It’s official, the Lexus IS-F was announced in Japan today at the Fuji Speedway, here are the details:
- The V8 5-litre engine will have 417hp and produce 373 ft-lb of torque.
- The Is-F will be available in Japan on December 25th, and will retail for ¥7,660,000 ($65,742 USD).
- The Japanese version will be limited to 180km/h (111mph).
I’m not one to care about horsepower figures, but the IS-F’s final numbers have to be considered below expectations, especially in light of the absolute secrecy shown by Lexus.
Consider this fact, though the BMW M3 has 414hp in North America, it’s European/Japanese counterpart packs 420hp, as does Audi’s RS4. The Mercedes C63 has 457hp, meaning out of the gate, the IS-F is last. When you consider the importance of horsepower in this segment, that’s a bad place to be.
The saving grace is the 373 ft-lb of torque, which may be 70 less than the C63, but 80 more than the M3 and about 55 more than the RS4. At the very least, the IS-F should be able to keep up, depending on its weight.
Still, nothing can be determined through stats alone, and we’ll have to wait for the eventual comparison tests to see how the IS-F stacks up to the competition.
[Source: Toyota Japan]