2014 IS 250 is only available in one fully specced trim and it can be optioned as rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive. While prices for the rear-wheel-drive IS 250 starts at around $36,100, the all-wheel-drive comes at a premium of nearly $2,500 at $38,635. For all that money you get features like a sunroof, keyless ignition, electrochromic rearview mirror, dual-zone climate control, daytime running lights, Lexus’ NuLuxe vinyl upholstery, and Satellite radio. A few optional upgrades are available, which can further add up to a couple of grand extra in the bill.

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2014 IS 250 comes in only one fully loaded trim, prices for which start at just over $36,000. It is a pretty loaded trim. Also, the car is pretty equipped with safety features like 6 airbags, a tire pressure monitoring system, ABS with EBD, traction control, automatic headlamps, and can also be equipped with an optional front crash prevention system.

There are no changes in terms of the powertrain for the new car. But the suspension and steering have been tuned for improved handling characteristics. Apart from that, under the hood is still the very trustworthy 2.5L naturally aspirated V6 producing 204hp and 184lb-ft of torque. While that can be just enough for most of the applications, these figures aren’t something we would particularly call exciting. It is among the least powerful engines in its class and you don’t want to drive a car that makes less power, do you?

This engine is paired to a 6-speed automatic gearbox and while the engine is a slow responsive one, the gearbox on the other hand is working hard to keep you in the powerband. The power can be sent either to the rear wheels or all the wheels depending on what layout you opted for. For city drives, the car is pretty much doing the job well and keeps up with the traffic with relative ease. But things change as soon as you hit the highway speeds as the engine starts to struggle every once in a while when you want to pull an overtake.

By numbers as well, it is quite evident that the car is the least powerful. With a zero to sixty time of just below 8 secs, it is the slowest one as well. Also, the Lexus has the least number of gears while others come with 8-speed automatics. BMW and Audi sport an Inline-4 turbo motor, unlike the Lexus and Mercedes-Benz which still sport a naturally aspirated V6 motor. Rivals offer more torque and they are competitively priced as compared to the Lexus. Seems like the Japanese lost to the Germans in terms of performance and that too quite badly. Coincidentally, all sedans have a similar top speed of 130 MPH. 

We thought that a less powerful engine would be more fuel-efficient as that is pretty much the basic math, but that is also certainly not the case here. The 2014 Lexus IS 250 sedan returns 21 mpg in the city, 30 mpg on the highway, and 24 mpg combined according to the EPA. With all-wheel-drive, the IS 250 AWD drops slightly to 20/27/23 mpg city/highway/combined driving cycles respectively. With a fuel tank of 17.4 gallons, the 2014 IS250 has a near to 400 miles of tank range and that makes it quite an efficient highway cruiser.

Unsurprisingly, the BMW is the one which is the most fuel-efficient car here, averaging 26 MPG. And despite having the smallest fuel tank, it still manages to have the most driving range compared to others. The least efficient C-Class just lost the battle in terms of driving range despite having among the largest fuel tanks here. Lexus barely manages to make it past the Merc in terms of fuel economy and driving range.

Lexus has also done quite a lot to update the touch and feel of the cabin of 2014 IS 250. There is this new NuLuxe vinyl upholstery that is standard, while the leather seating is optional. The materials used inside the cabin are good with some hard plastics only on the lower part of the dashboard. The shape of the dashboard is quite interesting and unique from the rather very conventional-looking dash of german sedans. There is faux wood trim and though it looks good, one can still get real wood as an optional. The overall design is very typical Lexus and it can be seen that it is designed keeping the driver in mind as most of the controls are in a way cocooned around the driver’s seat. 

The front seats are 8-way power adjustable which is a welcoming change from the previous generation cars. The seats are also draped in the same false leather but this is good enough and we don’t feel someone will need to opt for real leather. Good thing is that the seats are quite broad and the legroom is more than ample. Now the scenario is opposite for the rear seats as here the legroom is the minimum of the bunch. Nonetheless, it is not a squeeze either. The previous-generation car used to have literally one of the worst back seats in the segment but things have been changed now and can be comfortable here.

