Class With Clout

Newcastle Herald

Saturday June 26, 1999

BRENT DAVISON

WE had been spoiled at the Tasmanian launch of the Lexus IS200.

Waiting for us at the west coast fishing village of Strahan was a squadron of the little sports sedans, all fitted with luxury option kits.

The luxury pack comprised 17x7-inch wheels and 45-series tyres, sports suspension and limited-slip differentials, leather and alcantara trim and other goodies.

There were no `standard' cars there, nothing to compare have to have-not, no benchmark machines, and the lingering question after a day's hard driving was: `These cars are good but how good is the basic number?'

Last week I found the answer to that question and revised my thinking after the Tasmanian experience.

The base cars are good, I decided, and the luxury pack is just icing on a very enjoyable cake.

When the Lexus team was given the go-ahead for IS200 it pulled out all the stops.

Starting with a clean sheet of paper, it designed a sexy little four-door with a 2.0 litre straight-six engine, fully independent suspension and rear-wheel drive.

The result is a well-built, mid-priced executive express which has to be experienced to be believed ? even in its basic form.

Our test car was devoid of leather, lacked the big wheels and low-profile rubber, was minus the sporty suspension. But it was good nonetheless.

We made do with chenille seat facings, Continued, Page 56

Straight to the top of the class

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smaller, narrower wheels (still alloy) and taller tyres and the standard but still fully independent suspension.

Let me say, though, that we did not feel let down by the car. Just the opposite. It still did everything well.

Take the handling and ride qualities. It can be chucked about with disdain and can easily be poked through corners at high speeds without fuss.

And just when you expect the rear end to step out in a corner because of too much enthusiasm with the throttle the car simply hunkers down, gathers itself up and launches out the other side, the well thought-out suspension and traction control working hand in hand to keep everything together.

To bring it all to a satisfying halt the car has big, power-assisted, ventilated discs up front and bigger solid discs down the back. It is worth noting that the IS200 uses an anti-lock system with a gravel road strategy program developed during Australian testing.

Ride quality has not been sacrificed for handling and the IS200 works well with a firm but supple ride, with only a bit of unwanted road noise.

The engineers have imbued the car with steering which is pin-sharp, well-weighted and basically neutral, with a slight tendency to oversteer at the limit. Turn off the electronic traction control and the IS200 can be made even more lively.

The 2.0 litre engine is a gem. A straight-six with double overhead camshafts, four valves per pot, variable inlet valve timing and a variable length induction system, it produces 114kW at 6200rpm and 195Nm at 4600rpm, all without needing to resort to premium unleaded fuel.

It is fuss-free and the only thing we could have wished for was the ability to rev a bit higher.

The electronic rev limiter cuts in at about 6500rpm, just as the six-potter is starting to come on song. It would have been nice if it could have hit 7000rpm, if for no other reason than it felt like it wanted to sing in the high range.

One thing we did enjoy was the slightly raspy exhaust note. Lexus is marketing the car as a sports sedan and that just-audible buzz from the exhaust, coupled with the sensory inputs from other areas of the car, made it just that bit more enjoyable.

Also enjoyable was the four-speed automatic transmission fitted to our car. An adaptive auto (it samples driving patterns and alters its change points to suit), it operates through a short-throw, staggered gate which is effective and encourages drivers to use it manually.

There is more to this car than its mechanical package, of course, and in this market a car has to look good too.

To that end the designers have done well with what is basically a smallish four-door sedan.

The styling is seductive with a well set-back cabin, big, flared front mudguards and a gentle upward sweep along the side window sill line to the boot, with the overall effect of the aggressive nose ending way, way back in a delicately lipped-up bootlid.

Typically Lexus, the car reeks of quality, even in its `cheap seats' guise.

The audio system is excellent and the idea of an in-dash CD six-stacker is great, especially when the discs are simply fed into the slot below the audio display panel. No cartridges to load, no boot-mounted unit to fiddle with in the dark or the rain. A cassette unit is also included.

Impressed? You bet. The IS200 is undoubtedly a class leader which must be causing sleepless nights for the opposition top brass.

We now keenly await the rumoured IS300, an IS200 reported to have the 166kW, 3.0 litre six from the GS300 shoehorned under the bonnet.

Specifications

Make and model: LEXUS IS200

Price: $51,900 (does not include options and on-road costs)

Dimensions:

Length: 4400mm

Width: 1720mm

Height: 1420mm

Wheelbase: 2670mm

Track front/rear: 1495mm/1485mm

Kerb weight: 1358kg

Engine: Fuel-injected, double overhead camshaft, 24-valve, 2.0 litre, inline six-cylinder. 114kW @ 6200rpm and 195Nm @ 4600rpm.

Transmission: Four-speed adaptive automatic

Chassis: Front, longitudinal engine, rear-wheel drive, power-assisted rack and pinion steering, power-assisted disc brakes front and rear with ABS, 16x6.5-inch alloy wheels, 205/55R16 tyres.

Suspension: Independent double wishbones, coil springs and stabiliser bar front; independent multi-link double wishbones, toe control arm, coil springs and stabiliser bar rear.

Fuel capacity: 70 litres

Fuel economy: 10.56 litres/100km