2008 Lexus IS-F with VIP Modular VR02 Wheels

When BMW announced that its 2008 BMW M3 would boast a 400-horsepower V8, Lexus wasn’t going to sit around and let the German automaker take over the high-performance luxury segment. Lexus got tough and added its own 2008 power player to the mix, with its IS-F, a tough-looking car also fortified with a 400-horsepower V8 engine that challenges the Audi RS4 and the BMW M3.

Conceived from the mind of Yukihiko Yaguchi, an engineer that’s been at Toyota for more than 30 years, the IS-F captures his love for driving fine, responsive equipment. For the past 15 years, he’s been thinking in terms of nothing less than an all-wheel-drive supercar with huge horsepower, racetrack-inspired handling and enormous stopping power.