Lexus IS200T vs Mercedes-Benz C220

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...

Do you know how many bones you have in your body? Stop counting, there are 207. And if say half those bones were replaced with different ones would you consider yourself to still be the same? Well that’s what Benz has done with the new C-Class – sort of. Of the roughly 13,000 parts which make up a C-Class car, 6500 of them have been modified or changed.

You don’t need to know every change to the new C-Class, but at the end of this review you will be across the differences that you can see, feel and hear.

Just a note before we start. The top-of-the-range Mercedes-AMG C63 S arrives in early 2019 and wasn’t available to drive at the Australian C-Class launch. That’s why we’ll focus on the other grades here - the C 200, C 220 d, C 300 and C 43. We’ll test drive and review the Australian C 63 S when it arrives – promise.