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!

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]

A few peo­ple have requested infor­ma­tion on the “Soarer V8” as they call it, since most of them have this engine in their 1991–1996 model Lexus SC400/​Toy­ota Soarer Coupe’s. Most infor­ma­tion is freely avail­able online if you know where to look, but feel free to request infor­ma­tion on any tuner car and engine by leav­ing a com­ment, and we’ll do our best to find out for you.

Toy­ota 1UZ-​​FE Quad Cam 32 Valve V8

Date:

First in 1989, with revi­sions in 1995, and an upgrade in 1997 to include VVT-​​i (vari­able valve timing)

Power:

• 1989–1994: 191KW (256HP)
• 1995: 195KW (261HP, lighter internals)
• 1997: 216KW (290 HP, advent of VVT-​​i)

Torque:

• 1989–1994: 353Nm (260 ft-​​lb)
• 1995: 363Nm (267.7 ft-​​lb)
• 1997: 407 Nm (300 ft-​​lb)

Com­pres­sion Ratio:

• 1989–1994: 10:1
• 1995: 10.4:1
• 1997: 10.5:1

Other Fea­tures: All alloy block, Belt dri­ven quad camshafts.
Awards: (1998–2000) Made Ward’s 10 Best Engines List

Cars You Might Find the 1uZ-​​FE v8 In

• (1991 — 2000) Lexus SC400/​Toyota Soarer Coupe
• (1989 — 2000) Lexus LS400/​Toyota Celsior
• (1992 — 2000) Lexus GS300/​Toyota Aristo (the Aristo also came in Twin Turbo with the 2JZ-​​GTE powerplant)
• (1990 — 2002) Toy­ota Crown