"Competition," said John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil and an early poster child of the business monopoly, "is a sin."
He'd certainly be horrified by the competition going on these days among the makers of sports sedans. To many, these are the jewels of the high-performance market, and yet they seat at least four and don't require fortunes associated with Google stock.
Although the genre is deliciously broad, we'll concentrate here on two cars: the cat's meow of sports sedans, the BMW M3, and a newcomer from Lexus, the IS F. This fourth generation of the BMW M3 debuted last fall and is available as a two-door coupe, a four-door, and, coming soon, a convertible. Last December we pitted the new M3 coupe against the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and Audi RS 4 ["Gluttons for Punishment"], and the result was a rout for the Bimmer. Neither the Lexus, which only comes as a sedan, nor the four-door M3, was available for that test, so this duel was a given.
The IS F and the M3 cover the same basic formula, which is a lot like the muscle-car recipe from a bygone era. Start with a small, lightweight car, and stuff in a honking engine. The difference now is that these modern-day muscle cars complement those monster motors with sharp suspensions and plenty of luxury features. They're not exorbitantly priced, but neither are they cheap. Both have base prices of about $56,000.
Let's start with the M3. Based on the 17-time 10Best-winner 3-series, the latest M3 has twice the number of cylinders (eight) and, with 414 horsepower, more than twice the horsepower of the first M3 that debuted in 1988. Coupled to a standard six-speed manual transmission (a twin-clutch automated manual will be available this summer), the M3's V-8 revs to an almost unheard-of 8400 rpm. Additionally, there are larger brakes, a firmer suspension, and enough body modifications to let the world know you're in something special. Our test car came stuffed with options -- adjustable shocks, steering assist, nav, heated seats, and various other bits -- that swelled the as-tested price to $64,450.
Meanwhile, the Lexus IS-F looks similarly capable on paper. It's Lexus's first über-version of the capable IS sedan, and the company has not scrimped. In the engine bay resides a 416-hp, 5.0-liter V-8 that has a significant torque advantage over the BMW (371 pound-feet versus 295). An eight-speed automatic transmission -- it's the only one available -- sends power to the rear wheels. We initially lamented the absence of a manual box, but Lexus has souped up the automatic so that in the manumatic mode it shifts in 0.1 second, Lexus claims. The suspension was lowered and stiffened, six-piston front-brake calipers pinch larger 14.2-inch rotors, and 19-inch forged aluminum wheels fill wider fenders and wheel arches. Our test car came with one option, a $3990 Mark Levinson sound system and navigation package that bumped the as-tested price to $60,755.
These sedans are serious performance cars and as such require some room to wring them out. We spent a day lapping Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca's 2.2-mile road course in Monterey, California. There, we sucked in our guts while plunging the cars down Laguna's famous Corkscrew, a left-right combination that has a devilishly blind approach and exit. Get it wrong, and you're in the wall.
We later ran through plenty of twisties, highway slogs, and our usual performance tests. In short, we indulged like automotive robber barons. And, yes, we loved every minute of it.
2008 Lexus IS-F || Free Price Quote
It was the fine points that cost the Lexus, the small details that separate the great from the incredibly great. For example, the engine is outstanding, but it doesn't deliver the low-end grunt its specs promise. With 371 pound-feet of torque it should be gutsier than the BMW, but peak twist occurs way up at 5200 rpm, just 1600 short of the redline. At Laguna, despite its 25-percent-larger engine, the IS F didn't rocket out of low-speed corners the way we expected it to.
To prove our seat-of-the-pants impressions of both cars, we did a special rolling acceleration test in which we ran them, at full throttle, from 30 to 70 mph in third gear. The times were about identical.
Since the Lexus V-8 is larger and doesn't rev as high as the BMW's, we can't explain this equality, especially since the Lexus's torque curve is fairly flat and there are 300 pound-feet of torque on tap at 3000 rpm. Part of the problem is the IS F's weight, which at 3780 pounds is 100 pounds heavier than the M3, but still, it should pull harder than the BMW down low.
On the racetrack, we worked the IS F's manumatic transmission to keep the engine above 3800 rpm, which was satisfying and painless. Toggling the right-side aluminum steering-wheel paddle produces a kick-in-the-crotch shift that's quicker than we could ever achieve with hand and foot. Downshifts are actuated via the left paddle, and the computer blips the throttle for a racy, seamless feel. The gear lever can be set to shift itself, and we rated this automatic on par with the M3's manual unit, which is the first time we can remember heaping such praise on a slushbox. It's that good.
It's hard to argue with what this powertrain can produce. It brushes past 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, clears the quarter in 12.8 seconds at 114 mph, and runs briskly to a governed top speed of 172 mph. That's Porsche 911 territory. But at times the eight ratios felt like too many, and in the twisties, we frequently found ourselves glancing at the gear indicator in the gauge cluster to discern which cog we were in.
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