2008 Lexus IS 250 F Sport Follow-Up Test

There are three hormone levels in the Lexus IS range, and they play out like this. The IS 350? Manly. The IS-F? Hair in all the wrong places. IS 250? The one that shaves its legs.

In fact, that should be in the ads. The Lexus IS 250. The Relentless Pursuit of a Delicious Mochacrapiata. Sure it's the only Lexus you can get with three pedals, but it's also the only IS where you would dare prune its deck lid of identification. Ten minutes with a heat gun, and Mary's IS 250 is easily mistaken for Mark's more folic IS 350.

And now that we've antagonized every guy who has ever bought the weak-suck, small-engine version of the rear-wheel-drive Lexus sport sedan, we offer a solution to their dilemma. It's called 2008 Lexus IS 250 F Sport, and it can turn your girlfriend's IS 250 into a ride you can drive without a bag over your head.

The Parts List
Basically Lexus (and Lexus dealers) has gotten into the tuner parts business. Make that the quality tuner parts business, because the majority of the hardware bolted to our test vehicle works, and works well. After a couple of weeks in the car, we only question the worth of a few items.

The list of parts bolted to our tester is a long one, but Lexus doesn't force you to buy it all at once in a package like many manufacturers (think Acura). Instead, you can pick and choose as your wallet and discretion allow. This is important, because this F Sport stuff is expensive.

Total dollars for the parts on our 2008 Lexus IS 250 F Sport is a staggering $13,342, and that's not including its rather large 35-series Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires, the labor to install all the parts or sales tax. For that rather large sum you get:

19-inch forged wheels: $2,196
Front brake upgrade: $3,025
Rear brake upgrade: $2,550
Exhaust system: $1,470
Air intake: $455
Bilstein dampers: $740
Lowering springs: $299
Carbon-fiber engine cover: $865
Clutch: $599
Quick-shift kit: $300
Rear chassis brace: $375
Sway-bar kit: $495

All of this comes with a 12-month warranty from the date of installation, or for the balance of the new car warranty in force at the date of installation, whichever is greater when the parts are installed by an authorized Lexus dealer. If you install them yourself or pay somebody other than a Lexus dealer to turn the wrenches, then the warranty is for 12 months from the date of purchase and limited to the replacement cost of the F Sport part only.

Does it all perform as advertised? Sorta.

Smart buyers will pass on the cheesy engine cover, the air intake and that pricey exhaust system. The nearly $3,000 saved will buy the set of sticky Michelins and put about $1,500 toward your installation costs. Plus the engine modifications don't really add any performance to the vehicle, the intake does nothing but shiny up the underhood environment and the exhaust only makes the car obnoxiously loud. Trust us, we know. We took it to the test track.

At the Test Track
And the test track does not lie. On the quarter-mile, the 2008 Lexus IS 250 F Sport covers the distance in 15.7 seconds at 89 mph. That's just one-tenth of a second quicker than the 2007 Lexus IS 250 with six-speed manual transmission we tested. It's also kinda slow, and that's the No. 1 reason why the IS 250 is kind of a chick car.

That tenth of a second can be attributed to the F Sport's stronger clutch and sticky 255/35ZR19 rear tires on lightweight wheels. (In fact, Lexus says these F Sport forged aluminum wheels are 5-6 pounds lighter than the stock 18s, which definitely helps the car accelerate.)

Zero to 60 mph is an equally lethargic 7.5 seconds (7.2 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip). The sedan's 2.5-liter V6 is rated at just 204 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 185 pound-feet of torque at 4,800 rpm, which isn't even enough to spin those big Michelins — not even with a clutch dump at the 6,500-rpm redline.

You remember that $3,000 you saved when you didn't buy the engine cover, the air intake and the fart can exhaust? Maybe you should spend it on a turbo kit.

The F Sport clutch can sure take a pounding. It made it through a hard day of testing without once feeling like a weak point. According to Lexus, the clutch delivers 16 percent more clamping force than the stocker, yet engagement is smooth and the pedal effort remains light. Driving this car in stop-and-go traffic remains a pain in the butt, not your left leg.

