Six appeal

After the quiet years, says Alastair Sloane, Toyota has turned out a Lexus with throat.

Here's a brief history of Lexus, Toyota's luxury division: In 1989 it launched the LS400 luxury saloon in Europe. It was an overnight sensation.

The Germans analysed it, the British looked for oil leaks, the Swedes wondered if it was safe, the Italians looked for a manual gearbox and the Americans circled the wagons around Cadillac.

Lexus came up with another model, the ES300, a mid-range executive; then another, the GS300, a sports sedan that sits hard on the heels of the class leader, BMW's 5-Series.

A four-wheel-drive, the LX470, modelled on the ultra-reliable Land Cruiser, followed. Its only weakness was that it looked too much like the Land Cruiser.

Each model received an audience of admirers and rivals on launch day, because each model set new standards of quality.

Pretty much the only criticism Lexus has received is that its cars are too quiet and lack the wow factor.

Not so with its latest model, the rear-drive IS200. The compact sports sedan deliberately isn't quiet - its exhaust note has a delightfully audible edge - and its looks have leapfrogged wow and go whoopee!

Lets deal with the technical stuff and the drive first, because this car in manual mode (the four-speed automatic wasn't available on test day) is more fun beyond 4000 rpm than most on the road.

The IS200 is powered by a state-of-the-art 2-litre, in-line six-cylinder engine which delivers 114kW at 6200 rpm and 195Nm of pulling power at 4600 rpm, and uses variable valve timing for optimum efficiency and to provide 80 per cent of torque from 1500 rpm on.

The engine is mated to a lickety-split six-speed gearbox which drives the rear wheels through a limited-slip differential.

The interior is clad in leather, and standard equipment includes CD player, climate-controlled air-conditioning, a polished metal gearshift knob, drilled aluminium pedals with non-slip inserts, electric this and automatic that ... literally Uncle Tom Cobbley and all.

Safety features include duel front and side-mounted airbags, seat-belt pre-tensioners, an energy-absorbing steering column, ABS antilock brakes and engine immobiliser.

A few things stood out from a driver's point of view: the car's body control and crisp handling was superb on all sorts of surfaces, and the engine thrived on being under the throttle in third gear.

In second gear and at high speed under heavy braking through a few hundred metres of tight corners, the available oomph fell into a hole momentarily. It was noticeable on exit but not frustrating.

And on a couple of undulating S-bends the car's rear-end floated slightly, but only at speeds that far exceeded the legal limit and with traction control switched off. Forget the high-speed stuff. On the right road this car is a ball of fun at 100 km/h.

It should be, too. The chief engineer on the IS200 was Nobuaki Katayama, who looks after Toyota's World Rally Championship team and the carmaker's Le Mans project.

He came up with a platform regarded as the stiffest and most responsive ever produced by Lexus or Toyota and a body which has a CD factor of 0.28, which means the IS200 slices through the air better than most.

Long-time Toyota consultant Chris Amon reckons Katayama did a good job. The New Zealander and former Formula One driver said: "The car just flowed through the corners and the overall feel befits the class and imparts a lot of driving pleasure."

Lexus aims to sell about 60 IS200 models a year. The car will step into line with Lexus' philosophy of not competing for market share but rather building customer loyalty through its customer-care package which, like Lexus' build quality, set new benchmarks.

The IS200 comes with a four-year/140,000km warranty and service, including two sets of four tyres.

And the price? $59,000 for both the manual and automatic models.
Said Lexus spokesman Gary McIver: "We have had to grow Lexus from the days when we had one vehicle, and the pricing is another evolution along the way.

"Lexus is not chasing market share per se. I guess it has let people find it more than it has gone out and found customers.

"It is not out there aggressively competing with BMW or Mercedes-Benz. That's not the equation for Lexus. It never has been."