2018 Lexus IS 350 F Sport: Review

In this video I’ll go for a test drive & completely review the NEW 2018 Lexus IS 350 F Sport! I’ll go over what’s NEW for the 2018 Lexus IS 350 F Sport along with performance, exterior, interior, tech, safety & much more.

What is up you guys cold pony here today in the 2018 lexus is350 f sport courtesy of bobby ray hall lexus in mechanicsburg pa and i’m in this one today because it is a beautiful day outside so why not drive a luxury all-wheel drive vehicle so as always you guys let’s start with pricing i first i want to mention you can get the is 350 in either rear-wheel drive

Setup or all-wheel drive i do have the all-wheel drive today of course but the rear-wheel drive is going to start at 45,000 $25.00 all-wheel drive is gonna bump you up to forty six thousand three hundred and sixty dollars and then when it comes to the powerplant of the is 350 it is gonna come from a 3.5 liter naturally aspirated v6 putting out 311 horsepower at

6400 rpm and 280 pound-feet of torque available at 4800 rpm power is gonna be sent to the ground through an 8-speed automatic transmission for the rear wheel drive or a 6-speed automatic if you go with the all-wheel drive setup but either way you are gonna get paddle shifters which we will be testing out a little bit well to see how quickly they react horse here

When it comes to the zero to 60 time rear wheel drive is gonna put you at five points once you have 5.7 with mpg numbers coming in at 20 in the city 28 on the highway for the rear-wheel drive in 19 city 26 highway for the all wheel drive it’s sopa now i think it is about time you guys let’s put the paddle shifters to the test here what i am actually going to do

Is if you push the shifter all the way to the back and to the left that is gonna put you in manual shift mode so the vehicle is not gonna ship for you and that is gonna allow me full control over the shifting here as i am currently down shifting it is holding the rpms at a higher level and the vehicle is not shifting for me so i am holding it in third gear here

You sometimes not all the time the car will actually shift for you trying to take away the control but the is350 is not so well done lexus for giving the driver that option and so here it goes you guys very quick definitely impressed definitely no issues with any delays or anything like that the paddle shifters do work very nicely on the is 350 and so but what

He did that acceleration just now i didn’t want to mention there is a circular dial just behind the shifter here that is gonna give you your driving modes and so those driving modes will include eco normal sport sport+ and custom basically what the driving modes will do is adjust things like the throttle response shift points and the steering sensitivity and i did

Just put it in that sport plus driving mode carving through these back roads in pennsylvania here and it is a much heavier steering feel i am impressed it does feel in my opinion as this car should feel i would definitely leave it at sport plus driving mode unless i guess i was cruising on the highway i wanted to save some miles per gallon i would just put in an

Eco but definitely a nice feel to the steering on this one for sure but will probably most impressed me on this one actually is the sound or lack of i should say that for instance the windshield wipers are on right now you can’t hear them and before driving this i just got out of my civic all you hear is we are but that is not the case in the is 350 very quiet and

Also i have to mention the eyes 350 it is a very comfortable ride what even venture to say it’s more comfortable than like 80% of the cars i’ve driven and this isn’t even the ls this is the highest 350 we’re talking about it it is definitely absorbing the imperfections of these pennsylvania roads very well but so then that resting from the luxury features back to

Performance a little bit breaking on this one it does comes standard with high friction brake pads with four piston front calipers in the front those brakes eyes up at 13.1 inches and they are ventilated front discs in the back 12.2 inches back there and when it comes to handling i didn’t want to mention a new feature for the is 350 for 2018 and that is gonna be

The limited slip rear differential if you go with the rear wheel drive version at least and in addition to that since i do have the f sport today i dice 350 f sport does come with an f2 suspension with adaptive dampers which is probably why this one is such a smooth ride along with electronically controlled shock absorbers and a stabilizer bar as well and when it

Comes to visibility this is a four-door so once again absolutely no issues there definitely not going to have any issues with seeing who is behind you on this one but enough of the driving dynamics you guys let’s check out the exterior of the 2018 lexus is 350 it’s it a start up front on the is 350 you will have that large lexus spindle front grille to the sides led

Headlights with led daytime running lights also specific to the f sport you have added aerodynamic hues near the bottom of the front bumper which are going to be accident in black up there and then make your way to the side f sport badging is going to come standard on that front fender looking at the mirrors there are power adjustable body coloured side mirrors

And they do come with integrated turn signals as well looking to have the wheel setup the s sport does come with s sports specific 18-inch split five-spoke alloy wheels distinguishing itself from the other is 350 s and then make your way to the back once again f sport badging back there along with led brake lights are really leds all around on this one and just

Below it all dual exhaust outlets with chrome tips so as always you guys here is that exhaust clip and now since we are around back and first i want to start with to open that trunk there actually is a button on the key fob so simply press that to unlock that and that is how you’re gonna get into this one but once opened up cargo capacity is gonna come in at

10.8 cubic feet if that was not enough space for you though there’s rear seats do fold down there is a 60/40 split for a ton of added space if you needed it there make your way to the rear legroom that comes in at thirty two point two inches so for reference i’m an even six feet tall this is how much space i had back there so kind of cramped back there probably

