dmski

My bad. He was proly quoting what the base model was missing.

CheeseyPoofs McNut

Keep posts civil - foul language and personal attacks will be deleted.

leomio2.0

The numbers are closer to the M340i than they are to the TLX-S in the quarter, 0-100 and 0-130. If you say the M340i freight trains the IS500, by deduction, the IS500 motor boats and steals the TLX-S's girlfriend while the cuck thanks the IS500. Now I'm a Lexus koolaid drinker, when a couple months ago I was an Audi and BMW fanboy. Or maybe Acura's showing to the party was simply pathetic and has all but been forgotten, with most reviewers barely mentioning it as a potential competitor.

The IS500 is right in the mix of the German rivals, while being more grand touring focused over anything else. It's not trying to be anything it's not and is a respectable alternative to the Germans for something none of them have ... a naturally aspirated, tremendous sounding, unbelievably reliable V8. Acura mimicked what the Germans did and just did a Chinatown version of a Gucci belt.

fiatlux

Reception of the IS500 in the comments section of Reddit, Youtube, C&D, etc has been substantially better than the Type S. Take that for what it’s worth.

I’m actually a little bummed because it means ADM is probably higher than if people hated on it.

leomio2.0

I suspect it has a lot to do with how it was marketed, and the general commentary on the car prior to launch. You had a number of Lexus [expletive]'s harping on Lexus reliability when the IS500 was announced, but you can't really retort that, seeing as although the powertrain is dated, it's also proven to be ridiculously reliable and it still performs higher than anything else coming out of Camp Japan in the price range. Even still, it was a far cry from what Acura did, and the Honda/Acura [expletive]'s proclaiming, "Honda engines can't be beat!" ... while coming in dead last in the segment.

Honda430

In looking at the features list the Is500 with premium package is a $62,000 vehicle without AWD, HUD, heated rear seats, or surround cameras. Not to mention that fitting even one child seat in the back seat is probably a no go. Based on the criteria used to judge the Type S I can only believe that there should be howling complaints at how the car is impractical, expensive and missing must have features. I’m surprised that is not the case.

F23A4

Yeah, only really Soyfan is readily bringing the Type S into this discussion....largely because he's somewhat of an Acura loyalist. The IS500 is closer to the M340i's performance than all of the competitors such as the Q50 RS400, G70 3.3T, C43 and S4; but all are at least close enough to be in the discussion. With the respect to the Type S, the Kia K5 GT is only an LSD away from completely taking away the Acura's lunch money when it comes to performance.

jjsC5

You don’t get to decide what it competes against. The market decides. I would consider it a direct competitor if I was in the market right now. My short list when I bought my G70 five months ago was the G70 , Charger SRT (Scat Pack) or TLX-S.

fiatlux

It actually does have surround view cameras. I thought it also had heated rear seats but I don’t remember for sure.

As for car seats, I actually found it that the IS fits a single rear facing car seat better than the TLX. Both don’t do well with putting a rear facing behind the seats, but in the middle the IS500 has more headroom to make loading and unloading a baby easier. And if you have front facing, both do it just fine behind the seats, so there’s no added benefit for the TLX.

As I’ve said before, rear legroom is but one measurement of how practical the rear seats are. The shape and thickness of the TLX front seats makes it particularly bad for trying to fit a rear facing car seat behind the front seat, and the low roof and high center seat makes the middle seat impractical as well.

4G-Lover

Folks, please stop thinking that the Type S AWD would be more practical in foul weather.....the IS500 I'm sure comes with very aggressive performance tires as an almost 500 HP car should and even with AWD it would be useless in the snow. If you live in such climate you still need to install winter tires regardless so the RWD does not offer many disadvantages if any.....put very good winter rubber in during the bad months and with the car LSD you are good to go.

MIKEYDRED

Several publication have put the S5 at 4.2 seconds and let's not forget the M340 which does it in 3.8 with almost 100 hp less than the IS, shows how much modern turbos have come a long way. I'm not knocking Lexus, but they are in the same boat in a way as Acura on paper the performance is ok but still going to get knocked by by Germams and I won't be surprised if most journalists match it up againts the Ms and R, AMG etc, in which it gets killed even if Lexus says it's not a full blown F, it's HP alone puts it in that territory. Reviews have been lukewarm for the suspension tuning and not looking unique enough, performance of course when you shoehorn a V8 in a car this small it will be a monster and that Yamaha tuned V8bis glorious sounding. TBF it's pretty heavy though for a car this small without RWD, probably due to the old platform. Still a great effort and competition is good let's see how Acura responds Type-S needs an update now.

F23A4

They’re going to respond by bringing back the touch screen and maybe tuning the transmission a bit.