On the other hand, the IS's six-speed doesn't like the drag strip much. Its shift throws are long, even with the billet-aluminum quick-shifter kit, which Lexus says shortens lever travel by 35 percent, and it does not like to be hurried. Around town it's OK, but try to bang 'em like Ronnie Sox and you'll get nothing for your efforts except missed shifts and broken parts.

The Right Look
It's too bad the F Sport exhaust system is just noisy snake oil, because its big chrome pipes look fantastic. They're just the right size, and Lexus didn't skimp on the quality, because you get double-walled polished tips that look expensive. In fact, they look worlds better than the stacked faux pipes on the Lexus IS-F. (Sorry, Louis.)

We can say the same about the entire F Sport line. Everything is of high quality and each and every part enhances the appearance of the IS sedan. This car is proof that the stock-bodied IS doesn't need a silly body kit glued to its ankles to get noticed. With just a set of lowering springs and wide, deep-dish wheels (8 inches wide in front and 9 inches wide in the rear), this IS is a study in understated cool.

Our tester's dark gray skin really works with the menacing graphite gray finish of the F Sport wheels. It's a simple, timeless and tough look that makes an IS-F look like a reject from the Tokyo Auto Salon.

Handles Like an IS-F
And it turns.

Powerslides are impossible with the big tires and little engine, but this car scorches our track with handling numbers that exceed the performance of the mighty IS-F. No, we're not kidding. This IS runs 71 mph through our slalom, circles our skid pad at 0.89g of lateral grip and stops from 60 mph in just 109 feet.

The last IS-F we tested managed 70.2 mph in the slalom, recorded 0.93g on the skid pad and stopped from 60 mph in 112 feet.

We couldn't believe it either. But the best part is the F Sport's highway ride. If you bought an IS-F, you're probably a regular at the chiropractor by now, but this IS actually rides well, and there's even less impact harshness than in a stock IS 250.

Credit goes to Bilstein for the impressive all-round tuning of the F Sport dampers. They are wonderfully matched with the shorter, progressive-rate springs (1 inch shorter in front; 0.7 inch shorter in the rear). Since the 2008 Lexus IS 250's stock springs are not progressive, the new springs are initially more compliant, which helps deliver that silky ride, but they firm up nicely deeper in their travel and keep the sedan off its bump stops.

Although they aren't adjustable, the stiffer F Sport antiroll bars are also worth the cash. They set up the car with just enough body roll and a safe (maybe a little too much) amount of understeer. Considering the car's lack of power, a little more rotation on corner entry would be nice. As it is, you can literally fling this sedan into corners with zero fear that you'll come out the other end backward.

Then there are the brakes, which look awesome and feel great. For $5,575, they better. For that you get huge drilled two-piece rotors that measure 14 inches in front and 13.6 inches in the rear, plus six-piston calipers in front and four-piston calipers in the rear, not to mention bragging rights at the local Hot Import Nights.

Lexus even finished the calipers in F Sport blue with white F Sport logos, so nobody will mistake them for Brembos. Funny thing is, they might be Brembos, since Lexus won't tell us what companies supply these F Sport parts (aside from the Bilstein dampers). All Lexus will say is that all the parts are designed and engineered by TRD. Um, that's Toyota Racing Development, as in Toyota's in-house speed shop.

It All Fits the IS 350
If you possess a Y chromosome and own a Lexus IS 250 (hopefully, it has a six-speed manual or you're really hopeless), the time has come to prove you've got a pair. All these parts are available at your local Lexus dealer and all but a few improve the vehicle they are bolted to, as in this 2008 Lexus IS 250 F Sport.

And that includes the IS 350.

That's right, all of these parts will also better an IS 350, which is already pretty damn good. Plus, there are fewer bits to buy. Because the IS 350 is only available with an automatic transmission, there's no need to buy the quick-shift kit or the clutch. That's another $1,500 or so (including labor) in your sticky-tire fund.

If it were us, we'd buy a certified pre-owned IS 350, take it up a notch with the F Sport parts and call it a day. As we said, we would skip the underhood stuff and the exhaust, instead putting that money toward some Advans or some PS2s. The finished ride will pack a combination of acceleration, handling, braking, comfort, looks and practicality few on the road can match.

And of course nobody could accuse us of driving our sister's car.

The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.