2017 Lexus IS: Refreshed to Toe the Design Line

Lexus's sports sedan comes in for an update.

Official Photos and Info

Although Chinese car buyers are known for their propensity toward being chauffeured rather than driving, Lexus took the wraps off what is arguably its most driver-centric product at the 2016 Beijing auto show. The new 2017 Lexus IS updates the third-generation sports sedan to bring its looks more closely in line with the rest of the Lexus model line, specifically the refreshed GS mid-size luxury sedan and the RC sports coupe.

Along with a more aggressive take on the brand’s spindle grille, the 2017 Lexus IS also gets a fresh headlight design and a more dramatic lower fascia. F Sport models incorporate functional brake air ducts within an even more aggressive maw coated in a jet-black metallic finish. The new IS’s rear end features an updated taillight design and rectangular chrome exhaust tips.

Inside, the IS now is available with a larger, 10.3-inch infotainment screen to manage functions via Lexus’s Remote Touch Interface (RTI) system, the mouse-like console-mounted controller. It now includes duplicate “Enter” buttons, one on each side, in a bid to improve ease of use. (Our experience with the system in other vehicles leads us to opine that a smarter way for Lexus to improve ease of use would be for it to adopt a different system altogether.)

Lexus also enhanced the compact luxury sedan’s cabin décor, adding a leather-lined palm rest aft of the RTI system’s controls, new cupholders, and flush-mounted center-console controls. A revamped instrument cluster with a stitched hood, new clock markings, and a handful of other details complete the interior’s very minor transformation. All Lexus IS models now include a standard pre-collision system, lane-departure warning with steering assist, automatic high-beam headlights, and radar cruise control as part of what Lexus dubs “Lexus Safety System +”.

Oddly, for a car debuting in China, the IS remains a single-wheelbase model. Other compact luxury sedans—for example, the Cadillac ATS, Audi A4, and Volvo S60—are built in extended-wheelbase form to accommodate the market’s preference for chauffeured driving. (The Volvo version is sold in the U.S. as the S60 Inscription.)

Powertrain choices carry over from 2016, with the recently added IS200t’s 241-hp 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder at the bottom of the model line and the IS350’s 306-hp 3.5-liter V-6 taking the top spot. The all-wheel-drive IS300 also relies on Lexus’s 3.5-liter V-6; however, it musters 255 horsepower in that application. Rear-drive models continue to use an eight-speed automatic transmission, while AWD IS300 and IS350 models make do with a six-speed automatic.

The 2017 Lexus IS will make its way to U.S. showrooms during the fourth quarter of this year.