A few months ago I received notices via my various RSS Automotive feeders that Lexus was selling track days with the IS F for a mere. After reading a big about it a bit I decided to purchase the 4-hour track day for $295.

When I arrived I was greeted by friendly staff and the usual disclaimers and waivers to be signed. Lunch and drinks were served while I awaited for the 12:30pm start time of the event. One thing to note, there was this drink there I had never heard of before. Hint Water (drinkhint.com) is a water-like substance with a hint of refreshing flavor. It’s not like propel where its an obnoxious flavor, instead you get the slightest taste of the refreshing flavor in the water. I must of had 5 or 6 of these things while I was at the event. I looked into buy some more, but at $2 / bottle when bought online its a bit expensive.

In the lounge area there were flat screens that displayed promo material for the ISF, an ISF open for people to sit in, some fancy video game simulators made out of ISF  and a bunch of car magazines and various marketing brocures. Interestingly, the car magazines they had there had a rundown of ISF vs RS4 vs M3 vs C63 - in the test they ranked ISF 4th / 4th. Bummer.

Once it was time to get rolling they corralled everyone into a big room and went over on how the day would flow. About 75 people were split up into 4 groups that would rotate around the 4 stages setup at the track at California Speedway. The 4 stages were Full-Track Hot Laps, Relay Race, Time Attack, and Driving Line theory (in a classroom).

Without spoiling all of the details the Full Track Hot laps were great, I was able to get the car up to like 110 in the longer back straight. The Time Attack course had Timing loops and I ended up with the 3rd fastest lap of the day (yay!). In the end the day was fun, but not quite worth the $300 for what was essentially, a glorified test drive. Track time is fun, but it was limited and cramed full of people telling you how great the car was.

Some notes on the car. It felt like Toyota was really aiming at the M3 with this car, but like the other, German M3 wannabe’s it falls a bit short in several areas. Firstly, the engine feels a bit like a Tundra engine with cams, it is very similar to the characteristics of the LS1 in that regard - very flat, undramatic torque curve that is very drivable. Having driven a few of the old S54 powered cars, the M3 is nothing like that, there is a big sense of theater when you drive the BMW’s. The Lexus doesn’t have any of this. When you are thumping around the track there is no getting around the fact that the Lexus is HEAVY, while the excellent traction control system does its best to keep it from plowing through the corners with catastrophic understeer, it is very apparent that it is the cars defining handling characteristic. With that in mind, the traction control system does a very, very good job pulling the car in on tighter lines, especially in the slow corners.

It is also very apparent that the ISF had no limited slip differential, with all the torques trying to get put down  in the corners the lack of the LSD caused the TC systems to be unable to put down a progressive, smooth, and confident power delivery. The best I could describe it would be ‘jerky’ think of it like RWD torque steer, you can feel the TC stabbing at the brakes to no avail causing the car to weave a bit similar to torque steer as you exit a turn.

Onto the impressive bits, the car had fantastic brakes. The transmission was especially fab. I drive an Audi DSG for reference, and this transmission was equally impressive on both up and downshifts. The blips from the throttle are especially welcomed, well suited for agressive driving.

Overall I liked the car, it has a good balance between the raw, take no prisoners poise and balance of the M3 and a standard Lexus hovercraft. However, this car did not appreciate the brutal treatment of the track. As noted by other reviewers, this car seems most at home on loping up and down mountain roads. However, for that matter the IS350 or 335i would perform that same mountain-loping weekend with ease while keeping an extra $20k in your pocket and still keeping up with the extra 100 horses from the ISF while delivering similar excitement levels.

For the raw, bare knuckles experience, the Lexus has fallen short in providing adequate driving feedback, balance and poise to really deliver the excitement needed to be a true sports sedan.