irishcar.com - Lexus IS300 SportCross

In this country, the Lexus IS200 has arguably been the Toyota luxury brand’s most important car, bringing as it did the Lexus nameplate to a whole new market segment - the area dominated by the 3-Series BMW and C-Class Mercedes-Benz.

And though it doesn’t sell in anything like the numbers of the incumbents, it has established itself as a distinctive alternative for those who like its understatement, and who can appreciate the fine driving qualities and world-class engineering.

The almost-coupe styling of the original car, with its very short rear deck, hid a full five-seater saloon with decent luggage space for its passengers and various levels of sumptuous accommodation for themselves. Earlier this year they introduced a ‘wagon’ version to Ireland, the SportCross. It came with a 3-litre engine instead of the 2-litre in the familiar ISs, derived from the one that powers the GS300 ‘mid-range’ Lexus.

And the odd first thing about it is that in straight luggage space terms, it has less capacity than the saloon. But then, Lexus really don’t want it to be a standard ‘estate’ version, rather a car for a different lifestyle.

So with the hatchback-style rear door, and the flexible loading options of fully-stowable rear seats, its overall capacity for such things as an architect’s model or other needs of the young professionals at whom the SportCross is aimed makes it an enhanced proposition.

At the leisure end of the stowage scale, the the SportCross can accommodate skis, snowboards, golf clubs - even a mountain bike.

But just because you like roughing it for fun, there’s no need to rough it home in your car, so the SportCross has a full leather interior, a 9-speaker audio system that’s probably better than the one in your home, and full climate control.

And a straight-six engine powering the rear wheels which is arguably one of the sweetest in the class. It has, of course, the now-famous VVT-i valve control system, along with a range of other sophistications to provide seamlessly-smooth power and a performance to rival a sports car, without all the acoustic trauma. The 3-litre has a 143mph top speed, moves the 0-100km/h sprint almost a full three seconds quicker than the 2-litre, at 8.4sec, and is 4mpg thirstier at some 25mpg.

The only transmission option is a 5-speed autobox, incorporating the ‘E-Shift’ buttons-on-the-steering spokes to allow manual use. Colleagues with racing inclinations like it.

When the IS series cars came out first, there were some criticisms of the quality of the materials on the dashboard. This perception has been dealt with in the current iterations, including the SportCross, with a substantial upgrade in the materials used. But the overall very distinctive dashboard styling remains, and you quickly get to appreciate the ‘chronometer’ styling of the instrumentation (though a digital instant MPG readout would be better than the hard-to-read needle one here).

The climate controls are absolutely clear and safe to use. And in an age where big rotating volume controls have been apparently rendered to antiquity, it is always pleasant to use that much safer older system in Lexuses (and Volvos and Vectras, too).

Over and above the base IS200 there are a whole host of standard extras, including a rear spoiler, walnut inserts on the doors, a windscreen de-icer, HID headlights with auto levelling, a vehicle stability control system, and a luggage box with a ‘false floor’ cargo area. Many more, but too many to list.

The main sensation of driving the SportCross is absolute smoothness. If anything, the sense of power and acceleration is less than from the smaller-engined ISs, because the 5-speed autobox and the exceptionally quiet engine make driving so much more effortless.

I’ve said it before, but my preference for the autobox would be a ‘tiptronic’-style operation from a floor-mounted shifter rather than the steering wheel buttons, but maybe that’s just because I’m older or just plain old-fashioned. The central shifter CAN be used manually, but the zig-zag balking system can make it a cumbersome thing. Anyway, a really good automatic doesn’t need to be used manually 95 percent of the time and this is a really good automatic.

The suspension of the SportCross is equally as good as the other ISs, and the extra metal on the back end doesn’t appear to have made any difference to the handling or feel of the car. Actually, the aluminium back door means there hasn’t been a great increase in weight overall, anyway.

The arrival of the SportCross went some way towards filling a product gap between the IS and GS series cars. But the big price tag of 65,000 euros isn’t a lot under the first GS at 66,000 euros. There WILL be a 2-litre version of the SportCross at some stage, which may well make it a more affordable jump from the 200 series vehicles. Maybe by as much as 20,000 euros?

Because that’s the price difference between the IS200 and the same-body version with the 3-litre engine, the IS300. Seems an awful lot for a bigger engine and some trimmings, doesn’t it?

But it’s very nice.