Motor Trend Comparison: 2014 Lexus IS 350 F SPORT vs. 2014 Infiniti Q50 S

Posted by Kevin on August 29th, 2013

Motor Trend’s Jonny Lieberman has put the Lexus IS 350 F SPORT against the new Infiniti Q50 S in this 15 minute comparison video:

Lieberman saying the IS F SPORT “might be the ugliest new car on the road” doesn’t give me much confidence in his design sense, but it does add some weight to his decision that the IS is the better car — if he can ignore his personal taste that much, the new IS must really be something special.

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    Bobby
  • August 29, 2013
I don't know about the ugliest new car on the road today...that's too much an ovetstatement. I thought it was a little too much bias to be that one sided. But I guess you can't argue about the driving dynamics.
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      nj101
    • August 30, 2013
    ..I wonder if his "friend" is from infinity or GM. "Ugliest new car on the road" is really a hell of a statement(Perhaps johnny still feel that he is a kid so he still keeps on kidding). The new IS' design really gained different opinions and so do other cars simply because looks and design are really subjective. Hope he bitten his tongue and said "my left foot on the gas and my right on the brake"(while driving a left handed car).
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    Truth
  • August 30, 2013
This guy is better off whacking off to anime porn. He doesn't know a damn thing about cars...
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    BlackDynamiteOnline
  • August 30, 2013
The third comparison test victory for the Lexus IS in it's first two months on the market! Beaten the Cadillac ATS three times, the 335i twice, and the all-new Infiniti Q50S.... BD
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      baloo588
    • August 30, 2013
    Hi, Can you send me the links to the comparo that showed it beats the 335i twice? I want to prove it to my friends.
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      nj101
    • August 30, 2013
    i believe its in Car and Driver and Motortrend.
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      BlackDynamiteOnline
    • August 30, 2013
    And Everyday Driver (YouTube).... BD
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    Raptor
  • August 30, 2013
As far as looks go this Lexus is looking more like a concept car than any other on the road. So~ the design is not to everyone's liking but there are things being done here 'design wise' that blow the others away. For me I loved the original concepts, the wilder the Spindle grill it seems to get better, closer to concept. I fell in love with the concept designs but that was extreme and I am sure it's a hard act to follow for production, the new IS is closest to those concepts yet. All that said visually things need to be changed a bit to help out; yes it's aggressive and flashy but for the average American this may come across too Anime cartoon like and that's not a good thing. I have seen 2 new IS's lately, a 250 on the showroom floor and a 350F Sport on the road; I found myself actually feeling ok with the design in person but still "BEAUTIFUL" is what you want, not scary weird... Also Lexus needs to get those new engines out ASAP... I am RC F bound...
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    F1orce
  • August 30, 2013
The IS350 has more torque than the Q50 The 2GR-FSE has the highest amount of torque for a normal 3.5L of displacement.
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    Lasse J. Nordvik
  • August 30, 2013
I think it's vastly preferable to have some people find a Lexus to be ugly than to have a lot of people dismiss their designs with an indifferent shrug. Taking design risks buy a fair chunk of respect. Playing it safe doesn't.
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    leopard08
  • August 30, 2013
That how they felt about the face of the LFA when it came out, they said it was catoonish. Do they still feel like that today about the LFA? No, today they bow for the LFA. Leave lexus/toyota alone, they know what they are doing. toyota/ lexus is not a fan of fancy fancy faces. LFA is not fancy, FT86 is not fancy, nor was the Supra a fancy face this new IS is no fancy face. what all these cars share in common is that they have road presence that cant be matched
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    Muik
  • August 30, 2013
Jonny also looks ugly, with beard and cap and too much kilos round his body. ugly ugly....a real neard. maybe he should switch to oldsmobile or so.;)
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    BlackDynamiteOnline
  • August 30, 2013
Don't expect anything to change in Lexus IS engines until the mid-gen refresh in 2016. Toyota, and Lexus, are going to 6 year product cycles, where the car is redesigned, then 3 years later, the car gets heavy updates in styling and powertrains, then the car is redesigned 3 years after that. People will buy the car for the redesign, then 3 years later, can be enticed into buying for the new powertrain, then 3 years later, will look at the redesign. Hopelessly intelligent plan..... BD
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      nj101
    • August 30, 2013
