The 2nd-generation Lexus IS300: from the Far East to the Middle East

[jruhi4]

A recent story from the my.IS archives and a recent General Discussion thread titled 2nd-gen IS: IS250, IS350...IS300!? remind us that a 3-liter V6, 2nd-generation Lexus IS300 has been on sale in Brunei and China since spring of this year. And now we get word that this new IS300 has traveled eastward and is also available in Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Both an e-mail from our Webmaster and a post by our Canada Regional Moderator k3vo (which, in turn, was part of a General Discussion thread titled New IS300 2007 + Photos) contained an article from the Times of Oman which was totally unremarkable and sounded like a fluff piece/press release except for this sentence: "Its spirited 3.0 litre, 270HP, V6 engine delivers awe-inspiring power and acceleration." Yet, other markets where the new V6 IS300 is sold report an output of only 228 hp. A visit to the official Lexus Oman English language website yields blatant contradiction. Their IS300 "home page" contains the 270 hp sentence almost verbatim. Their Performance page, on the other hand, starts with this sentence: "The 3.0 litre, 228 HP, V6 responds eagerly the moment you touch the throttle". And their Specifications page hedges its bets with this description of the engine: "3.0 Litre, V6, DOHC, 24 Valve, 270 HP (228 HP- net) Engine with Dual Variable Valve Timing-intelligent (VVT-i)." What on Earth is going on?

Some detective work and visits to the official Lexus websites for countries where the 2nd-generation IS300 is sold reveals the only possible explanation: The 228 hp rating of the 3GR-FE V6 works out to 170kW (an alternate measure of horsepower used primarily in Australia and New Zealand). The Lexus Oman website, via typo, turned 170kW into 270hp! And, in this case, it's safe to say that Lexus is NOT at fault, since in a number of smaller markets, Lexus lets its local distributor (the Saud Bahwan Group in the case of Oman) set up the website for the country.

For the sake of clarity, here are the specs for the 2006/2007 Lexus IS300 as sold in Brunei, China, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates:

Code: 3GR-FE

Type: 3.0 liter V6 DOHC Four Cam 24-Valve

Displacement: 2995cc

Bore x Stroke: 87.5 x 83.0mm

Power Output: 228bhp (170kW) @ 6400 rpm

Maximum Torque: 221 lb/ft (300Nm) @ 4800 rpm

Compression Ratio: 10.5:1

Fuel System: Electronic Fuel Injection (NOT direct injection)

Transmission: 6-Speed Sequential-shift Automatic Transmission with ECT-i (Manual transmission NOT available)

Curb Weight: 3443-3619 lbs (1565-1645 kg), depending on equipment

Acceleration: 0-100 Km/h (0-62 mph) in 7.7 seconds

Top Speed: 146 mph (235 Km/h)

[SilverF16]

Why does the IS300 has 228Hp. Is it emissions? Or was the 245Hp rated to the previous standard whereas the 228 HP is the new SAE standard.

With 228Hp, I think this will be the new entry point for 2008. If you have a IS250, consider it a classic.

[jruhi4]

SilverF16: The reason is not emissions, but the lack of direct injection on the 228 hp 3GR-FE versus the direct-injected 245 hp 3GR-FSE. The 3GR-FSE is definitely rated at the new SAE standard, and I'm pretty sure (but not absolutely positive) that the 3GR-FE is, too.

Direct injection demands a more refined, high quality of gasoline, and the countries that get the new IS300 don't have it. (Ironic, isn't it, that just about all of them have huge oil reserves?!) Removing the direct injection from the IS250 would leave it a 190ish hp total pig, so they took the 3GR-FSE 3-liter V6 from the Euro/North America Lexus GS300, removed the direct injection and came up with the 228 hp 3GR-FE (which, by the way, is also used in the Lexus GS300 sold in some of those markets).

[SilverF16]

Thanks for clarifying. Based on that, the IS300 should have approx 245Hp if/when it comes to North America.

For 2007, The bottom line 3 series now has a 3.0 liter with 230 Hp. The 245 hp 3GR-FSE should stay on top of BMW. The BMW 330 is gone replaced by 335 with 300 Hp.

[Aldo]

I'm from Saudi Arabia and I can tell you that the gas we get should be high quality; it's like 95 octane. I don't know the difference b/w when you say direct injection and electronic injection; and I don't know what is meant by 'quality' of the fuel.

I was disappointed b/c we don't have the 350. I'm sure this is all about profit maximizing.

