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2009 Lexus IS Facelift unveiled in Europe!

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2009 Lexus IS

The facelifted 2009 Lexus IS range have been unveiled in the UK this week (though at first sight I cannot tell what on earth has changed with the design), and it is now more accessible with the cheapest model (which is the IS 220d SE) costing £22,490. The entire range has also got price slashes, some by more than £1,000. This is probably an effort to keep up sales volumes in these tough times.

Lexus IS FaceliftThe IS 220d is now more environmentally friendly, with a small drop in CO2 emissions from 168g/km to 163g/km. In the UK, this means it moves down a band for vehicle excise duty from E to D. The owner of a facelifted IS 220d will save £25 a year on his road fund license and reduces the Benefit in Kind (BIK) rate for company car tax calculation to 23 per cent.

Other changes include VDIM as standard on all models, and folding rear headrests. A Satnav option is available for £1,825 on SE and SE-I models which include Europe GPS maps, a 7 inch 640×480 LCD display with touch screen operation, Bluetooth hands-free, a rear parking video feed monitor and a 13-speaker audio system with an in-dash 6-CD changer. This pack can be upgraded to a Multimedia Pack on the SE-L for £2,710 which includes the same stuff but adds a 14-speaker Mark Levinson system with a 6-DVD changer.

Look after the jump for more shots of the facelifted Lexus IS.

PHOTO GALLERY: 2009 Lexus IS Facelift
Click thumbnails to view high resolution photo

20 Comments »

  1. oodane said,

    November 13, 2008 @ 3:16 pm

    hmmmm..
    not much changes though..
    but it still look masculine..

  2. ksec said,

    November 13, 2008 @ 3:53 pm

    Are there more space at the back yet?
    The backseat are so crumbed i cant even fit my dog in there.

  3. Francis KethoN said,

    November 13, 2008 @ 5:18 pm

    I spot the differences

    1.The rear tailight
    2.Side mirror light

    HAHAHAHA

  4. varman24 said,

    November 13, 2008 @ 5:51 pm

    hmmm wanna see the sound system.any pics of the interior?

  5. hyundai said,

    November 13, 2008 @ 5:59 pm

    Seems that the sales is quite poor… That’s why they need to cut their price…

  6. l3ryan said,

    November 13, 2008 @ 9:08 pm

    still looks too similar to a toyota, remove the badge and stuck the T badge on it and i doubt people without much automobile knowledge would be able to tell the difference.

    and what’s with the bling chromed wing mirror indicators? looks so tacky like those add-ons that people can buy from any accessory shop…

  7. szw said,

    November 13, 2008 @ 9:31 pm

    using BMW way to identify their diesel…
    lexus really like copying from the germans
    like 220 sounds like a merc…
    den da “d” is frm BMW…
    lolz !!!

  8. transformer said,

    November 13, 2008 @ 10:30 pm

    couldnt see much changed except wing mirror! which i might suggest it as an Ear-Lift instead! ~boring~~~~~~

  9. IsaacVky said,

    November 14, 2008 @ 12:08 am

    Waste of time. Get the new Audi A4 2.0T Avant.

  10. csv said,

    November 14, 2008 @ 12:33 am

    i see no changes. but the mark levinson sound system, FU YOH!

  11. ignas said,

    November 14, 2008 @ 9:55 am

    yawnz….zzZZzzZZzz…..

  12. ALPINA Bukard Bovensiepen GMBH + Co. KG said,

    November 14, 2008 @ 11:05 am

    the worst small premium luxury sedan

  13. torque said,

    November 14, 2008 @ 1:15 pm

    Francis KethoN said,
    November 13, 2008 @ 5:18 pm

    I spot the differences

    1.The rear tailight
    2.Side mirror light

    HAHAHAHA

    _________________________________________________________________________

    True!! And a slightly bigger grille (can’t actually know unless someone tells u).

  14. pujangga said,

    November 14, 2008 @ 3:43 pm

    Francis KethoN said,
    November 13, 2008 @ 5:18 pm

    I spot the differences

    1.The rear tailight
    2.Side mirror light

    HAHAHAHA

    ________________________________________________________________________

    3.New rims

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  15. mystvearn said,

    November 14, 2008 @ 7:34 pm

    Lexus going if it looks alright, don’t change it.

    IMO, this is the only car in the Lexus range that looks beautiful. The rest are ugly.

    a 22k car, and still no AUX port. Upcoming honda city also has that.

  16. ALPINA Bukard Bovensiepen GMBH + Co. KG said,

    November 14, 2008 @ 8:53 pm

    the improvements are even less obvious than that of the bmw 3er

  17. Xx- Ferrari -xX said,

    November 14, 2008 @ 9:59 pm

    the rear looks very bold….

  18. ALPINA Bukard Bovensiepen GMBH + Co. KG said,

    November 15, 2008 @ 3:03 pm

    looks bold, but to drive it, its rubbish

  19. tokmoh said,

    November 16, 2008 @ 1:13 pm

    lol, the British wouldn’t buy this even with a price drop. As Jeremy Clarkson puts it: “I mean seriously, how can anyone say ‘No, I don’t want to buy a BMW, or a Jaguar, or an Audi or a Volkswagen Phaeton or a Mercedes cuz all I want from a car is reliability.’ That’s like saying all I want from a girlfriend is punctuality.”

  20. ALPINA Bukard Bovensiepen GMBH + Co. KG said,

    November 16, 2008 @ 8:32 pm

    good one. too bad in malaysia thats what people expect of their girlfriends(explain the toyota’s here)

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