Last year, Lexus made two big changes to its IS sports sedan: Another big facelift, and discontinuing the V8 model. The Lexus IS 500 was a maniac, a surprisingly comfy fast four-door in the old-school tradition. Big engine up front, drive to the back, giggles in the middle. It will be missed, but many of its bones are soldiering on with a new hue joining the fray.
See, the new-for-2026 IS 350 is really just an extensive facelift of a car we first saw for the 2013 model year. Sure, 13 years is a bit of an eternity in the world of luxury cars, but that means you still get a time-honored 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V6. It also means that all-wheel-drive models soldier on with a six-speed automatic transmission but unless you live in Canada and don’t have this option, sticking with rear-wheel-drive to get the eight-speed automatic seems like a wise choice.
Alright, so 311 horsepower can’t exactly hold a candle to 472, but that’s not a reason to drop a bit of a ritual. See, the IS 500 was frequently available in limited-run colors, and now that the IS 350 is the quickest IS, it makes sense to keep the tradition going. This year, it’s a great choice of paint, a rich green called Envious that does indeed have a certain pull to it. It would’ve done numbers on Tumblr around the time this generation of IS launched thanks to its moodiness.
However, the IS 350 Special Appearance Package isn’t just a paint job. It bundles in pretty much all the optional goodies you’ll actually want on an IS 350 including adaptive dampers, a limited-slip rear differential on rear-wheel-drive models, and forged BBS wheels that would probably be lovely if I could actually see them. That’s what black wheels do, they just disappear into the arches. Still, they ought to be lighter than the standard cast items which is good, because less unsprung mass makes a car ride better, accelerate more quickly, brake better, and sometimes even get better fuel economy.
Sliding inside the IS 350 Special Appearance Package, there’s green in here too. No, really, zoom way in and you’ll find that the stitching on the seats and dashboard is indeed green. Subtle, but appreciated. Equipment levels are likely better than you’d expect, with a power rear sunshade, a sleek credit card-sized key fob, and hands-free driver assistance under 25 MPH joining a Mark Levinson audio system.
While the lack of a new IS 500 is still a bit disappointing, it’s not all bad news. The naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V6 in the IS 350 is famously reliable, and the updated infotainment with this latest facelift is a big upgrade. This isn’t the most cutting-edge sports sedan on the market, but it’s one you can confidently own for more than a decade, and that’s a luxury in its own. Granted, you’ll have to act quickly if you want one in this green. Lexus is only building 350 for the entire continent, which will make it an uncommon sight on the roads.
Top graphic images: Lexus; DepositPhotos.com
Unusually, I don’t hate the black wheels on this, but how damn good would it look with bronze wheels? If that’s not an option Lexus is missing out.
I do hate black wheels and agree bronze would kill.
It’s nice, and more appealing to me than most recent/current Lexi. Every time I watch some YT channel reviewing the IS, they always complain about it being ‘old’ or ‘dated.’
I think the fact that it’s traditional, often comes in an interesting color, and not beslathered in a black and chrome plastic interior with tawdy colored LEDs everywhere makes it desirable.
I don’t need a car like this, but if I did…
Agreed. Old isn’t an insult when new is unappealing. We have a GS because we needed more backseat, but the same holds true in the IS: the traditional approach to interior materials and the very smooth and revvy V6 are a nice homage to the recent pre-screen past.
“…recent pre-screen past” along with “analog instruments” and “naturally aspirated” are all adjectives I’ll miss when they’re completely gone.
Green is great, matte is…less good
Sharp. Is the IS’s backseat still a ridiculously tight fit for adults? I know the first gen was.
I’m 5’11” and can sit behind my driving position with a few inches of clear air between knees and setbacks. It’s not roomy, but it’s a compact sedan. I thought it was similar to the much larger TLX.
I’d like it a lot more with a brown leather interior
Midori Green remains the best green ever applied to a US-bound production car. Everything else we’ve ever gotten looks like highlighter yellow or military drab.
Nori green on the LC 500 is spectacular, just like the car.
And for anyone having ever shopped for cheap cars in Europe – flashback of the Bundeswehr Opel Vectra A, in its inimitable NATO-Oliv RAL 6031 color.
I guess we shall see, but I feel like if the V8 return for Ram ends up helping sales and the seemingly continued saga of Toyota V6 failures in Tundras continues to haunt them, they might bring back the v8 in a clean sheet design to help with reputation, HP and fuel economy. I could see them using this to bring back the now much talked about IS500….or would is be 570? Maybe 550? Guess we shall see.
Completely different engines. The IS’s V6 has been around in various states of tune in Camrys and several Lotus sports cars for quite a while.
