I have found out today that in Aug of 06 the IS250 will turn into the IS300. It will get the engine that the GS300 has now and the the GS300 will get the 3.5 and turn into the GS350. This is confirmed in a email that someone at Lexus has fwd to me. I am going to try to black out the names on the fwd and scan it and post it. I am not sure if the hp or anything elsewill be the same as the current GS300 but I will let you know and hopefully find a way to post this. So beware if your intersted in the IS250 that the dealers should know by now that it will not be here for long. My contact who sent it to me subjected it to me the "curse of the 250".

 

I think 2006 will be an interesting, potentially pivotal move in the engine stakes battle for Lexus.

And it'll be interesting to see the IS 350 => IS 250+IS350 => IS 300 + IS 350 again.

 

So does that mean the 2.5L V6 will disappear? IS 250 is the only one that uses it, correct?

Cheers,
Kermee

 

I agree it will be a very interesting year 07. I don't know about the 2.5 what will happen to it?

 

Even if you didn’t have the inside info, this plan of action seems logical. I always wondered how they would bring the GS350 here and what would happen to the current engines.

 

So it looks like maybe GS350/GS430 and IS300/IS350 for 2007 in North America.

 

well that sucks.. if that happens imma sell my car and get the is300 and the wait for the navi along w/ a few g loss

 

I don't think so. Model year 2007 means it should go on sale in late 2006, just one year after the initial IS launch. Aside from the ES250, no Lexus model has ever had such a short life span, and I doubt there ever will be another one. It's not like the IS250 is doing poorly right now.

 

despite if this is true or not, 2.5l GR engine would be used in rest of the world in IS250 because of the fuel consumption, and is used in plenty of Toyota cars in Japan.

 

it's logical for IS250 to become 300, as competition plays catchup--new G35 over the horizon, 3 series being updated with larger engines--IS250 will be left in the dust.

 

What's the 3 series getting? It only uses 1 engine right now

 

I think bmw is getting a change in the model numbers.....328 = 255 hp and 335 model= 300+ hp

 

I knew this was going to happen. There's always a price to pay for getting a car in the first year.
Oh well.

 

I agree that replacing the 250 with 300 only one year into the model cycle is not economically logical for Lexus. Also, it does not make sense considering the current sales of the 250 and 350. Eventually, I think the 250 will be replaced by a 300 or have its HP and torque boosted, but not for the 2007 model year. There will probably be little if no changes for 2007, in my opinion.

 

That's odd really. I thought that the 300 engine is being phased out.

My initial thought is that the 250 will stick for a couple of years, discontinued, and then the IS460 would be introduced. The two IS offered by 2008 would have been the 350 and the "super-charged" 460.

I highly doubt this information. It's too soon to change, and they're changing the IS with the wrong engine...