2008 Lexus IS F

Turning the Ultrasonic Blue Mica Lexus into the small driveway, I am confronted by the most magnanimous sign I've only yet seen in video games: Laguna Seca Raceway. At the home of the infamous corkscrew and behind the wheel of one of the most powerful cars to come out of Japan stock, I'm starting to regret not dusting off the old PS2 and playing a couple of laps of GT4.

"So you kind of nervous?" asks my passenger. Is an alter boy nervous around Michael Jackson dressed as a priest?

There are tens of thousands of adjectives to describe a car; as an auto journalist-although dubious of sorts-I've used a handful. Mean, aggressive, fast, and, my personal favorite, clean; depending on what the car is, I tweak those groups of words to tailor-fit. For example: "The mean looking Lexus, although aggressive, was not quite as fast as the Bimmer, however clean it may look."

In the vernacular and amongst friends, I readily use those same words. They are simple and to the point. Really, what other words do you need to describe a car? If a point needs to be stressed, combing the words works just as well-as in: "I sure wish the Japanese luxury brands had a mean, aggressively fast yet clean car in their lineup to challenge BMW's M line." To really nail the message in I could hyperbole to the n-th degree-or rather the f-th-and say something like, "Yo, the M-edition Bimmers are f-in mean cars that are both aggressively f-in fast, yet f-in clean."

On the go, the F word is about the most versatile word in the English dictionary. However, I've yet to drive an import straight from the factory to warrant the use of such expletives, let alone a Lexus. So when talks emerged of Lexus dropping a BMW-M3-challenging IS-drum roll please-F, I was curious.

Right off the bat this is not the same Lexus you're used to. This is a completely different beast. Yes, it does have the comfort and lavishness associated with the maker, but one fleeting glance at the open mouthed front, functional vented front fender flares (two inches wider than the stock IS), performance supplement-enhanced bulging hood, quad exhaust tips and forged 19-inch BBS wheels, makes it a far cry from any Lexus seen before. A motorized object normally relegated to a suburban status symbol, the muscular, sinewy lines of the IS F screams baby-adopting, Hollywood-tabloid, sex symbol. Even the front six- and rear two-piston Brembo calipers on Brembo drilled rotors reek of raw fade-resisting pheromones.

But merely looking at the brawny exterior is nothing compared to driving the FR '08 IS F. Sink into the snug front seat; tap the engine start button and the 5.0L V-8 (2UR-GSE for you engine code freaks) roars to life, settling into a deep purr of a lion damned to purgatory. Based on the 4.6L found on the LS460, the revamped motor utilizes a more efficient and lighter head developed by Yamaha, direct and port fuel injectors, titanium valves, solid lifters, G-force friendly head scavenge oil system, water-cooled oil cooler and a dual-air intake system. Mash on the throttle and 416 thundering horses at 371 lb-ft of torque spin through eight forward gears-only half of which we used. Throttle it past the point when the secondary intake opens and the IS F howls like Lucifer stubbing his big toe.