Better left for children on that one but for those rear passengers they will get a rear armrest with cupholders also there is rear ventilation back there and if the rear passengers look forward they will find two seat back storage pockets as well and make our way to the front seats they are f-sport bolstered and i will say the f-sport is 350 does come with some

Very comfortable seats i was definitely impressed when it came to that could definitely easily see myself taking long road trips in this one and being completely comfortable the entire time they are also heated and ventilated and you will get a 10-way power adjustable driver seat with power lumbar that passenger seat also power adjustable but 8-way power adjustable

They’re looking forward there is a tilt and telescoping steering wheel once again the f sport badging at the bottom of the steering wheel there and it is gonna be wrapped in a perforated leather and it will be heated as well put that make your way to the start up let me start by showing you guys the key here and this nifty little plastic you have the lexus logo

On the one side and when you flip it over lock unlock and again that button to pop the trunk but anyways it is all keyless access so i am gonna simply just put my foot on the brake and press that engine start button which is located just to the right of the gauges actually it said what once started up these are some of the coolest looking gauges still out there

They are lf a supercar inspired gauges you guys remember the lfa the supercar lexus spell that went for around four hundred thousand dollars if service gauges have essentially been taken from that car and put into the is 350 f sport what makes those gauges even cooler is there actually is a button on the right side of the steering wheel there which allows you to

Shift that circular column from one side to the other allowing you to display different features like a compass your radio settings different settings about the car your average miles per gallon things like that definitely a very nice looking gauge setup up there and when it comes to overall interior quality is where lexus always kills it out of all the cars i

Reviewed they always have some of the best fit and finishes and i feel like i always say that in lexus reviews but looking down the f-sport eyes 350 will come with aluminum foot pedals looking up you have a black headliner there is silver aluminum trim around this one along with an analogue clock front and center always like that added touch also a power sunroof

Will come standard on this one and another cool little feature specific to the eyes 350 f sport is there is fade to off interior lighting they call itself if i hit that lighting up there usually vehicles just blast you with instant lighting since this is a luxury vehicle of course it slowly progressively gets brighter and then when you hit that button again it

Slowly dims away so i know it’s a small thing but it’s the small things that count i think that’s pretty cool also though dual zone climate control comes standard need you get home lane controls you get the garage door openers they come with the is350 here make your way to detect though there is a ten point three inch high-resolution display front and center and

The way to control that is to use the mouse like device along with the buttons just to the right of the shifter there but through that you have access to things like bluetooth and audio streaming oh by the way the bluetooth and audio streaming a lot of times when you call a vehicle and they put you on bluetooth you can clearly tell that they are in a vehicle but

With the lexus you cannot it is crystal clear i know this because my dad owns one and every time i call him when he’s in the vehicle i can’t even tell that he’s driving also up on that screen that was lexus enform app suite it gives you things like pandora you can check facebook up on that screen that’s pretty cool i heart radio there’s a bunch of different apps

As well and there is a factory navigation system available for an additional one thousand seven hundred and thirty five dollars and you can check out your radio settings up there as well when it comes to this sound system by the way it does come standard with a lexus premium audio system and there is a mark levinson system available and while i do not have that one

Today i did want to mention that mark levinson system is going to give you 15 speakers 835 watts what’s so like i always do you guys let’s turn on the radio and test out that lexus premium audio system that we have today all right so i know that wasn’t marc levenson but still a good bit of bass with that system i’ve heard the marc levenson systems before they’re

Absolutely amazing so either way you really can’t go wrong i would definitely prefer the marc levenson system though but so then last thing i wanted to mention on that tech display at least is when you do put the is 350 f-sport in reverse you will have a reverse camera letting you know who or what is behind you which is always it’s gonna leave me into safety so to

Start there are front side and side curtain airbags also up front driver and passenger knee airbags as well in the back there is latch aka lower anchors and tethers for children for the rear car seats also there is a tire pressure monitoring system for each individual tire auto dimming rearview mirror also comes standard there is also a comfort package i wanted

To add that one is going to add an additional six hundred dollars but that is going to give you rain-sensing windshield wipers for a beautiful days like today also that is going to give you though a blind spot monitor with rear cross traffic alert which definitely comes in handy it’s a bit overall time for the pros and cons of the is 350 f sport on the con side

Of window minded the android auto apps to get that hook up for mile only phone also rear seat legroom could have used a little bit more but this is a sport of your sedan so i guess you do have to make some compromises on the plus side the handling is actually very nice on the if’ 350 s sport especially in sport plus mode also the interior quality is always on

Point for lexus and this one is no exception and of course you have the almost perfect reliability that consumer reports always raised about toyota and lexus sell this one most definitely has a lot going for it so but anyways you guys that is about it for this one thank you so much for watching we should have liked the video and subscribe feel free to follow me

On social media at the bottom of the screen there and i will see you guys in the next video stay cold man this thing is nice it’s alexis did i expect nothing less even though kaoru and but it’s gonna like to call her true drive to car true i’ll take i’ll take i’ll take up fogging up

Transcribed from video
2018 Lexus IS 350 F Sport: Review By Gold Pony