Faults:

Nothing except a small dent on left side body panel.

General Comments:

I got this car in the autumn of last year. It cruises astonishingly fast, as well as smoothly as velvet.

Her 0-100km/h acceleration time is 5.2sec and 0-400m time is 14.2sec. It is roughly as fast as the BMW 740i with turbocharged 3.0L yielding 326bhp, and much faster than the Mercedes C350.

Along with it, best elapsed acceleration times are 13.5sec for 0-400m and 5.0sec for 0-97km/h according to a major American media. So well run-in example of this car could be as fast as the Mercedes E550 (5467cc/388hp) and the BMW750iL (4398cc/407hp with twin turbochargers)!

So the Lexus IS350 could be called as a kind of giant killer. Namely its performance is almost miraculous for a naturally-aspirated 3.5-litres.

As for fuel economy, her average fuel consumption is about 10km/l, excellent for her output and performance. She's much more economical than the VW Passat 3.2 (3189cc/250hp) with about 9km/l consumption and roughly in same bracket as the Audi A4 2.0TFSI with 211hp motor and lesser performance!

Her handling is quite stable and predictable, albeit somewhat dull. Compared with the BMW335i, her handling is milder and feels comfortable for me. But her cross-wind stability is somewhat inferior to the likes of Audi A4 3.2 Quattro and VW Passat 3.2 4motion (All of these are full time 4WD based on FF.).

Her brakes are good and with solid feeling.

Its rear visibility is not so good, and rear view camera is somewhat inconvenient. And its space for backseat can be better, as wide as the BMW 3-series. Certainly the Mercedes C-Class offers much wider and more usable back space in similar size as the Lexus IS. Of course most FF sedans like the VW Passat and the Citroen C5 are much more spacious than the FR leagues;from the C-Class to the Lexus IS.

As a whole, her ergonomics are on the average level, with some points could be improved.

Paddle shift is not so easy to handle and somewhat abrupt.