[00:00] The 2026 IS 350, this car was just updated once again for this model year.
[00:16] However, this change largely focuses on the exterior and interior styling. Now, before we discuss that, let's talk about pricing. What helps the IS is where it starts. It starts in the mid-40s. When you go to the all-wheel drive variant, which we have, is just under $49,000.
[00:31] And when you move to the F Sport package in either rear or all-wheel drive, you're pushing past $50,000. And then once you add things like the Mark Lovenson, the premium headlights, some of the other luxury goods, you're in the mid-50s.
[00:43] Fully loaded, compared to a 330i, X-Drive or rear-wheel drive. Either way, this is a couple thousand dollars less, which is a benefit for this car. Now, from an interior side of things, it's a step forward and a step back.
[00:56] Let's start with what they've kept right in this car. It's still very usable. The back seat is large enough for small adults. The trunk company is quite large, and there's a good use of materials. Everything you touch is soft touch, and it does feel a cut above say a camera.
[01:08] Now, there are still physical controls. However, they have updated the infotainment. Let's start with the center screen first before we talk about the gauge cluster. It's the latest version of Toyota Connected. It's more in line with some of the more recent Lexus products,
[01:21] not what you see in the RAV4 or some of the upcoming vehicles. You still have physical HVAC, still physical volume control, physical drive modes, and the traditional shifter. While there is a wireless charging pad, I do think they've used the center space quite well.
[01:35] The gauge cluster has gone away from what's made the IAS Special in the past. In the past, you got a movable tack. It was more like a piece of jewelry and made the car feel more special. This is in line with every other modern Lexus and Toyota product, which means it's yet another screen that you can customize.
[01:49] I think it cheapens the cabin. It is definitely a step back, at least in my approximation. The other thing they've added is fake engine noise. While Lexuses have always had augmented sound, this is straight up grand turismo.
[02:02] It is not the worst implementation I've ever seen this, but it doesn't sound great. Definitely cheapens the car. But thankfully, which is saving this from being absolute dog water, you can turn off the fake engine noise saving infotainment,
[02:14] which is a good thing. Now, for the rest of this vehicle, Mark and I are going to discuss this further when we go take this for a quick drive. So let's head into the shop and walk you through the technical stuff first. Ever since I got popular, people want to be me.
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[04:19] In the shop with the 2026 Lexus IS-350, so what do you need to know? Well, first off, this is a older car at this point. Despite this being all new for 2026, what this really is is a mid-cycle refresh
[04:32] to the updates made back in 2021. So you get new front-end refreshes and the interior space-long electronics has been updated. The platform the IS is on predates TNGA. It is on Lexus N or Toyota N.
[04:45] It is a real-world drive architecture. It is double-wishbone front, multi-link rear. It is at least in the IS-350's case using steel sub-frames front and rear. It is on the older side of things.
[04:57] Back in 2021, they updated this vehicle, which basically came out in 2013, with updates to body structure that made it lighter. On the suspension side of things, they had a more body rigidity. They improved the crash structure.
[05:10] Radiator supports you name it. If you want to learn everything about that, go watch our original video for 2026. From the suspension side of things, yes, it's double-wishbone front and rear. Yes, there is alignment capability, which is a good thing. And there's only really one option for this car in the suspension department.
[05:24] It's whether you get the performance package or not. When you get the performance package, they change the Bridgestone tires to a summer versus. It's currently on this car, and they add AVS or variable dampers, which will go a long way in giving you some more body control to this car.
[05:38] It's definitely on the softer side in the passive setup, which we have. If you have a rear-wheel drive car and you get the performance package, you get a torsion limited slip differential in the back. Or if you have the all-wheel drive car like we have, you're out of luck.
[05:51] It's still going to be open-diff front and rear. Now, from the all-wheel drive configuration side of things, when you're traditionally driving this car around 70% of the torque goes to the rear, 30% goes to the front. When it detects any sort of slip, basically, when you're driving this car hard
[06:06] and there's rotation, it goes to 50-50. The all-wheel drive versions, the IS-350, are definitely more on the stability side of things. They're definitely tuned not to rotate and defaults to understeer. It's on the... Mark would call it nerf, and I tend to agree with it.
