Lexus F-Sport

Lexus is not the first company that comes to mind when you think about tire-vaporizing track monsters. It doesn’t have the same racing heritage as the likes of Audi or the depth of performance models as Mercedes-Benz. But the company is quickly making up for lost time with its most recent F Performance Vehicles - the muscle car-like IS F and the exulted LFA - as well as its new line of F Sport equipment add-ons. Even though Lexus lacks the motorsports pedigree, it’s taking no prisoners in its approach, modifying its DNA along the way for a more aggressive and competitive attack on the market. And it can only help that Toyota Racing Development is lending a serious helping hand behind the scenes...

We recently had an opportunity to spend time in the 2010 Lexus IS350 with substantial F Sport mods as well as the 2010 Lexus IS F and we walked away both tremendously impressed and moderately puzzled. Both vehicles fall into the luxury sports car segment and, in their fully optioned form hovering around $55-60k, compete in a tough class against cars such as the BMW M3, Cadillac CTS-V and Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG. And so, along with reviewing both models, we set out to answer two questions: 1) how does the Lexus "F" offering stack up against the competition and 2) does an IS350, with all the F-Sport add-ons, sort of equal a Lexus IS F? Since this is a relatively new market direction for the Japanese automaker best known for its conservative perspective, we wanted to clear up some of the confusion--- for us and for you.