I've been driving my US '01 IS without any fuel problems. we didn't get the 1st gen IS.

[jruhi4]

Aldo: To address your first question, when I'm referring to the quality of gasoline, I'm NOT referring to octane, which is a measure of gasoline's resistance to knocking, but to the cleanliness/purity of the gasoline, how well it's refined and, above all, its sulfur content.

Now I'm going to jump to your other question, then I'll tie the two together. This passage from a Car and Driver article best answers it:

"Diesel engines have always used direct fuel injection. That means squirting fuel, under high pressure, into an engine's cylinders rather than into the intake manifold, which is the approach used on virtually every current gasoline engine. In a diesel, the process of injecting fuel directly into the combustion chamber at the top of the compression stroke initiates and controls combustion.

The first mass-produced car to use fuel injection was the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary. With DI, the roadgoing SL generated about 10 percent more power and consumed about 10 percent less fuel than the carbureted engine that won Le Mans in 1952.

Within a few years, fuel injection began appearing in numerous street and racing cars. However, virtually all these applications employed indirect, or what's called port, injection. This meant that fuel was sprayed into the intake manifold behind each intake valve instead of directly into the cylinders. Port injection was cheaper because the injection took place at much lower pressure, the injectors were not subject to the searing heat of the combustion chamber, and the injection-timing requirements were relaxed."

Technological advances have made direct injection more viable and available in different cars. The more precise combustion process inherent with direct-injection, however, requires cleaner, purer, low-sulfur gasoline, of the kind that is prevalent in Europe, North America and Japan, but lacking in other world markets. And, sadly, Saudi Arabia's gasoline doesn't pass muster in this department, for a visit to Lexus' official Saudi Arabia website reveals that the GS300 sold there is powered by the 228-hp 3GR-FE, indirect electronic fuel-injected engine, rather than by the 245-hp 3GR-FSE, direct-injected engine the GS300 used in Europe and (for 2006) in North America. Aldo, your old IS300 ran fine because of its less "sensitive" indirect electronic fuel-injection engine.

For more on direct injection, check out this Roundtable thread:
Direct Injection: What it is & why it's relevant

By the way, Aldo, do you have any idea why Lexus Saudi Arabia has chosen not to sell the Lexus IS over there?

[Aldo]

Thanks, jruhi4, for your informative reply. Well, I did some homework and all I could find about the effects of sulfur is that it damages the cats. Personally, if I knew that was the only problem sulfur presents, I wouldn't mind changing out my cats as part of 'maintenance'. but I do see Lexus's view about not wanting the headache of changing those.



I haven't read about any bad effect of sulfur on the actual injection system...which is all I care about. (it was invented decades ago..much worse gas and little concern about pollutants)



So I guess the 350 won't be viable in most of Asia as it is a dual port (ported and direct) engine. As you said, I don't think the gas here is low-sulfur.



Also, the new IS...ehh 300 is being sold in Saudi Arabia. The Gulf (Kuwait, Saudi, Bahrain, Qatar, Emirates, and Oman) is usually treated as the same market. The article leaves out Bahrain and Qatar; and I know it's being sold in Bahrain, so I guess they just need to update their website.



However with a price of $36k, i don't expect the IS to sell well. Even 3-series don't sell much here. We have a mentality of bigger is better; and for that price you can almost get a GS300 or a nice low-end 5-Series.

[jruhi4]

Originally Posted by Aldo

Also, the new IS...ehh 300 is being sold in Saudi Arabia. The Gulf (Kuwait, Saudi, Bahrain, Qatar, Emirates, and Oman) is usually treated as the same market. The article leaves out Bahrain and Qatar; and I know it's being sold in Bahrain, so I guess they just need to update their website.

Thanks for the information. I trust your info totally, I just wrote my article based on "official" Lexus websites, as they appear on this web page:

http://www.lexus.com/home/international_links.html

It's quite possible that Lexus Saudi Arabia has just been slower than its neighbo(u)rs in updating their website to include the IS300, and that Bahrain and Qatar, for whatever reasons, don't have an official, Lexus-sanctioned website.

[Muno]

So, if that the case .. then the people who own the 2nd-gen IS300 in the Middle East won't be able to order anything that fits the IS350, right?? For example, exhaust system and intake?? Will they fit?

[jruhi4]

The Saudi Arabia Lexus website has indeed been updated to include the 2nd-generation IS300, and I, in turn, have revised the above article to reflect that fact.