Honda430

I might be wrong here, but I don’t believe Lexus offers a HUD on any IS model. I’ll defer to your expertise regarding the car seats.

dmski

I simply stated that IS was missing some features and was called a 'hater'... This is comical especially on this forum and never ending threads on Type S missing stuff. I would not be surprised if IS loses to the S4 in quarter mile as well. It will be close. Given that BMW is running low 12`s IS fans saying that it's just a tick under and running with the BMW is not accurate.

fiatlux

Correct, none of the IS cars get a HUD, but they do get a nice looking digital-ish display.

Nexx

anyone else notice the usual suspects who hate on the TLX will defend the IS with whatever excuse they can come up with? its comical. the topic could be TLX Type S vs Mitsubishi Mirage and this crap wouldnt change lol

fiatlux

You don't have to wonder; why not just look at the C&D numbers? 12.8 @ 112mph for the IS500, 12.9 @ 108mph for the S4. So again, S4 is faster off the line (thanks to AWD) but the IS500 makes it up and pulls away after that (thanks to a 100+ hp advantage). None of that should be a surprise considering the IS500 is going to perform very similarly to the RCF in a straight line, and the numbers prove it: RCF is 12.8s @ 114mph and a 0-60 in 4.3s. Practically identical to the IS500.

Nexx

i would hope 100hp would make up for more than .01 seconds through the quarter mile in the AWD vs RWD launch matchup.

fiatlux

You're off by about an order of magnitude (0.1, not 0.01), but I'm not sure why you'd be surprised. Surely you know how the RC-F fairs in the quarter mile, and why would the IS500 be any different with an identical powertrain and similar weight?

All things considered, straightline performance is not bad considering this engine dates back to the Bush era and that lazy 8-speed Aisin it's saddled with. And yet, it's faster than a Mustang GT that's lighter, and it's on par with the NA 4.2L RS5, and that car had AWD. Just a couple ticks slower than a lighter Mach 1 that has more power, more torque, and fat 315-width Cup 2 tires. I'd say it performs as expected (and pretty good) for a NA V8, don't you?

BTW, if there's anything I learned from my ownership with the IS-F, it is that the magazine reported times are ridiculously easy to reproduce. It's not like you have to launch it 10 times just to get everything to line up perfectly once for the best time; these times are wholly reproducible over and over with very little skill involved. The launch is definitely being held back for drivetrain longevity, because from a roll the car pulls way harder than cars with similar quarter mile times.

Kense

Have you ever thought that if the IS500 did 0-60 in 5 seconds it would also get hated on? How about if Lexus released the car at a track next to an M340i and pretended to beat it ? How about if Lexus posted all the competition on its website and gave the IS500 the edge on all competition. Let’s not act like the IS500 won’t blow the doors off the Type S. Who cares about a heads up display? It’s a performance car. If it’s not going to be close to the competition, then hey let’s focus on BS tech.

fiatlux

Imagine the shitshow if they called this car the IS-F. People would be laughing their pants off at Lexus. But, they didn't, because they didn't want to sully the F brand with a car that isn't going to be competitive with the real M/AMG/RS cars. The F cars are supposed to perform well on the track. Smart move on their part. Can't say the same about Acura and Type S.

And lest someone call me a Lexus fanboy, I prefer the Fit over the Yaris, Civic over the Corolla, CRV over the RAV4, Pilot over the Highlander, Accord over the Camry, TLX 2.0T over the IS350, RDX over the NX, and MDX over the RX. I hate how Toyota and Lexus build their cars to just pass current crash test standards rather than real world safety. I hate how conservative and lackluster their enginering is. I hate how boring and bland the cars are, and how overstyled and ugly the current crop of Lexuses are. And yet, I prefer the IS500 over the Type S. The 2UR motor can make up for a lot of faults.

Nexx

I mean I guess. I have never run my E39 M5 in the quarter mile but my friend has. His best time was 12.9 stock. Its rated at 400hp and it weighs a tad more than the IS500. The E39 is 20+ years old and youre saying Lexus cant build something that substantially faster? But by all means go ahead and defend the ancient V8 that under performs its specs, that has a extremely small foot print with near useless back seats but yet weighs nearly 4000 pounds, with very underwhelming interior, hideous grille and to top it off... its overpriced imho.

with all that being said. I dont think its a bad car. I am just wanted to sound like your typical Type S hater, flipping the script on to the IS500.

fiatlux

You might be right that its performance isn't superb based on how much power it makes, but a couple things about your argument.
1) The end result is that the car performs up to snuff with other cars in the price point. Doesn't matter how much horsepower it took to do that; fact of that matter is that its performance is right in line with cars in its price point.
2) The sound and responsiveness of the 5.0L V8 is something none of the competition can beat. Even if it was slower I wouldn't care; the way the engine sounds and delivers the power is immensely enjoyable. If I wanted the absolute fastest straightline car, I wouldn't even bother with an M340i or even M3, and just go with the Model 3 Performance.

