After slightly more than a year of being the niche choice of C-segment luxury sedans buyers who want to buy into the whole Lexus experience at the cheapest price point possible, the Lexus IS 250 now receives a facelift, and now comes in 2 variants – standard and luxury.

Under the hood is a 2.5 litre V6 engine featuring D4 direct injection that puts out 205hp at 6,400rpm and 252Nm of torque at 4,800rpm, giving the car a 0 to 100km/h acceleration time of 8.4 seconds and a top speed of 225km/h. The engine also has Dual VVT-i variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust camshafts. This engine is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission with enhanced lock-up clutch control in 5th and 6th gears for better fuel economy. The transmission also has an AT fluid warmer for better cold start performance.

The external changes are very subtle. The front grille receives a minor update with a restyling of the vertical bars as well as a different number of bars. The front lip of the bumper is also now integrated for a smoother experience. The front bumper has been extended by 10mm which gives the profile a sleeper look. Side mirrors now feature turn indicators, which were previously on the front fenders on the pre-facelift car. On the rear, the bumper now has a blacked out area to emulate the look of a diffuser. The brake lamp cluster has also had minor changes made to them.

Differences between the Lexus IS 250 and the Lexus IS 250 Luxury differ mainly in the equipment you get. The IS 250 Luxury has the option for a tilted moonroof. The IS 250 has a leather interior trim while the IS 250 Luxury gets 3 choices wood as well colour coded to the exterior colour, including Birdseye Maple which comes in either light brown or gray.

Other features that are only available on the IS 250 Luxury are electrically adjustable steering column, an electro-chromatic rearview mirror, a rain sensor for the wipers, illuminated scuff plates on the door sills, a rear window sunshade, semi-aniline leather, ventilated front seats, and a memory function for the front seat position. The 14-speaker Mark Levinson system with a 6-CD in-dash changer that is MP3/WMA capable is also only available on the IS 250 Luxury while the standard IS 250 gets a 13-speaker Lexus Premium system.

However I think the differentiation between the two models went abit too far as for such an expensive sedan, it’s sad to see the standard IS 250 getting regular headlamps while Xenon HID is only reserved for the IS 250 Luxury. The HID headlamps come with Adaptive Front Lighting, which adjusts the headlamp angle according to the roads for better illumination on winding roads.

Safety features include 4-wheel ABS, Brake Assist, EBD, airbags all-round including knee airbags and a multi-stage airbag for the driver, and VDIM which integrates brake, throttle, steering and transmission control into the stability control system.

The standard Lexus IS 250 goes for RM270,000 while the more premium Lexus IS 250 Luxury retails at RM305,000. Look after the jump for more images of the car.
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