In the front row, 2014 Lexus IS 250 has the most amount of legroom and headroom available than its competitors so even quite tall people will be able to get in and out of these seats easily. The side bolstering holds you well and stops you from getting tossed around much. The rear is the most spacious in the Audi which is quite unusual as Mercedes Benz are the ones which mostly have the most spacious rear seats in the segment. The Lexus also has the highest amount of cargo space of 13.8 cu.-ft. The 2014 Audi A4 and C-Class share a similar cargo capacity of 12.4 cu.-ft.

Standout interior features:

• Leather Accents on Steering Wheel and Transmission Knob
• Interior Air Filtration
• Dual-Zone Automatic Climate Control
• Tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel
• 8-way power front seats with two-way lumbar support
• Leatherette premium vinyl upholstery
• Heated front seats

How intuitive is the 2014 Lexus IS 250’s infotainment unit?

For 2014 MY, there is a new 7-inch display proudly sitting at the center of the dashboard. The infotainment system on 2014 IS 250 comes with an HD radio, USB/iPod integration plus Bluetooth phone, and audio streaming. We feel this is a system that Lexus has put just for the sake of it. Though the display and overall interface are good enough, it is still lackluster. It lacks good graphics and is not as seamless to use as the ones which are available in the competition where BMW is just miles ahead of everyone else. 

The system comes with Lexus’ own Enform system which gets a plethora of apps like Bing, Facebook Places, iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable, Pandora, and Yelp. It also comes with in-built navigation. The display is not a touchscreen one and is only controlled via the standard Lexus controller on the central console. This in itself can be hard to use while driving. As standard, you get an eight-speaker sound system with an in-dash CD changer that can be upgraded to a 15-speaker Mark Levinson surround-sound audio system.

Standout infotainment features:

• 7-inch infotainment display
• Bluetooth Connectivity
• Lexus Enform
• 15-speaker Mark Levinson surround-sound audio system
• Lexus' Remote Touch electronics interface

The most significant changes in the new IS 250 sedan are the changes to the exterior. There is a new spindle grille upfront and that gives the car a completely distinctive and bold look. With its aggressive new spindle grille, dynamic stance, and sharp curves, the 2014 Lexus IS 250 is all-new, but still, somehow, familiar. Now the new car is not leaps and bounds ahead of the older one in terms of the overall design.

It still has that classic Lexus silhouette that it always had. And that is a good thing considering the original characteristic of the car hasn’t been lost in the transition. Angular, expressive lines around the front end, lean and graceful curves down the sides and rear, and a purposeful stance make 2014 IS look like it's up for anything, be that a day chasing on the highways or a night drive around the town.

The 2014 Lexus IS 250 is a pretty light car if not the lightest here. At 183.7 inches long and 71.3 inches wide, it is also the second-longest and widest car here after the Audi. Even its ground clearance is higher than its competitors at 5.1 inches. The Audi is pretty much the biggest car here and that gives it certain road presence while a very understated design and subtle looks mean that it is not as recognizable as the Lexus. In terms of wheelbase, each sedan except the Mercedes-Benz C-Class measures less than 110 inches. 

Standout exterior features: 

• Optional Rear Spoiler
• 17-inch All Season Tires
• Sun/Moonroof
• Body Side Moldings
• Paint Protection Film
• Door Edge Guard

The 2014 Lexus IS 250 is a pretty safe car and that can be well estimated by the crash test ratings the car received from both agencies. The car literally aced all the crash tests and came out with flying colors. While the NHTSA gave the car an overall “5 stars” for the safety rating, the car received just 4 stars for the frontal crash test while the side and rollover test results granted the IS with some extra brownie points. IIHS also awarded the car with “Good” scores for all the crash tests and even the optional frontal crash prevention system was earmarked to be advanced in functioning.

Standout safety features:

• Self Levelling Headlights
• Electronic Stability Control
• Tire Pressure Monitoring System
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Blindspot monitor
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Lane departure warning
• Adaptive cruise control
• Forward collision warning with brake assist

The Lexus IS 250 has always been a very tastefully designed car and with the latest update for 2014 MY, it is certainly the best looking car in its class. While the spindle grille can be a bit too intimidating for some, it does give the IS a distinctive look and make it stand out in the crowd. Further, the upgrades to the interior on the 2014 Lexus IS 250 have brought the car closer to the Germans in terms of luxury if not better. The only gripe being now that Lexus should introduce the Hybrid version to the states as well and also it needs a more powerful engine.