Lexus IS: 1st Generation

Members of My.IS & Club Lexus gathered last weekend in Toronto, Ontario for some time at the track and a highway cruise:

There’s plenty of photos to look through in the My.IS thread — this one caught my eye with the red:

Looks like a fun event, I’m hoping to attend myself next year.

(Thanks Vinh!)

Autocar is reporting that the next-generation Lexus IS will be offered as a wagon—and will be hybrid-only:

…while the original model did offer an estate variant, called SportCross, the current car – introduced in 2005 – has never been available in a wagon.

Lexus insiders now admit that this policy has hurt sales of the car in Europe, where it must face the 3-series Touring and A4 Avant.

The next IS is also likely to only be available as a hybrid, fitting in with the firm’s current push towards this technology.

With its position well established in the US, Lexus is focusing more and more on the European market. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a wagon version of the GS some time in the future, as well.

As for the IS going hybrid-only, that’s likely just a marketing decision in Europe similar to only offering the RX 450h in the UK. I wouldn’t expect this to happen in the North American market.

Other tidbit in the article—the next-generation IS should appear in 2011. Not a big surprise, but nice to hear regardless.

[Source: Autocar]

In keeping with the IS theme from yesterday, here’s a throwback Top Gear segment from 1999, with James May test-driving the first-generation Lexus IS 200:

James May certainly looks quite young—but still exhibits that special “Captain Slow” driving style. It does sound like IS 200 suffered the same sort of low-band power deficiency that I experienced in the second-gen IS 250.

Ken Brown, who spends his days photographing coachbuilt classics for the Blackhawk Museum in California, managed to squeeze in a shoot with a coworker’s IS 300:

Just wonderful, makes the car look like a diecast model, but it doesn’t even touch the other photos in Ken’s Flickr Stream. The ‘57 Mercedes SL300 is fantastic, but my favorite has to be the Bentley Badge. Brilliant.

Painted brake calipers are a nice enough touch, but they take on new significance when you see a photo like this:

Taken from a feature on the G2 website, makers of caliper paint, this indigo ink Lexus IS 300 belongs to Brian Torak. The wheels are 18″ Katana ZR5’s, you can get a better look at them here.