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"German", "Japanese", Russia. Comparative test drive Lexus IS250 and Mercedes C280 4Matic

For fifty
The Lexus IS250 sedan is one of the newcomers in the premium medium class segment. The Russian premiere of this model took place in October 2005, and the first commodity cars appeared at Lexus dealers last winter. In our country, the IS250 is sold in four fixed trim levels, and we got the most expensive of them for the test - the Sport version, which is distinguished by 18 -inch wheels with low -profile tires, a sporting internship and a more rigid suspension.
We selected a competitor to the Japanese car according to two main criteria: they should become a sedan of the middle class segment, more or less close in value. As a result, we got Merceds-Benz C280 4Matic. C-Class turned out to be equipped no worse than Lexus, but was equipped with a more powerful engine and a full-wheel drive system. The cost of the Mercedes, taking into account the discount, is a special series - 45900 euros - almost 20 percent more than the price of Lexus - $ 47,700.
Design
The appearance of the Mercedes C280 cannot be called ultramodern, but this car does not look old -fashioned - like a solid classic costume that everyone likes, but does not force everyone. They do not turn around because this car is quite popular and is often found on Moscow streets.
Mercedes C -Class and Lexus IS - Photo Gallery
Lexus IS250 is a completely different story. The car literally attracts views: a rapid, almost wedge -shaped silhouette of the body, completely smooth sides, spectacular stamping on the hood, wide wheel arches and predatory headlights of the head light - a real sportsman! The only negative is that the front of the body is very much lacking expressiveness, even despite the aggressive bumper with large air intakes. So on Lexus is it is better to look a little from behind and on the side: in such an angle, the car looks very beautiful.

An important role in the dynamic appearance of IS250 is played by 18-inch wheels-compared to them, the standard 16-inch Mercedes C280 wheels seem toy.
Salon
In the C280 salon - no revelations. The interior of the car is in Memstestesian strict and thought out to the smallest detail. Everything is in their places, it is convenient for everyone to use, with the exception of, perhaps, the windows control unit. It is taken too far ahead and down, and access to it is blocked by a door handle. Therefore, in order to lower or raise glass, you have to be distracted from the road - it is quite problematic to find the desired button.
But I was pleased with the proprietary control circuit of the front seats of electric drives - the chair laid out of the buttons on the upper part of the doors upholstery. It is convenient that these keys are in sight, while on most other cars the seats are closed blindly and hidden in a very uncomfortable place - a close gap between the door and the seat pillow.
The range of adjustments of the seats, steering wheel and mirrors in the Mercedes is very extensive, if not excess - almost any driver can find a comfortable position behind the wheel of this car. There is also a memory for three sets of settings, switching between which C280 allows even during movement. This will appeal to those drivers who change the landing depending on the pace of driving.
In these levers, you can get confused from habit
There are as many as three steamed switches, and they are all located on the left. One of them is traditionally a Mercedesovsky - includes high light and turn signals, and also controls the wipers. The remaining two will lead a cruise control and the position of the steering column. Another manifestation of proprietary ergonomics is a scabbard instead of the usual parking brake handle.

The Mercedes salon does not seem spacious at first glance, but no one complains about the front or back to the lack of space. Even those who fell out to sit behind a driver of 190 centimeters.
C280 has a very competently made salon ventilation system. The air to the rear passengers is brought immediately in three directions: under the front seats, above the central tunnel, and, most importantly, in the rear doors. It is also unusually made by blowing the front side glasses. Thanks to this system, under the control of a dual-zone climate control, the car interior in cold weather warms up very quickly, and the side glasses do not fog even in heavy rain.
In general, the interior of the Mercedes C280 leaves the impression of a very thoughtful and high -quality one - even the most meticulous buyers are unlikely to find something to complain.
Ergonomics are not at the highest level. But beautiful.
Lexus is completely different. There is not a drop of conservatism in his interior - a continuous high -tech. If the front panel of the Mercedes is a pile of correct geometric shapes, then here is a careless smear of the impressionist's hand from left to right. Due to the absence of unnecessary details on the torpedo, Visually Lexus seems more spacious than its German competitor. However, in fact, this is a trick of vision.
From the place of the driver, IS250 is a little reminiscent of a sports car - he has a small three -spoke steering wheel with a convenient grip sheathed with thin skin, steering wheel transplants and a central console, slightly deployed to the left. But these petals are made not of aluminum, as it seems at first glance, but from plastic.

