Well we couldn’t quite believe our eyes when we heard the IS-​​F is already up for sale over in Japan, despite not being avail­able till Feb 2008 over in the States (and who knows when in Aus­tralia), and despite being rumored for release in Japan in December!

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The Ultra Hot Lexus L-​​FA

Clas­si­cally Lexus evokes images of stately, extremely well appointed saloons and sedans aimed at a mar­ket with plenty of cash and years. Lexus seems to be chang­ing that by sav­agely rework­ing the IS250’s plat­form for, well, bru­tal speed.

The IS-​​F now runs a very impres­sive direct-​​injected quad cam 5.0L V8 pro­duc­ing a colos­sal 311kW or 417HP, with a very healthy 372 lb-​​ft of torque, all har­nessed with a claimed world first eight-​​speed direct sport shift trans­mis­sion. Enough to power the (supris­ingly heavy) 1693kg (3726 lb) sports sedan from 0–60 in about 4.9 seconds.

The car goes on sale in Japan at a price of around 7.66 mil­lion yen.

View more on our Squidoo Lens.

[Source: Wind­ing Road]