    I wish Lexus will not wait for 3 years to show some engine change/update. Once the new 2-liter turbo becomes available, why not just release a new variant. IS200 with around 250hp and 400 ft lb will be exciting.
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      BlackDynamiteOnline
    • August 30, 2013
    I would expect the IS 200T January 2016 But the RC will have the turbo engine before that, probably January 2015. BD
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      F1orce
    • September 1, 2013
    You want 400ft-ib from a 2L? Sorry, but that won't happen.
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    OlFius
  • August 30, 2013
From a boy with the looks of 90's, don't expect too much useful information about appearance... Jonny boy, beauty is subjective. I live in europe and I 'm surprised about the positive comments about the IS look, even from people I don't expect...
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    Puppet H
  • August 30, 2013
Did he call the IS a rebadged Camry. I always hated people talkin bad about Leiberman until now. The ES was a rebadged Camry. IS was it's own thing
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      Travis
    • August 30, 2013
    I was thinking the samething... he kind of clueless
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      BlackDynamiteOnline
    • August 30, 2013
    He's not very smart, but even he is bright enough to see a better sports sedan in the Lexus...... BD
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    Travis
  • August 30, 2013
I feel like him calling the car ****** ugly was a bit over the top. I used to think the car was ugly too because it looked so different from normal cars and the designs that we are used to seeing. But now it has grown on me and I think it looks fantastic. He looks horrible btw... married or not.
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      Puppet H
    • August 30, 2013
    Yep, it has grown on me to as well. But the spindle grille just doesn't fit on small cars like the IS350. It fits on wider cars like the LS, ES, IS F, 2 LF Concepts. He annoyed me saying the fish hooks LED were ugly.
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    Travis
  • August 30, 2013
Im already wondering how the updated/refreshed Is gonna look and whats gonna be changed and updated
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    Crux
  • August 31, 2013
What was so hard about the Joystiq knob? I've played around with it and sh*t was so elementary. Unless. Unless... He happens to get a test car that had glitchy controller. If that isn't the case then I hate to be mean, he has to be broken.
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    Oliver Online
  • August 31, 2013
What a biased report! He's dressed like he's still in the 80's and thinks he knows what a modern sexy sports car should look like. What a joke! Look at the Lexus and the Infiniti - open your eyes, buddy! When the Q50 clearly went out of control, he tries to describe it as a positive thing - bad move! Also, I've seen the IS 350 RWD F Sport out on a professional test track driven by a true racing driver and it performed way better than the way you were driving. There were many witnesses. Sorry, but this review sounds very suspicious.
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    Roman Pogoretskiy
  • August 31, 2013
Hes got a point; I'm also a designer and can't say I've seen an uglier Lexus. But the performance is really good not gonna lie. Just wish the designers of Lexus were as talented as the engineers.
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      kr_metal
    • August 31, 2013
    They are. But design isn't always translated into the final product in the best way. What does put me off on the IS are the huge chrome bands around the grill, and the LED lights. Yes Lexus, we get that there's a spindle grill, but you don't need a sign that says "LOOK HERE, OVER HERE, SPINDLEEEEEEEEE", and the LEDs pull the visual weight down and forward from the actual headlights. The grille's sides are supposed to look like pincers, not an ugly nose.
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      Roman Pogoretskiy
    • August 31, 2013
    Ikr? Lol They are trying way too hard to catch attention that its getting ridiculous. I hate almost every detail of the exterior of this IS. It in a lot of ways (especially the roofline) looks like the first gen IS. No joke. It looks more like Kia than a Lexus to me. Smh
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      kr_metal
    • August 31, 2013
    This was a quick photoshop on the IS I made a few months back - it looks like what it is now, but not as bad.
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      Roman Pogoretskiy
    • September 1, 2013
    Just the LEDs are missing. They need to put the lights and LEDs back together.
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      kr_metal
    • September 1, 2013
    The chrome is more subtle around the grill as well.
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      F1orce
    • September 1, 2013
    Yeah. Expect the facelift refresh to tone & refine things down a little. The 2IS still looks excellent to this very day.

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