Also, I think you have your numbers a bit off. The E39 M5 weighs about a couple hundred pounds less than the IS500, and the quarter mile is supposed to be around 13.2s. I haven't found any magazines that were able to get into the 12s. Your friend's must have had theirs built on a good day.

It's cute that you're trying to flip the script by using peoples complaints about the Type S, but the difference is the Type S has nothing to differentiate itself from the competition, whereas the IS500 does. And the small footprint you think is a negative? Being over 9 inches shorter is a pro, not a con . 9 inches shorter but only 2.5 inches of less rear legroom? Seems like a pretty good tradeoff to me.

Honda430

The Type S usage for the TLX is in line with Acura’s historical usage of the Type S moniker. In actuality the current Type S performance in relationship to the model below it exceeds the historic comparison.

fiatlux

Is that really true though? The 2G TL-S, 2G CL-S and 3G TL-S competed against the mid-level 3-series of the time. The RSX Type S...actually I'm not sure what that competed with. In any case, the only excuse I can see being made is that the competition greatly improved their mid-level offerings, but then the question is: why couldn't Acura do the same?

Honda430

It’s real simple. The S designation is not competition dependent. Folks may want it to be yet that’s not how Acura has historically viewed it. Let’s no forget that both the Audi S and BMW m340 are essentially $60k plus automobiles. That dollar level is outside of Acura’s target market for the TLX.

Kense

Exactly but you’re just a Hater BMW, AUDI, LEXUS , GENESIS fanboy!

4G-Lover

2000 BMW M5 E39 tested by C&D: 0-60 4.8, 1/4 mile 13.3 @ 108

4G-Lover

No is not...if memory serves me well, the Mustang GT Auto did 0-60 in 3.8

fiatlux

Wooops I should have qualified that with the word manual. I didn’t see the auto times at first glance.

4G-Lover

0-60 in 3.8...and the Mustang is only marginally lighter (a touch over 100 pounds) compared to the IS500.

pyrodan007

I thought it was already established no one cares about 0-60 time when we're talking about Type-S. So why would the IS500 versus others for 0-60 be important now? The sound of the V8 would be enough to make me happy. I got the sport exhaust option on my S5 SB, it makes me smile even when not driving like a madman or going over speed limit.

Kense

It only matters for the supposed competitors. When it comes to the Type S, You’re to just accept it for being a great daily with superior handling. Any criticism of lack of speed and you’re one of the “haterzzz”

dmski

We already know that you don't consider Type S to be a competitor with your earlier comments how it will get its doors blown off. We'll, it's been proven that a simple downpipe nets S in flat 13`s so it's right there with the bunch with just a simple bolt on and not even messing around with the ECU.

leomio2.0

If the Americans do one thing right, it’s V8’s. I’m partial to GM, but they’re all awesome. Ford, GM, Mopar … probably the only cars I’d own from them would be ones with some variation of a V8. Even if Lexus’s variant doesn’t quite stack up, it’s still fantastic option to have.

Plus, being built in Japan, you can basically guarantee the build quality will be superior to anything coming out of Acura. I know the build quality of my Ohio built RDX is dismal. $3k is a premium I’d be willing to pay for the IS after my personal experience with the Acura brand.

hadokenuh

All Acura has to do is release a "Super S Package" for the Type S next year that makes 400hp/400lbft.

It should be easy with the turbo setup, don't yall think? Now we are talking ....

Ah wow, this is my 1000th post on Acurazine. I should celebrate.

Honda430

So you’d be happy with the IS500 base model provided you could find one at your local Lexus dealer? The base model has an 8” display and lacks memory seat setting or tilt down rear view outside mirrors when trans is in reverse. Might as well pony up the other $5K and get you a decently equipped version.

Nexx

so you're saying its not important right? btw, love your new S5 and i have no clue the 0-60 for that car.

fiatlux

Base models are going to be non-existant. It'd probably have to be special ordered, and I wouldn't be surprised if the factory rejects it.

pyrodan007

Thanks! The S5 SB can do 0-60 in ~4.2-4.5s, depending on equipment/conditions/etc.
Is 0-60 the single most important thing? Nope. But I also believe in standard deviation. The Type-S is not really near the others either, the IS500 is. The super annoying part is that the engine is new. If it would have been stuffed/recycled like Lexus' V8, would have been a better pill to swallow.