Lexus IS200T vs Lexus IS300H

What's the difference?

Peter Anderson road tests and reviews the new Lexus IS200t F Sport with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

Long ago, the Lexus IS overtook the LS as the most recognisable Lexus on the road. With strong, angular styling, sharp pricing and spec against the Germans, and a 2.0-litre straight six engine, it seems like Lexus sold a million of them and only one of them has broken down irretrievably and is now being used to prop up the Harbour Bridge, such was its solid build quality.

Explore the 2016-2017 Lexus IS Range

Lexus IS 2016 review | first drive video
Lexus IS300h 2016 review | snapshot
Lexus IS350 2016 review | snapshot
Lexus IS200t Luxury 2017 review | road test
Lexus IS350 Sport Luxury 2017 review | road test

Hell, Lexus was even able to hide for a while that it was a rebadged Japanese Toyota Altezza, partly because Toyota didn't do funky rear-wheel drive sedans outside of Japan. The IS took the brand into many more homes than the ES or GS could ever hope to because it looked like it was a Lexus.

We're now three generations and one facelift into the IS and the big selling IS250 is no more, replaced some time ago by a 2.0-litre turbo four and renamed IS200t. You can now get an F Sport version, too, just like you can buy an Audi with S Line or a BMW with M Sport.

That turbo engine hopefully addresses one of the problems with the entry-level IS sedan - it was always a little on the slow side...

One question frequently discussed in the skunkworks of the CarsGuide office is: What exactly does Lexus stand for?

When the brand debuted its original export-market IS sedan in 1999 the messaging was more or less clear: Toyota’s premium sub-brand was here to be a Japanese BMW.

The brand even employed Nobuaki Katayama – chief engineer on the iconic Corolla AE86 program – to again take the reins of its small rear-wheel drive sedan program.

As the years went on though, Lexus changed. Fundamentally geared toward the US market, the second-generation (wild IS F aside) became a bit more sedate and softer around the edges, while the third generation strayed even further from the sedan’s performance-inspired roots, leaning into a plush interior, hybrid drive, and even CVT transmissions.

This brings us to today’s Lexus IS. Essentially a heavy facelift of the third generation (which arrived back in 2013), the brand has “reimagined” its core sedan with a tweaked design and updated technology for 2021.

Is it enough to keep it relevant against its ever-present European rivals and the newly arrived threat from Hyundai’s Genesis G70? I took a signature IS300h hybrid for a week to find out.