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What's with this fixation on lack of low end torque. Seems these auto reviewers have spent the last 5 years only reviewing turbo & EV cars that they have lost the feel of a NA car . The IS500 does 0-60 in 4.3 seconds , yet many reviewers deem the car to be too slow . That's pretty darn quick and would smoke 99% of vehicles on the road . I don't know what the torque curve looks like exactly , but I'm pretty sure you are getting well over 300 ft-lb torque at 3000 RPM before peaking out at 395 at 4800. Even my 350 starts to pull hard at 3500 RPM. I don't need to redline it all the time to get high performance.
I guess when you are used to turbos delivering constant torque from 1500 to 5000 RPM, an IS having "nonexistent torque at low RPM" seems like it is standing still at low RPM's.
They are always trying to compare the IS500 to a high performance sports car it seems . Lexus prides itself in great quality, comfort, luxury, safety, reliability, good materials of construction, and yes , even a little bit of performance. I find Lexus does a phenomenal job finding just the right balance between all these aspects. They have spent 3 decades in the "relentless pursuit of perfection". And it shows in the phenomenal ride quality, fit and finish, comfort, safety , and a car built with high quality materials. The car weights nearly 4000 lbs because of all the safety features and technology. I'm certain Lexus can make a 3,000 lb IS500 if they wanted to.
Yet despite all that , it still can smoke the rear tires and give a "real sports car" a run for its money .
Plus it's just not true. I've been in a GS-F, plennnnnty of torque when you're just puttering around. But then it's a screamer once you put your foot down. It's still a 5.0L V8 which is a quite healthy displacement.
I agree, it's like reviewers have forgotten all about NA cars and engines, their characteristics.
What's with this fixation on lack of low end torque. Seems these auto reviewers have spent the last 5 years only reviewing turbo & EV cars that they have lost the feel of a NA car . The IS500 does 0-60 in 4.3 seconds , yet many reviewers deem the car to be too slow . That's pretty darn quick and would smoke 99% of vehicles on the road . I don't know what the torque curve looks like exactly , but I'm pretty sure you are getting well over 300 ft-lb torque at 3000 RPM before peaking out at 395 at 4800. Even my 350 starts to pull hard at 3500 RPM. I don't need to redline it all the time to get high performance.
I guess when you are used to turbos delivering constant torque from 1500 to 5000 RPM, an IS having "nonexistent torque at low RPM" seems like it is standing still at low RPM's.
They are always trying to compare the IS500 to a high performance sports car it seems . Lexus prides itself in great quality, comfort, luxury, safety, reliability, good materials of construction, and yes , even a little bit of performance. I find Lexus does a phenomenal job finding just the right balance between all these aspects. They have spent 3 decades in the "relentless pursuit of perfection". And it shows in the phenomenal ride quality, fit and finish, comfort, safety , and a car built with high quality materials. The car weights nearly 4000 lbs because of all the safety features and technology. I'm certain Lexus can make a 3,000 lb IS500 if they wanted to.
Yet despite all that , it still can smoke the rear tires and give a "real sports car" a run for its money .
Thank you! I was thinking the same thing when reading the Motor Trend review. Coming from my small-turbo VWs and having a 330i in the garage - it's true any of those German cars will scoot from low RPM. However, it's not like no one's home at low RPM in the Lexus. It's still got 3.5 liters to play with - even more so in the case of the IS 500. Plus, I like that feeling of the acceleration building as you go up in revs. It's especially noticeable to me right around 5000 RPM - the engine feels like it's had its morning coffee after that. But even in the 3000-5000 RPM range it feels plenty strong for just messing around on a back road.
When I drove the RC F there was never a time where it felt like the power was "nonexistent". Sure, it was most exciting when actually revving it out, but man... it'll get out of its own way.
The MotorTrend article made me laugh, seriously - they were talking about .1 (one-tenth) of a sec a "Performance Flaw" -- Anyone who has driven performance cars, thats incalculatable in the real world. I think they did their darnest to downplay the gas-guzzling V8's and forward their greener mentality. Like someone said on here, they shouldn't be allowed to review cars anymore especially performance cars. I'm never buying MotorTrend Magazine ever again (You hear that Motor Trend? and thanks for the laughs)
(Flaws for "One tenth" sec) Oh please. Go back to reviewing EV's, and Prius(s) MotorTrend.
In MotorTrend's defense, this "article" was featured because the IS500 is a finalist for their 2022 Car of the Year, so perhaps sort of an honor. Not that that means anything though. Last year's COTY was a Mercedes E class. Really? Sure, car of the year. Literally. Not so great after that first year. Also, the Nissan Sentra was a 2021 finalist. LOL.
Hi All,
I'm interested in the new IS500, I think it may be the next daily car for me. Currently have a 2006 IS350 with about 200k miles. The thing is I really love my wheel/tire/brake package (Volk Progressiv TE's & F-sport brake package) and want to use it on my next car. I know the tires will work but can the wheels and brakes transfer to the new IS500? I think it would look great because of the F-sport brakes going on an F-sport car. The brakes may also be a weak part of the IS500 as well so that would be a win/win. I'm also not sure if the F-sport blue color on the brakes would be a match to the blue color of the IS500? Would love to photoshop the wheel/tires onto an IS500 to see what it would look like.
11-09-21, 02:17 PM