[06:21] Now, from the drive train, it is a 3.5-liter 2GR V6 from Toyota. It is naturally aspirated. It's over 10 years old. This engine has been in everything at this point. It's been proven to be very reliable.
[06:33] It makes 280-foot pounds of torque and about 311 horsepower. What you're trading off for reliability is speed and fuel economy. You're going to be getting high-teens, low-twenties in the real world. If you have a rear-wheel drive car, you get an 8-speed automatic,
[06:47] which is much better than the 6, but still not modern feeling. And if you get the all-wheel drive version, you get the 6-speed automatic, which is not great. Let's go take this for a quick driving mark.
[07:00] Well, I thought they would have put this thing out to pass you a long time ago, Jack. But it's nice to see that they've added some relevant features to it. I love that fake V8 sounding fake engine noise. Oh, yeah!
[07:16] Mark, I need you to hold a higher RPM for me so I can demonstrate the fake engine noise. Oh, man.
[07:30] Wow, nothing's better than digital exhaust noise. Pond in, Jack. Wow, it was in that transmission. This is just coming. Look at the shifting speed on this thing.
[07:42] You know, I found about this quite a bit because I knew I was going to be in this video so I had to deliver. Well, your sunglasses are delivered. Yeah, while it's in, basically, it's the same age as the Scarlett's glasses. The Scarlett's glasses are about 75 years old.
[07:56] This car, basically, it's bone started in 2013. Yeah, the first IS I drove was in 2015 and it's essentially the same car underneath. And I know they've made some tweaks, you know, and all that. But this is a good example of, we give other brands a hard time, this is like the Dodge.
[08:11] This is like the Dodge IS, right? Yeah. They've just milked this thing to death. And I know that the Americans, specifically the development and product team, wanted to bring the IS 500 to life. And I think everybody was on board with that.
[08:24] But they could only do this much with that car. It wasn't all the way done. And this car has never been all the way done. And we bagged on all these other brands like we just did the RS3 and the Golf R. It's like, take it all the way.
[08:37] This is an enthusiast product now, right? Yeah. So the IS, which you haven't driven, but I have. Yeah. Grammar car, let's straight up. Well, it always was, but now it's doubled down on tack and all this stuff, like whatever. I don't want to talk about that.
[08:50] I want to talk about this thing. This should be an enthusiast car. It always should have had a manual. It always should have been like rear wheel drive, really well-tuned, really driver-centric. And this car has just been, I don't know why it's still made.
[09:02] I cannot figure out why this car is still in production. There's no way there's so many of these. It just makes no sense to me. It makes sense to me five years ago. Like, we're excluding the V8 version.
[09:14] Yes. But all of the rest of these, they have half-hearted, updated this thing. It's just... I guess $351 came out in 2015. It was a great car because in some ways the European cars weren't as good as they are today.
[09:26] Yeah, yeah. Now, everything in this class, it may not be as reliable as this car. And you're the one who always harps on me. What if I just want to buy a car that lives... Then you go and buy a 10-year-old version of this for half the price.
[09:39] Like, what they're commanding for how much they milk this car? This is not worth any of that money. If you're an enthusiast, which this is what this is supposed to be for. Or somebody that's like Japanese drunk and falls into a Lexus dealership.
[09:51] It was like, oh, shit. I can only afford $50,000. You go and buy an Integra. You go and buy... You know, I could count all the other cars you would buy for $50,000 over this thing. It's just that it sucks.
[10:03] Dude, it sucks. Seriously, dude, this is me. It's 2026. And you got a gearbox and engine. That's not the problem. The gearbox and engine. Dude, retune the gearbox to be responsive.
[10:18] There's so many things they could do. And I know this is the Japanese dictating this as a Japanese car. And they're just like, well, we're not going to change it for the US market. Why would we do that? There's nothing wrong with the V6.
[10:30] 311 horsepower isn't bad. And to be fair, the 8-speed, while it's still not a modern feeling 8-speed, has the correct number of ratios to use this V6. Yeah. This 6-speed is hilarious.
[10:42] First gear is like 30. Second gear is like 80. It's just garbage. It's garbage as a new product. Again, if you're buying it as a used car, it's going to last forever.
