Courtesy of my favorite Japanese Lexus blog, The Lexus Times, comes video from the Tokyo Motor Show debut of the LF-Xh:

I think all that remains is to remove the wheels and set this thing up with some sort of anti-gravity propulsion.

As expected, Lexus debuted their new F-Sport Performance Accessory Line at SEMA, and there’s no shortage of products to choose from, that is, if you have an IS 250/350. Here’s a summary of the offerings:

* The most significant upgrades are for the suspension and handling, including a lowering spring set, a sway bar set to reduce body roll, shock absorbers developed by Bilstein, and a chassis brace.

* Three separate brake upgrades will be available, front/rear performance brakes for the base IS’s, and a super-duper Continuous Carbon Ceramic&tm; Brake Upgrade for the IS-F, which, according to Motor Trend, could cost $11,000. (!!!)

* A replacement clutch, which increases the torque capacity, could be the best overall upgrade.

* The 19″ F-Sport alloys have a strangely organic look to them, and I’m not all that sure if I like them. Big fan of the dark graphite finish though.

* There’s an available new exhaust system, a replacement shifter for 30% faster shift throws, and a carbon fiber engine cover.

Pictures galore of all the available parts:

Read the rest of this entry »

Including three spy-photos of a practically-production version, Car Magazine has hit with some Lexus LF-A news:

As the engine rules in F1 have changed, so has the powerplant under development for the LF-A. It now has a V10 petrol engine of just under 5.0 litres capacity, said to develop a muscly 500bhp for 200mph performance. And a hybrid petrol-electric version is also in the pipeline, using a similar V8 hybrid system as in the LS600h.

This scoop photo proves that Lexus is paying a lot of attention to the aero package, and it’s working on a pop-up spoiler to keep the LF-A stable at all speeds, as well as a huge diffuser clearly visible at the rear.

When will we see the LF-A in showrooms? The latest news is that it’s still a couple of years away from reality …

Learning that LF-A won’t be coming out next year is a touch disappointing. Considering how many times this concept has done the Auto Show circuit, you have to wonder what problems the development team has run into. The exterior certainly looks finalized, and the engine didn’t seem to have any trouble with Nürburgring, so why the hold-up?

Doesn’t this photo from the Lexus LF-Xh debut in Tokyo, taken by Flickr user elmar.carabanes, make the concept look like a UFO?

I’m really struck by how futuristic the frontend is, imagining it on a production model boggles my mind. I could almost picture it on a spaceship.

While the official announcement won’t take place until tomorrow at SEMA, my.IS has some details on the upcoming performance accessory line for the Lexus IS. Available options include:

• 19″ Forged Alloy Wheel/Tire Package
• Performance Brake Upgrade - Front & Rear
• Carbon Fiber Engine Cover
• Performance Intake
• Lowering Spring Set
• Peformance Shock Absorber Set
• Performance Exhaust (A deeper-toned alternative to the currently-available HKS exhaust)
• Sway Bar Kit
• Lower Rear Chassis Brace

The currently-available-as-an-official-Lexus accessory Ground Effects Kit and Rear Spoiler will be considered a part of this “F” line.

With most (if not all) of these accessories no doubt coming from the IS-F development, it’s an interesting strategy employed by Lexus.

There’s a general feeling, taken from the numerous reviews, that the IS-F is destined to be a black sheep in the Lexus lineup, the ride too harsh, too much emphasis on performance. But if this performance line does adopt the “F” moniker, it all makes a lot more sense. “The IS-F ride too harsh for you? Too fast? Well, just take your IS 250 and mod it to your heart’s delight.”

[Source: my.IS]

The Lexus IS-F reviews keep on coming, this time from the folks over at Autoweek. As with most of the reviews so far, there was considerable praise for both the transmission and the on-track performance, but deviated from the consensus in regards to the ride quality:

Coming over the terrifying crest under the bridge at start/ finish, the car remained stable, despite the loss of some of the gravity it had on the rest of the course. Braking was stable, too, especially going into one, where you don’t want anything funny to happen. The hard-core will miss the ultimate truth of an all-out sport suspension. This one is softer than the previous M3’s, for instance.

Might be the only review so far to call the IS-F’s suspension “soft”.

