SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get at home.

Unlike most car reports, what you read in these pages will not be a faithful reproduction, albeit slightly reworded, of what appeared in the manufacturer's press release. We look for background material, user experience and whatever else we can find that's beyond the obvious. Our guiding rule is that you will be able to tell that the car was actually driven.

*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.

*Pre-owned: Our tests go back quite a few years, so if you are looking for something pre-owned, you might well find a report on it in here.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted are those ruling at the time the reports were written.


We drive sportily in the 2014 Lexus IS350 F-Sport

Dr Demon or Mr Lexus?

 Posted: 10 July 2014

Timeline: July 2014; eleven months after SA launch date.
Status: Supplementary Having described the third series of Lexus IS 350 twice already, there’s not much more to say, so follow these links for the launch report and a review of the mid-range EX. What I will do is separate how this one's different from the plainer versions, and give some driving impressions.

Appearance: The “waistline” of the grille is higher than on standard models, increasing the area of the lower grille so it can draw in more cooling air; appropriate to its sporting performance. The grille itself has a unique, L-shaped mesh or honeycomb finish, with the lower section trimmed with a more prominent chrome-plated frame than on the standard IS. Outside mirrors are heated, retract automatically and their settings are included with the seat memories.

The bottom corners of the front bumper feature aerodynamic detailing to assist downforce and enhance brake cooling. Unique 18-inch, dark metallic coated wheels with Y-spoke design identify with its LFA bloodline. Tyres are 225/40 R18s in front and 255/35 R18 at the back. The “cooking” versions make do with 225/45 R17s all around. Emergency wheels in all cases are 125/70 D17 spacesavers.

Instruments: The instrument cluster, borrowed from the LFA, incorporates an innovative driver’s meter with moving centre ring. It not only provides a choice between red, white or blue background colours but it moves the main virtual gauge a touch to the right to show the multimedia menu when you select it.

Interior: An exclusive sports seat design uses “integrated foaming” construction that allows injection moulding of large concave surfaces to ensure that there are no gaps between the seat upholstery and the foam padding, so combining superior comfort with good lateral holding performance. Apart from providing choices of heating or cooling, they were nicely supportive without smothering, and extended well up to shoulder level and almost all the way to the backs of my knees.

Interior trim detailing includes an F Sport steering wheel with electric adjustment, a shift knob finished in perforated leather, metal film 3D-effect ornamentation, black seat stitching, black roof lining, and aluminium pedals and scuff plates. The only part letting the side down somewhat was the aircon and music control panel on the lower dash. Plain and bland and showing scratches far too easily, it looked like an afterthought. But if that’s all I have to complain about, maybe I should let it go.

Drive modes: Apart from a separate button marked with a snowflake symbol, Normal, Eco and Sport driving modes are on a rotating dial and supplemented by a Sport+ position. This integrates the functions of the air-assisted adaptive variable suspension (AVS), variable gear ratio steering (VGRS) and vehicle dynamics integrated management (VDIM) to provide quick and sporty responses to driver inputs. Basically, you select either comfort or sport+ suspension settings, and the system provides sharper steering and engine response, tauter handling, reduced body roll and enhanced sound effects.

Used with manual override on the gear stick and sufficient revs to keep the pot bubbling joyfully, it transforms your nice-enough IS350 business car into a demon worthy of its Darth Vader face. Power feels huge, seamless and never-ending; it rasps, it yowls, it charges like a Banzai warrior and it sticks like boerewors to a braai grid. It’s been a while since I last declared: “I want one of these!” and arrived back home with such a goofy grin. It’s addictive.

Test unit from Lexus SA press fleet

The numbers
Price: R588 600
Engine: 3456cc, DOHC, 24-valve V6
Power: 228 kW at 6400 rpm
Torque: 375 Nm at 4800 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 5,9 seconds
Maximum speed: 225 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 11,0 l/100 km
Tank: 66 litres
Luggage: 480 litres plus seat tilt volume
Warranty: 4 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Maintenance: Lexus Distance Plan Complete, with servicing at 15 000 km intervals


What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously.