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2008 Lexus IS-F |
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Starting Price $56,000 |
suitable for:
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16 |
23 |
4 Seats |
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Safety
Safety in the IS-F isn’t just about airbags. Of course, there are tons of them. And it’s not just about traction control or computerized braking. There are the expected crumple zones and reinforced side beams that you’d find in most luxury cars. Rain-sensing wipers keep the windshield clean and clear. Bi-xenon high-intensity-discharge headlights illuminated both straightaways and turns thanks to the Adaptive Front Lighting System. But the IS-F goes even further with its Pre-Collision System, which uses radar to sense when a crash is coming and activate all the safety features before you need them — milliseconds that could save lives. Even the devil on my shoulder liked that.
In the front seat, the adjustable seat belts fit me well, but there was a problem with the front passenger occupancy sensor that’s supposed to shut off the passenger-side airbag if a smaller person is sitting there. These systems just confuse me. The manuals say that the system uses height, posture and weight to determine whether the passenger is tall enough to be safe with the airbag on. But in the IS-F, the system recognized my spaniel as an adult. On the one occasion when I had to put my 8-year-old son in the front seat (carpool day), I wasn’t worried because I thought that the airbag would be deactivated. Well, it wasn’t. To protect my son from the airbag, I slid the seat as far back as possible, made sure he was sitting up as tall as he could and drove extra carefully. He fared much better in the backseat. The rear seat belts fit him well, and the seats held my 5-year-old’s booster seat in place without tilting or sliding it around. The two Latch connectors required some digging to get to them, so I’m glad I didn’t need them. Unfortunately, the IS-F’s crash-test ratings weren’t available at the time of this review. Check back to see when they’ve been added to this page.
shopping around: At cars.com
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