VroomVroom
Autotechnik Ace
Specifications
Model tested: Lexus IS 250C 2.5-litre V6
Price as tested: £43,250
Range price: £34,550 - £43,250
Insurance group as tested: N/A
CO2 emissions as tested: 219g/km
EuroNCAP result: N/A
Date tested: June 2009
Road tester: Vijay Pattni
Fancy a jaunt down to the South of France to weekend in your holiday idyll? Loaded? Bored of BMW?
If you answered yes to any of these – and we suspect there may be a few of you - Lexus may very well have built your next car.
Vijay Pattni went to Nice – just outside glamour central Cannes – to drive Lexus' very first four-seat convertible.
Good things come to those who wait – and those who have waited for a composed four-seat drop-top which isn't a BMW now have something else to choose from.
Enter the brand-new Lexus IS 250C.
Sharing only a handful of trim parts with its four-door saloon sibling, the new two-door IS 250C is Lexus’ take on the premium convertible.
And with a massive range of four-seat convertibles on the market, the new Lexus enters a tough arena. Knowing this, the new IS 250C trades heavily on one of Lexus’ most prized qualities – refinement.
Hip to be square
“We wanted to attract a totally new and younger customer to Lexus”, explains Keiichi Yoneda, chief engineer of the IS 250C.
By ‘younger’, Lexus means customers in their fifties. And customers in their fifties generally don’t like bone-jarring hip-displacing chassis technology.
So Lexus refined the IS 250C to the point of perfection. The drop-top employs underbody reinforcements and a body which has been stiffened by 50 per cent to keep the dreaded convertible scuttle shake to a minimum, while even the windscreen uses ‘acoustic’ glass to reduce vibrations and noise.
And the technology behind the folding metal roof is a telling indication of the IS 250C’s unique selling point. Engineers built in a 'roof brake' so it slows down when it closes and doesn't slam shut.
So what does this mean when you peel the tin off and head out onto the open roads?
First, the ride is effortlessly composed. The chassis translates little into the cabin, and road nuances are comfortably filtered before they reach your backside. We couldn’t find any scuttle shake - where the body flexes out of shape over rough surfaces - to write home about, and when the mood takes you, the IS 250C has good levels of grip.
The electrically-assisted steering is – again – comfortably weighted, and strikes a perfect balance between, say, the heavier more direct sports steering of a BMW 325i and the more relaxed CLK. It requires little effort to hustle the IS 250C quickly, but is more than capable of offering up a spirited drive.
Smooth operator
With the roof down, the body rarely loses composure, and rides on a creamy blanket of suppleness. Push the big IS harder and it replies with degrees of understeer to let you know it is struggling, but in the nature of the car, it sorts everything out and then tells you. It’s almost as though the car has an on-board filter which assesses the rough stuff and then dials everything down before it hits you.
Roof up, the cool Lexus offers a calming ambience. The noise is near silent – unless the engine is singing – and the fit, finish and quality of the interior is exceptional for a £36,000 four-seat convertible.
In typically Japanese fashion, the standard-fit 2.5-litre V6 unit works fastest when wrung out about 4,000rpm. Floor the throttle and the engine zings and sings its way to the redline while the dashboard lights up like a circus signalling urgency. Progress is swift, but smooth and controlled. You notice the smooth progress of speed rather than feeling a kick in your kidneys. But considering its 50-year-old-plus target market, this is probably a really good thing.
With 208bhp and 185lb/ft of pulling power, the IS 250C gets to 62mph in a leisurely nine seconds and tops out at 130mph, while still returning 30.4mpg on the combined cycle.
You get lots of standard equipment for your money too, including stability control, traction control, cruise control, electronic brake force distribution, an 8-speaker Mark Levinson audio system, speed-sensitive power steering, leather and 8-way electrically adjustable front seats.
Lexus aims to sell less than 1,000 IS 250C units in the UK per year. Compare that to the BMW 3 Series drop-top estimated UK sales of 7,000, and Lexus is aiming for a modest bite of the soft-top market.
Sure, the Beemer has been doing its thing for more than 30 years and its dominance of the market is solid. So Lexus has waited wisely before throwing its hat into the ring. With its new IS 250C, it has struck a balance with a solid, grippy and composed convertible which simply oozes comfort, class and absolute refinement. And it ain’t a 3 Series.
