non existant et l’on ne ressent qu’une poussée crémeuse et silencieuse. Le 5,7 litres est l’un des moteurs les plus puissants de la catégorie, mais il doit tout de même déplacer beaucoup de poids. Les accélérations sont vives, mais pas surnaturelles. La transmission fait un excellent boulot que ce soit en accélération ou en « kickdown ». N’oublions pas que le 5,7 litres est en mesure de remorquer entre 8 800 et 9 100 lb et que tous les Sequoia et LX sont livrés avec un ensemble de remorquage.

Un camion et une grosse berline

Devinez qui est quoi. Le Sequoia se comporte comme un camion et c’est tant mieux. On ressent la route et le moteur, la suspension est un peu plus rudimentaire (même si elle est bien sophistiquée) et de service dur, mais son roulement est très appréciable. Le Lexus, quant à lui, est plus lourdaud et plus dorlotant. On ne perçoit rien dans l’habitacle à moins de positionner le mode de la suspension ajustable à Sport. On n’y retrouve aucun bruit de vent et il n’y a évidemment aucun bruit de caisse.

Dans les deux cas, la direction s’apprête bien aux dimensions et au poids de ces véhicules. Je dirais même plus que leurs diamètres de braquage sont relativement courts. Le plus gros embarras est les freins et particulièrement, la pédale de gauche. Chez ces camions, surtout le Sequoia, la pédale de frein est spongieuse et répond tardivement à l’appel. Un peu plus de fermeté serait appréciée et plus de puissance de freinage dans la première portion du déplacement de la pédale le serait encore plus. Mon premier coin de rue au volant du Toyota m’a surpris quelque peu rendu près de l’arrêt. Évidemment, on s’y habitue avec le temps.

Pas trop de « bling » et beaucoup de contenu

Ces camions, même le Sequoia en édition Platinum, sont bien plus discrets que la totalité de leurs compétiteurs. Ce point peut être un atout tout comme un désavantage. Chose certaine c’est que vous n’allez jamais enviez le Chevrolet Tahoe ou Cadillac Escalade de votre voisin à moins de vouloir plus de chrome. Ces deux offrandes de Toyota offrent beaucoup de contenu et de qualité malgré un prix qui risque d’être épicé.

Ces véhicules sont nécessaires malgré tout et j’en suis conscient. C’est bien beau de parler de consommation d’essence, mais si vous avez à remorquer une charge en plus de transporter quatre ou cinq passagers, il est difficile de contrer la logique d’un gros VUS. Je souhaite simplement que les consommateurs fassent des choix plus judicieux en se fiant à leurs vrais besoins. Si on peut être plus consciencieux de cette manière, la planète ne peut que mieux s’en sortir.

Nous voulons des voitures coupé-sport

You wonder sometimes about car manufacturers. Occasionally vehicles are released that just make one stop and say “what are they thinking?” Cars like the Cadillac Cimmaron and Pontiac Aztec are perfect examples of total failure at the corporate level. Sometimes the car companies do not make actual blunders but still leave you wondering what’s going on behind the scenes. Sports car enthusiasts often seem to get the short end of the stick and are left shaking their heads.

For years BMW had a virtual monopoly on the luxury sport coupe segment with the 3-series. Their coupes are well made, sporty and just plain good looking. Then in 2004, Nissan shocked the industry with the release of the beautiful Nissan 350Z and Infiniti G35 coupe. The duo stole the heart of just about every car enthusiast I know. Often I’ve heard people say that (supercars aside) the G35 coupe is the most beautiful car on the road today. I have to say I’d be hard pressed to disagree with that statement. Nissan hit the nail on the head and gave us enthusiasts exactly what we wanted: unbelievable value in a modestly-priced luxury sports car. BMW had little reason to be worried though as their clients stand by the BMW brand like no other but for those who didn’t have their heart set yet, the new duo provided a nice alternative.

The 350Z and G35 coupe reinvigorated Nissan to a certain level of status it hadn’t known since the original Z. I’d have expected a few of the other manufacturers to follow suit but sadly those expectations have not been met. There have been many rumours of a Lexus IS coupe and even some fancy photoshops but where the heck is it? Acura has no plans to bring back the CL luxury coupe that it discontinued in 2003. Mercedes has the C230 Sport coupe but I’d have a hard time classifying it as a sports car. The message conveyed to the auto industry should have been that we want more vehicles like the 350Z and G35 coupe. Why aren’t they listening??

Why did a vehicle like the Acura CL fail when obviously there was a huge demand for this class of car? In my opinion, a sport coupe should be smaller and sleeker. The CL reminded me of a 2nd generation TL minus the rear doors coupled with a bubbly rear end. If I’m buying a coupe, practically isn’t the first thing on my mind. Curiously though the Accord coupe does fairly well and it seems as big and bulky as the CL was. Perhaps the market for entry level coupes differs somewhat form luxury sport coupes but Honda could benefit from following Nissan’s lead in this segment. Since you shouldn’t mess with success, keeping the Accord coupe around its probably wise but the more gutsy move of bringing back the Prelude and CL with newer sleeker designs to compete with the 350Z and G35 would be quite popular among enthusiasts.

As I mentioned before, we are still waiting for an IS coupe to make an appearance. The current IS is sexy enough that it would probably be considered by many would-be coupe buyers except for the fact that Lexus seems to have a love for automatic transmissions. The only model available with a manual transmission is the IS250 RWD. That means that if you want AWD you’re out of luck. If you want an engine that can actually give other cars in the segment a run for their money you are also out of luck. Thank you Lexus for overlooking the enthusiast crowd, most of whom driving an automatic or “tiptronic” vehicle just doesn’t cut it. If BMW can offer a manual AWD vehicle then Lexus can as well. Until then, scratch them off the list of real performance contenders.

