Road Test: Lexus IS 5.0 V8 IS F 4dr Auto

Likewise the Yamaha-fettled 417bhp/371lb ft 5.0-litre V8 engine, which is a bored-out version of the lump that powers the LS460 limo. It doesn't just move the car, it sends a death threat to the rear tyres every time you get on the throttle in a hurry. Can't say for sure, but it feels more severe than an RS4, which is saying something.

There are plenty of switchable electronics - no diff lock - to keep the chassis in check and stop the whole thing fish-tailing down the road in a cloud of smoke, but it can be hard to drive smoothly when the road surface isn't smooth.

Particularly with the eight-speed gearbox, also from the LS460 retuned for the IS-F, in manual mode. The change through the paddles is superquick, just 100 milliseconds if you're counting, but when in Sport mode you get a significant jolt every time you make an upchange.

This jerkiness has clearly been engineered in to give the car a sequential race gearbox feel, but it reminded me a bit of the first BMW SMG gearbox, which I hated. It's nowhere near as bad, particularly on the downchanges, which are silken and seamless. Or when you are in auto mode. Just in manual.

As another perspective, my girlfriend wasn't that impressed with it either. She normally likes performance cars but, in her own words, said that the IS-F felt 'angry' and 'upset', the way it bounced over every bump and threw her back in the seat when it accelerated. The loud engine noise also didn't go down too well with her.

But it did with me. If there's one thing Lexus has got completely right with the IS-F, it's the way it bellows and gurgles its way through a tank of petrol. Which it does with an alarming regularity. I know we were thrashing it most of the time, but even when we took it easy, a tank would only just stretch to 250 miles.

When I collected the car the onboard computer said the average mpg was 16 and I just assumed that it had been sitting in traffic for ages. But when I took it back it said 14, which is rubbish. Toyota's going to have to sell a lot of Priuses to compensate for every one of these.

Plus, it dresses like a group of Vegas strippers: false bits all over the place. The vents behind the front wheels are just for show, and the side skirts don't appear to have any real use. But the worst bit of fakery are the four exhaust pipes, which are not connected to anything. Really, they're not. The real pipes finish a couple of inches before the four chrome rings even start.

It's not really a problem for me as I don't like the way they look, so they'd be the first thing I'd change if I owned the car. The fact that they are false is actually a bonus. Unlike the most un-Lexus like squeaks from the dash - from the centre speaker grille - and the dodgy boot release that locked us out a couple of times.

But if they are the price we pay for Lexus building a car like this, fine. I know I've been hard on the IS-F so far, but that's only because Lexus sets such high standards you can't help but notice small issues that on other cars you'd probably ignore. The fact is, I had a blast driving this car and I know you would too. And that's a first for the company.

You can fix a squeaky speaker and put a new fuse in the electrics (faults engineered in to give the car character?), particularly with Lexus's great customer service, but it's much harder to give a car soul. To do that you have to understand the passion that makes a car fun to drive, fun to own and worth £50k. BMW has known how to do that for years, and more recently so have Audi and Mercedes. And now, for the first time with the IS-F, Lexus has too.

What does the F stand for? Fun, that's what.