[Poke_IS300]

My thing is: Why is Lexus going with this 3GR-FSE instead of the 2JZ-GE straight 6 platform What they need to do is put more power plus a 6-speed manual tranny in that with an option of AWD

[bh.is300]

I was reading the review about the IS300 Gulf specs. I myself own one.
Everything you wrote about the car is true..BUT...about the top speed I'm afraid you are wrong. It is not 235km/h, no no... I have taken it up to 255 and planning to get to 260

[jruhi4]

Originally Posted by bh.is300

I was reading the review about the IS300 Gulf specs. I myself own one.
Everything you wrote about the car is true..BUT...about the top speed I'm afraid you are wrong. It is not 235km/h, no no... I have taken it up to 255 and planning to get to 260

Indeed, either another my.IS member or an article on the Internet (I don't recall which) says the same thing, that the 2nd-generation IS300s for the Gulf states are NOT fitted with any kind of top speed governors.

[jruhi4]

For those of you that have inquired about and commented on the sulfur and direct injection issue, a column by Road & Track magazine's Engineering Editor Dennis Simanaitis has excellent information on this. In summary, Arab crude oil has 10 times the sulfur levels of Nigerian crude that is a good portion of the oil imported into the U.S., and 6 times the sulfur levels of our domestic Texas crude, and our gasoline, while lower in sulfur than that in the Middle East, Brunei and China, is higher in sulfur than the gasoline used in Europe. Here are excerpts from the article:

"I was surprised when BMW engineers told me that their most advanced direct-injection gasoline cars couldn't be brought to the U.S.

'Too much sulfur in your fuel,' they said.

I thought this had been only a diesel problem, and one solved by ULSD, ultra-low-sulfur diesel. But I dug around a little, spoke with specialists at Shell and learned more.

(S)ulfur occurs naturally in petroleum crudes. In fact, the term "sweetness" describes the relative scarcity of sulfur in a crude. Nigerian Bonny Light is particularly sweet, with perhaps only a tenth the sulfur of Arab Light, another benchmark crude in the petroleum business. Bonny Light's sulfur is around 0.14 percent by weight; Arab Light's, about 1.5 percent. West Texas Intermediate, also known as Texas Sweet Light, has a sulfur level around 0.24 percent.

By the way, all three of these benchmarks qualify as Light crudes, their API Gravity readings exceeding 31.1. (This American Petroleum Institute standard sets the density of water at 10, a crude lighter than water having API Gravity greater than 10.)

Sulfur Here and Over There
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limits sulfur in our gasoline to an absolute maximum of 80 parts per million. In actual practice, based on some 4000 data points in 2007, our refineries' output averaged around 32 ppm. It's largely a matter of balancing crude supplies with refining techniques, the whole point being optimization of cost, output and distribution.

By contrast, the European Union has an upper limit of 50 ppm, with tax incentives for production below 10 ppm. Indeed, this lower limit has been proposed as a 2009 EU standard, and such ultra-low-sulfur gasoline is available throughout much of western Europe.

Euro carmakers, including BMW, have responded with gasoline direct-injection technologies featuring lean-burn modes of operation. However, lean-burn requires special treatment of NOx— and special gasoline. In such oxygen-rich exhaust streams, the chemical reduction of NOx is especially challenging, and such deNOx catalysts are particularly sulfur-intolerant.

Thus, BMW's most advanced direct-injection lean-burn engines are fine with sulfur at 10 ppm, but apparently not with it at 32 ppm (or particularly, at 80 ppm).

New ULSG Coming?
Could our refineries produce ultra-low-sulfur gasoline? Clearly they could, by opting for more sweet crudes, albeit at greater expense, and spending more on refining them. Such fuels would evidently cost more, so maybe the real question is should they produce ULSG?

Note as well, deNOx cats don't come cheap either. So automakers — and U.S. consumers — would also have to assess whether the incremental gains in lean-burn economy are worth the added costs in products and operation.

With Euro fuel prices at more than twice ours, the tradeoff is apparently beneficial over there. It's not so clear on our side of the Atlantic, but it's certainly a fascinating technical quandary."

ROADandTRACK.com -- Tech Tidbits - Tech Tidbits (5/2008)

[bh.is300]

I am really wanting to know what is going on here ... I wanna install parts on my car: intake.. exhaust.. headers... Everything, man. I need to know, I really do ...

Please reply to this, and if there is anything additional please email me on
ahmed.a2jj@gmail.com

Thanks a lot, ppl...