Speaking of the M3, included in the article is a quote straight from Chief Engineer Yukihiko Yaguchi regarding the IS-F competitor:

The goal was not to make a BMW M3, Yaguchi said, though many people will see it as such.

“The M3 is fun for a really good driver, but if you’re not a really good driver, it’s not fun,” he said. “This is a car everyone can enjoy; with this car, your skill level doesn’t matter.”

Edmunds has pitted the Lexus IS-F against the Audi RS4, and in what might be the first published IS-F comparison test.

The results, unfortunately, were not pretty, as this is a fairly one-sided affair, with the RS4 pulling far ahead of the IS-F in every category. Their conclusion really says it all:

The 2009 Lexus IS-F is the kind of car that really benefits from switching off the stability control, as it’ll do some really wicked powerslides. And the IS-F handles really nicely and precisely. It’s just too much for us, though. Too much to look at, too intricate to fully appreciate and too hard-core for the street.

The all-wheel-drive 2007 Audi RS4 just plain hauls ass. It doesn’t rotate around an apex like a rear-driver. It’s less the rapier than it is the broadsword. But it’s devastatingly effective as a street machine, so it wins.

The IS-F is shaping up to be quite confounding, it seems as though its marketing slogan, “F is everything you thought we weren’t”, is profoundly dead-on.

(There’s a great video accompanying this comparo, be sure to watch it.)

The thing that stands out most about Winding Road’s review of the 2008 Lexus IS-F is its attention to detail, seemingly every faucet of the IS-F is extensively covered, and is accompanied by some of the best photos I’ve seen yet.

While most reviews so far have been positive, Winding Road is exuberant with its compliments, there’s not a single negative comment over the eighteen pages of coverage. No mention of harsh ride quality, only praise for the controversial exterior design, they couldn’t have been more impressed.

(Also be sure to check out some very nice video footage from their test drive.)

(Thanks Dan!)

The Lexus IS-F reviews keep coming in, this time from Automobile Magazine.

This review is similar in a lot of ways to Edmunds’, in that they loved the on-track performance but were disappointed with its ride harshness off it:

The IS-F rides on nineteen-inch BBS wheels that are forged rather than cast, saving somewhere around ten pounds each, but the result of all these changes is still one stiff-riding IS. The ride is fairly brutal, so your passengers certainly won’t mistake this for a regular Lexus.

More to the point, Automobile Mag doesn’t believe the IS-F is anything for its competitors to worry about:

But is that [the IS-F perfomance] enough to turn the IS-F into the kind of icon that the M3 has become? We don’t think so. The small sport sedan category is less about track prowess than it is street cred. The M3 has that in spades. Like the C63 and the RS4, it shares precious little of its driveline, suspension, and chassis with the more pedestrian car that it’s based on.

…For all the speed the IS-F gained on the track, it lost even more of the ordinary IS’s drivability and good looks. And on the streets and in the showrooms, that’s what really counts.

***

Automobile also performed a dyno test, which showed that the rear wheels are getting 333bhp and 318 lb-feet of torque, a very impressive figure:

Car Magazine has put in their two cents regarding the design of the Lexus LF-Xh concept, and they like what they see:

The concept’s exterior dimensions are similar to the RX400h’s, but crucially massaged in all the right ways to alleviate the current model’s slightly ungainly ‘body-disconnected-from-its wheels’ stance.

The LF-Xh is longer and wider (by 50mm), lower (by 70mm) and with a wheelbase stretched by 130mm. The result is an SUV that looks altogether more planted to the road and agile in a sporty coupe-like manner. The slatted razorblade-style front grille adds to the smooth feel.

I’m in total agreement about the current RX model looking a little uncomfortable on its wheels, but I think this concept takes it too far to the other extreme. However, if they simply “stretched” the entire body upwards when converting the LF-Xh concept to a production model, it’s going to be a winner, hands down.

With that in mind, I went ahead with my first ever automotive image manipulation, just to see (please ignore the rear wheel):

The front end is way off, but I like what it fortells.

***

I was a little disappointed to read Car Magazine’s blurb on the LF-Xh interior:

‘Anticipation’ is apparently a keyword for the inside in a similar way to the light that illuminates the ground by the door when you unlock the production GS model before getting in. Trouble is, Lexus is clearly not fully happy with the interior their designers made as it wouldn’t let any journalists see the finished inside first hand.

That’s just too bad.