GM’s Cadillac CTS-V is also a potential competitor here. Available in 2.8L and 3.6L V6s or the 6L V8 (CTS-V), it offers a descent choice of engines and unlike the Lexus a manual transmission is available on all models. Unfortunately for enthusiasts though, the CTS-V (the one we really want) starts at $71,000. That is roughly $20,000 more than a BMW 335! GM needs to do a little better on that price but other than the CTS is an option to consider.

For now it seems the Germans still have the edge in luxury performance. Hopefully in a few years we’ll start to see a real push from other manufacturers to compete in this prestigious segment.

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Hybrid Cars

It has been almost twenty years since the Environment has been as important in the minds of North Americans as it is today. For many months now we’ve seen consistent and numerous news headlines regarding global warming. I think this is a good thing as it seems the planet is finally taking the subject seriously. I consider myself an environmentally conscious person and I always make the extra effort to recycle and conserve energy as much as possible. I just attended “Less Talk, More Action” the climate change conference that was held in downtown Montreal with speakers including Al Gore and David Suzuki and I fully support what they are trying to accomplish.

We hear of automakers are releasing more and more Hybrid models to accommodate the increasing demand to go green. I called a local Toyota dealership the other day and asked them how long the waiting list is for a Prius Hybrid. To my surprise the salesman told me about a week. I then called Honda to find out how long it would take to get a Civic Hybrid. Again, to my surprise, the wait was no more than two weeks.

So if these are all good things then why am I consistently frustrated after reading articles on Hybrid cars? While it may seem like the time of the Hybrid car is here I’m afraid I’m going to have to take exception to that argument.

I’m presently shopping for a late model vehicle as a second car and I’d absolutely love to get a Hybrid. I need something primarily get to car shows with the MontrealRacing.com kiosk stuffed in the back. A wagon or SUV would get the job done so what options do I have? I’m sorry to say not very many. At the time of this writing, a search on Hebdo found one Lexus RX400h for $53,000 and several Toyota Highlander Hybrids ranging from $35,000 to $55,000. Not exactly the best selection, especially since I was never crazy about the Highlander so let’s alter the search criteria. In fact, let’s get rid of the criteria altogether and assume I want to buy a new vehicle and I don’t care how much it costs. What can I get?

How about a BMW? No. Volkswagen? No. Mazda? Nothing. Chrysler? Same. Nissan must have a hybrid. Nope. In fact, the only automakers offering Hybrid vehicles in their showrooms at the moment are Honda (Civic, Accord), Toyota/Lexus (Prius, Camry, Highlander, GS450h, Rx400h) and Ford (Escape).

What about GM with the Saturn Vue Green Line and those Hybrid pickups? These vehicles managed to get hybrid classification but I cannot in good conscience call them hybrids. They are more like half-hybrids or hybrid wannabes. Their electric motors cannot drive the car like in a real hybrid. They only serve to shut off the motor when you are not pressing on the gas. The emissions are only reduced because less gas is consumed. How much less gas? The Silverado 4WD gets 14.3/11.3 L/100km. The non hybrid gets 17.0/13.1 L/100km. Yes, you read it correctly, a whopping savings of 2.7L/100km for city driving. That is truly pathetic when compared to the competition.

North America’s first Hybrid, the Honda Insight, was introduced way back in 1999 (production stopped last year.) In all fairness to GM I should point out that the Insight is also a half-hybrid but its 1L motor gets the best fuel economy out of any hybrid even today. I would have thought that other manufacturers would have been able to keep a similar pace but that has not been the case. GM attributes the delay to pursuing hydrogen technology first because it thought hybrids would only be a stepping stone toward the zero-emission hydrogen vehicles. Mercedes and VW are bringing more fuel efficient diesel powered cars to our shores as their answer to the green craze. The whole process is painstakingly slow. I don’t want to seem like a conspiracy nut or anything but I do suspect meddling from the oil industry. As long as there is gas to be refined I don’t think we will be seeing any viable alternatives that truly become mainstream. Hopefully I will be proved wrong.

With a selection of only eight Hybrid models being sold at thousands more than their non hybrid counterparts, it feels like we are being penalized for wanting to go green. When hybrids are being sold cheaper than regular cars and the pre-owned market has an ample supply of them, then I might say there is no reason not to own one and frown upon someone who opted for a gasoline model instead. Blame the manufacturers for dragging their feet on fuel efficiency.

On a side note, you may have read reports on former US Vice President Al Gore’s energy consumption at his Tennessee mansion. Gore’s home consumes more energy in a month then the average American household does in a year. The report was conveniently made public the day after Gore received an Oscar for his global warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”. Obviously the right wing neoconservatives do not like Gore’s recent surge in popularity. One can logically assume that the bigger the household, the more energy it will likely consume. Do they expect Gore (who came 527 votes away from being the leader of the free world) to move to a $150,000 condo? I sure don’t. Gore offsets his consumption by donating to a company which uses the money to invest in alternative energy anyways.

Gore’s carbon footprint is irrelevant to me. The benefits of his efforts of convincing the world of the impending doom far outweigh any cuts to his own carbon footprint might yield. In the end, the necessary changes to save the environment can only come from big business, not the individual consumer. This doesn’t mean being environmentally conscious is useless. Using your influence as a green consumer is what will force the economy in the right direction but it does mean that no matter how much we try to be individually, the problem won’t go away until our economy is based on non polluting industries.

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