Lexus IS350.....dat touchpad tho.

[Sasquachulator]

So I managed to test drive an 2022 IS350 AWD yesterday.....the car is...underwhelming. Its an Fsport2, no adaptive suspension or Sport+ mode.

Its a fine car...it just didn't wow me. The power was there, but i had to put it into M mode, 1st gear to really feel it, otherwise it felt like it was accelerating one gear too high (so it felt slow all the way to redline). There was a good amount of shove when i did find it. Transmission is...meh (its the 6 speed, we dont get the RWD models up here in Canada unless someone manages to get a 4cyl model). Paddles suck, very slow and not super responsive (our 8 speed in the X1 is immediate). Downshifts are more or less fine, upshifts lag. didnt really car as I dont care for paddles.

The AWD hump doesnt feel as intrusive as before the refresh/update in 2022. Probably cuz the car's front end got widened abit and matches the RC i think?

Interior is...interesting. It felt like a good place to be, the substansial thickness of the center stack gives the car a premium feeling. The material quality....is questionable. Theres more plastic than i'd prefer (not soft touch, but not cheapo hard touch, would like to see more leather/leatherette surfaces and stiching to break up the plastic bits and give it a more premium feel) the tactile feeling of the knobs were excellent, the touch slider for the AC is actually quite good and very responsive. Toyota's reliance on plastic bits that mimic metal or brushed aluminum needs to actually look more metal and less "shiny painted plastic". The revision made to include the pretty big touch screen and the RC tweaked layout makes it actually feel more "modern" than the pre-refresh cars somehow.

Its roomy, comfortable, not alot of rear headroom and trunk space isnt very spacious.

And now the Touchpad....the dreaded touchpad. I never used the thing before so i was expecting some horrifics based on every reviewer hating it....
However IMO its not that bad at all. The haptic feedback is very strong so you feel the clicks as you navigate the menu. It seemed pretty easy to scroll through them too. But i did notice (immediately btw) some quirks:
1.) The UI is very busy. Lots of text menus to scroll through. I had no idea how to deactivate the navigation turn-by-turn but I just didnt bother trying.
2.) The touchpad doesnt seem to like any kind of angled motion. On the map screen its fine since you control the cursor but the menus you have to scroll left/right or up/down (since theres no actual curser outside of the map screen), otherwise its bouncing somewhere you didnt expect it to. Knowing this the touchpad isnt hard to use at all.

The whole thing just feels way overblown. I didnt like the joystick/mouse thing cuz it felt wierd but this worked much better. The UI needed to be simplified for the pad to work though, like how Windows8 was made for touch use vs a mouse. In fact i liked the touchpad vs the rotary knob in Idrive for one thing, it FELT like a more direct connection to the screen than the knob. Think of using the knob like an etch-a-sketch vs a computer touchpad (not quite to that extreme but should give you an idea of directness). Obviously its moot as Toyota/Lexus is going towards that touchscreen (It feels like they're cheapening Lexus though, as the touchscreen UI is just a light reskin between Lexus and Toyota). The touchpad gave it a differentiator, good or bad (imo the UI was the biggest problem with it) but now it starts feeling like Toyota is just making Lexus Toyota+ instead of its own thing. I do like the interior materials used in the other cars better than the IS though (like the ES, LS, LC with the more up-to-date design language, even the UX which has more soft touch plastic than i'd prefer, and the RX with its newer design language, etc)

Oh and BTW i compared it with a 2018 BMW 430i gran coupe. It has a touchscreen but they didnt move it forward so its a bit of a reach to use. Idrive is idrive, and its benefit is that the UI doesnt have nearly as much stuff to scroll through, making things a bit easier and quicker. The 430 actually felt good (i think i pushed it a bit more than the IS). Powerwise the IS felt more comparable to the 440i i test drove about a month ago, even off the line (The 440i's pull is massive though, but that 2GR is no slouch). The 430 doesnt pull nearly as hard as either. Rear seat space felt comparable between the two, less headroom in the 4 series though. Hatchback still wins for me.

I don't think I'll be considering an IS now. Might want to give the 500 a go and maybe a 350 with the fsport3 package with the adaptive and sport+, to see if that helps the car any. As specced though with the Fsport2 its underwhelming.

[FR-S2GT86]

The IS, the last Lexus model to sport a manual transmission. If Lexus would bring a manual back for at least a few of their sportier models, I might consider buying one.

[alphasaur]

rwd with the 8speed is the way to go. Unfortunate that with the sport package it's priced near 50ish K.

Recommend you try driving a giulia. They are EXCELLENT.

[FR-S2GT86]

I have a very narrow list of automobile manufacturers that I will purchase from. This list excludes almost all vehicles from the Stellantis line. The one possible exception would be their Miata-based Fiat Spider, and that would only ever be for an engine swap project, and I may as well just buy a hardtop MX-5 in that case.

[alphasaur]

Originally Posted by FR-S2GT86

I have a very narrow list of automobile manufacturers that I will purchase from. This list excludes almost all vehicles from the Stellantis line. The one possible exception would be their Miata-based Fiat Spider, and that would only ever be for an engine swap project, and I may as well just buy a hardtop MX-5 in that case.

the turbo 2.0 in the giulia is stout, but whatever floats your boat.

[Sasquachulator]

Originally Posted by alphasaur

rwd with the 8speed is the way to go. Unfortunate that with the sport package it's priced near 50ish K.

Recommend you try driving a giulia. They are EXCELLENT.

Yeah again we don't get the RWD/8 speed combo up in Canada so we're stuck with the AWD/6speed. The only way to get a RWD/8speed up here is with the IS300 4cyl RWD or the IS500, and i dont think ive ever seen the IS300 4cyl recently. Ive seen a few IS500's and i still would like to give it a try.

I keep forgetting about the Gulia. I might give a try some day.

[alphasaur]

Originally Posted by Sasquachulator

Yeah again we don't get the RWD/8 speed combo up in Canada so we're stuck with the AWD/6speed. The only way to get a RWD/8speed up here is with the IS300 4cyl RWD or the IS500, and i dont think ive ever seen the IS300 4cyl recently. Ive seen a few IS500's and i still would like to give it a try.

I keep forgetting about the Gulia. I might give a try some day.

I didn't think the giulia would be as good as it is. My sister got one and it's quickly become my favorite sedan.