Kdss - Nav - Mark Levinson - New Michelins - Clean Southern Car! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2016 Lexus IS gets revised engine lineup

Look, the old Lexus IS 250 sucked. With a slow, heavy, underpowered, thirsty, 2.5-liter V6 under hood, our own managing editor, Steven Ewing, dubbed it Jennifer Slowpez in his review. While we celebrate its death, we're raising our glass towards a far smarter lineup for Lexus' entry level sedan. As previously reported, the new rear-drive-only IS 200t steps in at the bottom of the range. You can read all about it in our original post from late last month. Today's news focuses on the V6. While the 3.5-liter V6 from the IS 350 will soldier on unchanged, Lexus is adding a detuned variant of Toyota's popular six-cylinder to create the IS 300 AWD. Where the IS 350 pumps out 306 horsepower and 277 pound-feet of torque, the all-wheel-drive-only IS 300 comes to party with a more relaxed 255 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque. That's still a hell of a lot more power than the old IS 250 AWD, which offered just 204 hp and 185 lb-ft of torque. So, there we have it – IS 200t, IS 300 AWD, IS 350, and IS 350 AWD. And of course, Lexus' performance minded F Sport package is available regardless of engine, giving owners a sharper and more stylish character for their sedan. You can check out the nitty gritty details on Lexus' rejiggering of the IS range below. Lexus IS Sport Sedan Gets Revved Up In 2016 With Three Available Engines 2.0L Twin-Scroll Turbocharged Gas Engine for New IS 200t New 3.5L V6 Engine Provides More Options for All-Weather Drive with IS 300 AWD Agile Handling Throughout IS Lineup Available F SPORT Package Heightens Driving Experience July 24, 2015 2016 Lexus IS Sedan Product Information The Lexus IS luxury sport sedan models will continue to delight drivers with their balance of luxury, agility and sportiness as they enter 2016 model year with a three model strategy with IS 200t, IS 300 AWD, and IS 350. The former IS 250 and IS 250 AWD are discontinued. The IS adds to its stable of engines and receives a turbocharged gas engine, bringing the number of engine alternatives to three. Drivers will have a hard time deciding which IS to take home with rear-wheel drive (RWD), all-weather drive (AWD) and F SPORT variants. The new IS 200t, available as RWD only, features a 2.0-liter twin-scroll turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine with intercooler paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission. This engine cranks out 241 hp and has 258 lb.-ft. torque at 1,650-4,400 rpm.

Lexus IS F avoids cancellation, priced from $63,350*

Ever since the redesigned Lexus IS hit the scene, we've been wondering about the 416-horsepower IS F model, and now we finally have some answers. For 2014, the IS F carries over with the previous bodystyle, and Lexus gives its sport sedan some small changes to go with a higher starting price of $63,350 (*not including $910 for destination) when it goes on sale in October. Compared to the 2013 model (shown above), the price has risen by $1,600.
For that extra money, buyers will get a couple styling changes like the new carbon fiber decklid spoiler and LED fog lights, as well as some minor interior updates like headrests embossed with the "F" logo, Alcantara trim added to the door panels and center console cover, semi-aniline leather replacing the black leather and black Alcantara seat-inserts added to cars equipped with the red leather seats.
The price hike for the IS F is considerably higher than the rest of the 2014 IS lineup such as the $885 increase for the new IS250 and the $855 drop for the IS350 while pricing for both IS Convertible models (IS250C and IS350C) went up by $100 each. Speaking of price increases, Lexus has also increased its destination charge slightly from $895 up to $910.

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.