Agreed, but should they revert to a v8 for the Tundra, then they have a V8 that can be handed down to the IS for use with sedan tuning. I would personally like to see a Toyota version of the CT5 Blackwing(supercharger and all).
Green goes really well with the Predator face.
It’s definitely the green monster.
Great color. Terrible grill.
They refreshed the IS just a few years ago and gave it a front fascia that looked great. So then of course they rush in an unnecessary additional refresh that looks just like a Corolla.
IMO, the IS hasn’t looked good since way back in 2013. But, I could say that about most of their lineup. I still have a soft spot for the first-gen CT’s. Too bad they were terrible cars.
I like the 2013s as well. They got a bad rap from the enthusiast hivemind, but I thought the controversial styling worked well.
CT terrible? Overpriced for a Prius drivetrain sure, but they handled well and didn’t fall apart.
Take mazda red, replace the pigment with this green, and I think you’ve figured out what color I like best.
See below
See Bertone Ramarro.
https://www.corvsport.com/1984-bertone-ramarro-concept/
Hang in there I chose a crappy site… scroll down.
No, I think you got Mazda red all wrong… It’s a very brilliant color if the light is coming from roughly where your looking, but fades to a dark shade of the color when the light hits it otherwise. Kind of like a retro-reflector but based on the angle of the light the color saturation changes instead of the brightness.
Can’t tell if want. The top shot has good lighting, but the others are so dark on my green that I’m not sure if I like the color or not! Thanks, Lexus.
From the pix here, it looks like it’s matte finish, which looks great on the showroom floor and then a PITA to maintain.
If I were forced to take a new Lexus car, I’d take the 2-door LC500 or the RC. But I would put bright silver, polished aluminum, or chrome wheels on it.
I love the green, but I’d really like lighter colored wheels and either a white, tan, or maybe the red interior. Black on black on green is disappointing.
Even a cinnamon or caramel brown interior would work a lot better than black.
Mmm, yeah, a nice caramel brown like they offered on the LC500 would be nice. Or even the dark brown they offer on the RX would work.
I am planning to purchase an is350 this fall, and am insisting on an interesting color, with blue as my current favorite, but I would LOVE to have this green!
BUT I also insist on a lighter interior. Their white seats would look fantastic and would possibly make me accept paying for features on this edition that I don’t want. So I guess I won’t be fighting for a spot in line. Can’t they just offer green as a color option?
buy a black car and wrap it in whatever you like!
Screw that, get the blue one and then wrap it green. That way even if the wrap gets damaged and you have to peel it off, you still have an interesting looking car.
I’d really rather have green than a V8.
So where’s my green interior and chrome wheels?
Oh, it’s Lexus – not Genesis.
Nevermind.
Thanks to how Toyota and most Lexus are distributed, good luck actually getting one of these. I think the LC was the only one in recent memory that you could actually order.
I really dislike this cop out of colored stitching as if they’re giving us a treat. Stitching does not make a colored interior!
Their white would look awesome inside this green!
“yea” for green. “boo” for all black wheels and interior.
Is it in the $80K range?
Last year’s Special Appearance Package was $61,800 USD before markups.
The press photos make it look like a matte, darker jade green. It’s actually like a Fiat light olive color and does have clearcoat and possibly metal flake in it.
Also, they *might* sell you one. Only 350 means these aren’t going to be seen on the regular anywhere.
It’s depressing to see them copying line for line the idiotic bumper lines of the latest BMW X5.
They used to have their own design. What a waste…
Kudos for the real gauge cluster, the buttons and the screen that does NOT sit in the middle of the windshield. I hope they don’t copy BMW on that too…
Still completely fugly. What real gauge cluster? That’s another screen, even if it’s displaying analog-ish fake gauges. No thanks.
For sure nobody should be copying ANYTHING BMW has done in the past decade.
In these sad days, even the shape of a gauge cluster (with visor and all) is food for broken design hearts.
Nowadays, I call a cluster just any screen that is integrated in a classic way rather than being proudly stuck on pillars like a giant wart. Alas.
Sigh. So true. For too many cars, one iPad stuck to the dash just isn’t enough anymore.
Ditto…
In the grand scheme of things though, a classically shaped gauge cluster made of elaborate screenS would be a great thing. I put screens in plural, as I dream of some multiple screen concoction where screens will be stacked in depth, one behind the other, with some of them translucent, for that depth effect.
Lexus, of all things, had something quite elaborate on the original LS I believe. There was some projection or periscope effect, which made the needles floating and also made the thing impervious to glare.
Designers seem to be very quick to forget that gauges rhyme with watches, watches rhyme with watchmakers, and watchmakers rhyme with ultimate luxury.
And they should remember that analog watches are luxury, digital watches are absolutely NOT.