Here’s a video to go along with Auto Express’ comparison test of the Lexus IS-F, BMW M3, Mercedes C63 and Audi RS4, though the RS4 is omitted from the footage, due to the fact that it’s been discontinued:

It’s nice to see all three cars as they cut a line across the same track, but the presenter doesn’t address the comparison test at all.

The Car Enthusiast has posted up a review of the Lexus IS-F, and it’s quite clear it wasn’t what they were expecting at all:

For Lexus, this section is key to the IS F being taken seriously as a performance car for real driving enthusiasts. The competition is not only fierce, but established. Car nuts know what to expect from BMW, Audi and Mercedes in regard to focused performance cars, but until now Lexus will not have featured in their shortlist of sport saloons.

If our first inklings are anything to go by, that will change very quickly.

As more and more cars achieve impressive on-paper figures, it’s how they deliver their performance that sets them apart, and the IS F scores highly with linear and seemingly endless acceleration.

This is an interesting review, as it’s squarely aimed at the true enthusiast, and reads well. One thing that’s mentioned, and I think it’s a very valid point, is that the IS-F and its competitors are really quite even in terms of performance figures, but it’s the way that performance is interpreted that makes all of the difference.

Ranking these cars in any way, unless it’s purely by the quarter-mile and 0-60, means that a person’s own preference and expectation plays the leading role.

Autoweek has turned in their long term report on the Lexus LS 460L, and the result was just what you’d expect, they didn’t like the prospect of returning the keys whatsoever:

…when it comes to extended, over-the-road, full-zoot, family-vacation luxury, our long-term Lexus LS 460 L can’t get enough.

Or it couldn’t. We turned in the keys in December, and the bigger bummer is that we’ve yet to figure out what can equal its long-haul abilities.

What makes the Lexus perfect for road trips are its ultrasealed cabin and a ride as plush as that of an old-school Caddy. That is to say, it couldn’t be smoother or quieter.

“The LS is a terrific cruiser, but a great driver? Not so much,” said one editor. “It loves the open highway, and it gobbles up miles faster than my kid eats Skittles. On a long road trip, you really appreciate a quiet ride, and few cars are quieter than this big Lexus. And the sound system rocks; with all the choices of XM at your fingertips, finding something to listen to is easy. For this trip, I used the navigation system, and XM traffic alerted me to a couple of construction tie-ups. Very nice.”

There were some minor issues experienced, including an accidental triggering of the pre-collision system (which resulted in an unimpressed editor) and an issue with the automatic trunk release, but all in all, it looked to be a very positive experience with the LS 460L.

From one Fifth Gear presenter to the next, this time we have Tom Ford raving about the Lexus IS-F, by way of Top Gear Magazine:

The Merc C63 is properly mental. The RS4 (I know it’s out of production), is a brilliant, brilliant thing. The BMW M3 brings together so much tech and knowledge that the sheer speed it can amass is almost inconceivable.

And then we have the Lexus IS-F. And I love it. Why? Because I’m not a racing driver. I realise that real life is as important as the weekend blast of the car journalist. I constantly think what it would be like to live with this car for a couple of years, how successful it would be as my day-to-dayer.

It isn’t particularly hardcore, really. Not when faced with the M3 or the C63. It’s actually more like the RS4 - a better all-rounder that loses perhaps the last five per cent of speed in pursuit of the real world. The steering has an awfully dead feel to it, and there’s a dearth of seat-of-the-pants information. But there’s an ease to the eight-speed auto and creamy-smooth V8 that means you could live with this car.

Without a doubt, the heaviest praise an automotive journalist can give a car is that they themselves want to buy one, which Ford quite clearly does.

One thing he does mention, which I knew but somehow forgot, is that there’s only 150 IS-Fs planned for the UK, which will make them a rare sight indeed.

Tiff Needell from British car show Fifth Gear got his hands on a Lexus IS-F, and despite his rather strange presentation style, turns in an enjoyable review:

It’s funny, Needell’s biggest complaint is something that I thought myself — there’s an awful lot of beeping going on while driving the IS-F in its direct shift mode, and I imagine it would get quite tiring after awhile. You would think there must be a way to turn the beeping off, but I suppose the warning’s in place for good reason.

(Thanks Jarrett!)

Dan Neil’s review of the Lexus IS-F for the Los Angeles Times is entertaining from start to finish, particularly this passage about making the IS-F sing:

The engine’s most vulgar feature, however, is the dual-inlet intake manifold, found somewhere inside the maze of engine plumbing. If you mash the gas in this car hard enough, this second inlet channel opens and the engine note transforms from a mellow Japanese wooffle to a soul-tingling, lycanthropic howl. Stay off da moorrrs, laddie!

The car also sings. The IS-F is equipped with an eight-speed automatic transmission, in which the gear ratio intervals are very evenly spaced. Eight speeds happen to correlate to eight notes of the diatonic scale — do, re, mi, etc. If you hold the throttle and speed steady, and you shift up and down with the shifter paddles, you can actually coax simple melodies out of the stacked-pipe quad exhaust, for instance, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” And, yes, I get paid for this.

It’s very clear that Reid enjoyed the IS-F a great deal, voicing only one complaint about the low-revving engine, which issues a warning should the RPMs go over 6,300 and cuts the fuel at 6,800. Of course, this isn’t such a big deal when you have eight gears to cycle through.