Reader Review of the Week: 2007 Lexus IS 250

I really wanted to give this week’s nod to a glowing 2008 Subaru Outback owner who would totally validate my own recent purchase, but I figured our readers might be a bit tired of hearing about that particular model. Instead, I decided on this review by “IS Impressed” in Boston. He of course loves his new car, but also points out some flaws. An even-handed take on a personal ride always increases a consumer review’s chance of winning our no-prize-attached weekly award.   

“Smooth ride, steering, acceleration and it’s nicely responsive. As an AWD luxury/sport sedan you get a well-balanced blend of both luxury and sport, but in order to have both, you don’t get the best of each. Keep that in mind if you still enjoy challenging ‘G’ forces in the corners and ET’s for the quarter mile. If those are major concerns for you, this is not the car you want. However, since I’m mostly a city boy who has had my fair share of speeding tickets, there certainly is enough get-up-‘n-go in this beauty to be more than acceptable.

“I had to try real hard to come up with a few negatives, although not enough to prevent me from giving the car overall mostly top honors. So, here they are: inferior factory tires — I changed them before I took delivery. When switching from auto stick to manual transmission it always defaults to 4th gear regardless of the speed at that time (would rather have it default to the gear it’s in when switching). Ventilation system defaults to in-car circulation at start up (would make more sense to default to outside air instead). Front wheel brake dust is much too excessive (certainly not acceptable for Lexus engineering).”