[10:54] I like what they did on the updates. But I don't need the updates. I need the drive train like updated. Not even the more power. Just give me a gearbox that responds. By not calendar year.
[11:06] Yeah, exactly. Give me a car that doesn't understeer off the road like a front wheel drive car. I have digital fake engineers right now. Well, that's the fixed average. Digital gauge cluster. That's the fixed everything.
[11:18] Just throw more technology or more digital shit at it. A car that this car doesn't need more of that, it needs me. Do you miss the analog tech or not really? Dude, I'm so blinded by hatred for this thing that I don't care. You could take the gauge cluster out.
[11:30] I wouldn't even notice. It's a very safe feeling as an all-wheel drive car. So if you live in an area with that climate, the all-wheel drive system is meant to get you out of it. It's just meant to get you out of bad weather. Not to add more traction in corner exit for max lap time.
[11:44] Yeah. The problem I have with this car is if it's going to drive like a front wheel drive vehicle, I almost rather just get the camera. Because that thing gets like, double the fuel economy of this car.
[11:56] Well, if it's not going to be for an enthusiasm, it's like this car is so fake. At this point, it's like a fake enthusiast car. If it's not going to cater to them, it's not catering to the older crowd that would want an ES and all the features of that and the size and all the other crap.
[12:10] This does nothing, right? It hasn't evolved. They haven't figured out like, again, what the US market needs from this brand. And if that's what we're talking about, we're very US-centric, of course.
[12:22] But the US market demands something different out of the IS that they could never deliver to this. Throughout its entire life cycle, besides the IS-500. And then you've got trans-cooling issues. You've got engine oil-cooling.
[12:34] They stripped out the core things, again, that could make that car better than what it was. And on the engineering level, I just have constantly had blue balls with this car. Because you know what they could do with it.
[12:46] Like the LC500, as flawed as that car is in many ways. It's amazing to drive. Right, right. It's got some emotion to it. It's got Gearbox, Cal. It's like, you know, from this century.
[12:58] It's got a lot of things going forward, despite its deficiencies you can make excuses for. The Honda had so much charisma on the IS. Right, well, the engine is what fixes the problems with the IS. You can start to forget about it, same thing with the LC.
[13:10] But if they made the LC for like 12 years, and we'd be complaining about it 12 years from now, like what did they actually do to this thing? Besides, you know, if this car was $40,000 now, as it sits versus over $50,
[13:22] I think the story would be a little different. Yeah, that's true. The price is definitely a huge factor. But the fact that this car has been out for so long with essentially the same Gearbox and engine tuning. What do you think this engine costs to you to make?
[13:34] It's a 5.7 cost a lot, just like $500. I mean, they're going to say it's worth like $20,000 or something. But it's probably literally worth $1,000. It's been appreciated for like a decade at least.
[13:46] Over decade. Yeah. All right, Mark. So with that, I did not expect you to be this down on it. The Takumi's are disappointed. I'm disappointed, dude. Is it these glasses that they make you hate?
[13:58] Yes. They're like, they live. You can see things. Well, actually, it polarizes out all the screens. So I even know they're there.
[14:14] Final thoughts on the Lexus IS-350. What about the car? Well, the reason you buy a Lexus IS-350 as discussed in the drive segment is it is an old-school Lexus product underneath, which means it's going to be reliable.
[14:26] There are a lot of parts. It should not cost you a lot of service. And it's not a disposable luxury good. What you're giving up, though, is modern driving dynamics. It doesn't matter if you get the rear-wheel-drive version of this or the all-wheel-drive version of it.
[14:38] It is not the most engaging car to drive. Because this exists in a class where cars have to be modern, have to be competitive. It's been left behind by its German rivals. And honestly, at least in the drive,
[14:50] I'd rather drive say an Integra type S or an Acura Integra over this thing. That car is still more fun than one of these vehicles. So that becomes the question, what do you prioritize? What do you care about?
[15:02] If you want a car that lasts forever, buy one of these or buy one of these things used. If you want a car that honestly is good to drive in the modern sense, a really decent sports sedan. Something like a three-series or a C class
[15:14] is probably where you're going to want to spend your money. So that, thanks for watching. Hope to see you again soon. Thanks for watching.