Luxury Lexus convertible beats BMW? - Auto Trader UK - Features - News and Reviews Hub
Model tested: Lexus IS 250C 2.5-litre V6
Price as tested: £43,250
Range price: £34,550 - £43,250
Insurance group as tested: N/A
CO2 emissions as tested: 219g/km
EuroNCAP result: N/A
Date tested: June 2009
Road tester: Vijay Pattni
Fancy a jaunt down to the South of France to weekend in your holiday idyll? Loaded? Bored of BMW?
If you answered yes to any of these – and we suspect there may be a few of you - Lexus may very well have built your next car.
Vijay Pattni went to Nice – just outside glamour central Cannes – to drive Lexus' very first four-seat convertible.
Good things come to those who wait – and those who have waited for a composed four-seat drop-top which isn't a BMW now have something else to choose from.
Enter the brand-new Lexus IS 250C.
Sharing only a handful of trim parts with its four-door saloon sibling, the new two-door IS 250C is Lexus’ take on the premium convertible.
And with a massive range of four-seat convertibles on the market, the new Lexus enters a tough arena. Knowing this, the new IS 250C trades heavily on one of Lexus’ most prized qualities – refinement.
Hip to be square
“We wanted to attract a totally new and younger customer to Lexus”, explains Keiichi Yoneda, chief engineer of the IS 250C.
By ‘younger’, Lexus means customers in their fifties. And customers in their fifties generally don’t like bone-jarring hip-displacing chassis technology.
So Lexus refined the IS 250C to the point of perfection. The drop-top employs underbody reinforcements and a body which has been stiffened by 50 per cent to keep the dreaded convertible scuttle shake to a minimum, while even the windscreen uses ‘acoustic’ glass to reduce vibrations and noise.
And the technology behind the folding metal roof is a telling indication of the IS 250C’s unique selling point. Engineers built in a 'roof brake' so it slows down when it closes and doesn't slam shut.
So what does this mean when you peel the tin off and head out onto the open roads?
First, the ride is effortlessly composed. The chassis translates little into the cabin, and road nuances are comfortably filtered before they reach your backside. We couldn’t find any scuttle shake - where the body flexes out of shape over rough surfaces - to write home about, and when the mood takes you, the IS 250C has good levels of grip.
The electrically-assisted steering is – again – comfortably weighted, and strikes a perfect balance between, say, the heavier more direct sports steering of a BMW 325i and the more relaxed CLK. It requires little effort to hustle the IS 250C quickly, but is more than capable of offering up a spirited drive.
Smooth operator
With the roof down, the body rarely loses composure, and rides on a creamy blanket of suppleness. Push the big IS harder and it replies with degrees of understeer to let you know it is struggling, but in the nature of the car, it sorts everything out and then tells you. It’s almost as though the car has an on-board filter which assesses the rough stuff and then dials everything down before it hits you.
Roof up, the cool Lexus offers a calming ambience. The noise is near silent – unless the engine is singing – and the fit, finish and quality of the interior is exceptional for a £36,000 four-seat convertible.
In typically Japanese fashion, the standard-fit 2.5-litre V6 unit works fastest when wrung out about 4,000rpm. Floor the throttle and the engine zings and sings its way to the redline while the dashboard lights up like a circus signalling urgency. Progress is swift, but smooth and controlled. You notice the smooth progress of speed rather than feeling a kick in your kidneys. But considering its 50-year-old-plus target market, this is probably a really good thing.
With 208bhp and 185lb/ft of pulling power, the IS 250C gets to 62mph in a leisurely nine seconds and tops out at 130mph, while still returning 30.4mpg on the combined cycle.
You get lots of standard equipment for your money too, including stability control, traction control, cruise control, electronic brake force distribution, an 8-speaker Mark Levinson audio system, speed-sensitive power steering, leather and 8-way electrically adjustable front seats.
Lexus aims to sell less than 1,000 IS 250C units in the UK per year. Compare that to the BMW 3 Series drop-top estimated UK sales of 7,000, and Lexus is aiming for a modest bite of the soft-top market.
Sure, the Beemer has been doing its thing for more than 30 years and its dominance of the market is solid. So Lexus has waited wisely before throwing its hat into the ring. With its new IS 250C, it has struck a balance with a solid, grippy and composed convertible which simply oozes comfort, class and absolute refinement. And it ain’t a 3 Series.
Luxury Lexus convertible beats BMW? - Auto Trader UK - Features - News and Reviews Hub
