The compact sports sedan segment is brimming with choices for automobile lovers. The Lexus IS 500 is one of the standouts in the crowd due to its aggressive styling, red-hot V8 engine options, and beautiful upscale cabin. Besides the powerful engine, Lexus has fitted the car with bigger brakes, adaptive suspension, attractive 19-inch Enkei wheels, high-performance tires, and a Torsen limited-slip differential to amp up the IS 500’s sporty attributes.

Interior and space
The Lexus IS 500’s cabin balances high-quality fit and finishes with the car’s sporty personality. The dashboard comes with several ergonomically-placed buttons for easy access and operation. The Lexus IS 500 can be bought with either of two infotainment display options, an 8.0-inch or 10.3-inch touchscreen system to control the air-conditioning, phone calls, satellite navigation, parking camera, and various other functions in the car. Apart from the infotainment system, the Lexus IS 500 comes with other niceties, including Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and an optional Mark Levinson premium stereo system with 17 speakers and a booming 1800 watts of power. The predominantly dark-themed cabin has comfortable seats for both rows of passengers. However, those in the back seats can be cramped for room. Overall, the car offers decent leg room (44.8 inches in the front row, 32.2 inches in the rear row), headroom (38.2 inches, 36.9 inches), shoulder room (55.9 inches, 53.4 inches), and hip room (54.3 inches, 54 inches) for its occupants. With all its seats in place, the Lexus IS 500 has a cargo capacity of 10.8 cubic feet in its boot.

Engine and performance
The Lexus IS 500 has an old-school naturally-aspirated 5.0-liter V8 engine that makes 472 hp power and 395 lb-ft torque. This engine sends power to the IS 500’s rear wheels through an 8-speed, shiftable automatic gearbox. The massive power output, combined with the car’s lightweight, helps the Lexus IS 500 achieve incredible straight-line performance, particularly on smooth roads. The huge exhaust roar every time one revs the vehicle adds to the huge acceleration. This compact sedan goes from 0-60 mph in 4.3 seconds. The massive engine returns 17 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway, bringing the car’s combined economy to 20 mpg. With its 17.4-gallon fuel tank, the car reaches 295.8 miles in the city and 435 miles on the highway after a single fuel top-up.

Ride and handling
True to form, the IS 500’s driving dynamics are more performance-oriented than comfort-based. However, Lexus has fitted the car with a rear chassis damper developed by Yamaha that stabilizes the ride at incredibly high speeds. Therefore, although the suspension is stiff, the damper makes the overall ride quality semi-stable, even when the car goes hyper-fast. The blunt-ish ride is a minor trade-off for the Lexus IS 500’s incredible handling. The car’s chassis, direct and responsive steering, and adaptive suspension make the car an agile handler, regardless of the driving speed. While throttle responses could be more instantaneous, the engine, chassis, and gearbox work well to make the IS 500’s cornering abilities truly memorable for petrolheads.

Safety and price
The Lexus IS 500 has many safety features like a blind spot and lane departure warning, accident avoidance system, airbags, stability control, traction control, 4-wheel ABS, and emergency braking assist. Besides these, there are dusk-sensing headlamps, auto delay-off headlamps, fog lamps, turn signal mirrors, engine immobilizers, and several more attributes. The Lexus IS 500 comes in three variants, the F Sport Performance, priced at $57,925; the F Sport Performance Premium, priced at $62,425; and the F Sport Performance Launch Edition, priced at $68,475. All these base prices are subject to fluctuations.