And so with Lexus almost everywhere - it is cheaper than in appearance. The central console turned out to be trimmed with loud plastic, information displays on it are hidden under slightly cloudy plastic windows, and the front panel sometimes creaked on irregularities. However, as we were explained in the representative office of Toyota, a pre -production copy is in the test park, and commodity machines are deprived of all of the above shortcomings.
But if lovers of secondary functions will find fault with the shortcomings of ergonomics, then fans of active driving will rather pay attention to the front seats: they have a successful profile with good lateral support, sheathed with ESCAI branded artificial suede, and the driver's seat can fall very low - almost to the floor - almost to the floor . His only defect is a pillow that seems short to some drivers.
Finally, as we have already noted, Lexus is closer than its competitor, especially behind. Behind the driver of 190 centimeters of the place remains quite a bit - only the child will feel comfortable there. The feeling of tightness is enhanced by the massive rear racks of the body and the flowing roof, because of which the sofa pillow had to be noticeably lowered. It will be uncomfortable to travel on Lexus a five-to-find due to the rear seat, which is formed according to the principle of the third.
Go
In order to start the engine on the C280, the driver needs to insert an electronic key into a special recess on the front panel and turn. The starter automatically starts the engine, the steering wheel and the seat take the previously remembered position, and the car is ready for the trip. Everything is simple, convenient, but compared to Lexus - very modest. Because on the IS250, the launch of the motor is a whole view.
Optronic dashboard Lexus.
To begin with, it is not necessary to get an electronic key-cords from his pocket: Lexus independently identifies the owner and opens the doors to him. In order to start the engine, you will have to click on the highlighted Start/Stop button on the front panel, holding the brake pedal. In response to these actions, the arrows of optestone devices flare up in front of the driver, make a swing to the extreme position and return to the place. And only then the scale of the devices light up, and the engine begins to work. While the driver admires the light presentation, the steering wheel, as on C280, with a slight buzz, takes the previously remembered position. That's it, you can go!

It is worth recalling that the Japanese sedan is equipped with the latest six-cylinder gasoline engine with direct fuel injection and variable VVT-I gas distribution phases. The operating volume of the engine is 2.5 liters, and its power is 208 horsepower. This V6 is equipped with only a six -speed automatic checkpoint with the possibility of manually choosing the desired transmission.
Mercedes C280 4MATIC is noticeably more powerful. Its three -liter engine develops 231 horsepower, and the maximum torque reaches 300NM, against 252 at Lexus. As a result, according to passport data, C280 accelerates from zero to one hundred kilometers per hour for a second faster than its competitor, despite the presence of a heavy all -wheel drive transmission.
In the fully automatic operating mode of the gearbox, the German sedan leaves the most favorable impression - it works out to the best, gently switches the programs, and the Mercedes combination of the engine and the box seems optimal in terms of elasticity. But the Lexus IS250 after a Mercedes accelerated dynamics and the operation of the machine is somewhat disappointed. Perhaps in a German car, the thoughtfulness of the checkpoint is compensated by a more burdensome engine, so accelerate on it, for example, for overtaking, a little easier.
Lexus gearboxes are worse than automatically.
If you go to manual mode, then the box on C280 will allow the motor to unwind to maximum revolutions, but then, without asking the driver, he will switch to the step up. However, there is no desire to constantly travel on the handle of a Mercedes sitting at the wheel: firstly, the massive central armrest interferes with swinging the lever to the right and left, and secondly, the automatic mode here is quite adequate. And besides, it allows you to choose a box between comfortable and sports algorithms.
On Lexus IS, traveling on the handle is much more interesting. Here, the driver feels more involved in the car control process, climbing the transmission with the help of steering wheel petals and twisting the engine in ringing on each of them. However, there is one but. In practice, drivers most often include manual mode to make some kind of quick maneuver, such as overtaking. With the help of petals on most cars, this is done as quickly as possible, regardless of the mode in which the machine operates at the moment. On Lexus, everything is different - the petals act only in Sport mode, and when moving to it, the fourth speed is always turned on. As a result, in order to manually switch to a reduced gear, you need to move the floor lever of the checkpoint from position D to position S, and then with steeringry switches to reach the right stage to the necessary. This complex process takes time. And, I must admit, considerable.

However, even despite the strange logic of the machine gun, the lecture control process seems very exciting. The car is lively and almost without delay reacts to any steering wheel movement, providing an adequate effort on it, and informs the driver well about what is happening with the front wheels. Apparently, an essential contribution to the controllability of the IS250 Sport makes a suspension more rigid than on the basic version and low -profile tires. During the test, we stood on our car, nobody tires, which showed themselves perfectly on dry and wet asphalt, but on slippery coating they were almost helpless. On ice, rolled and even loose snow, wide wheels fell into a slip at the slightest pressing of the accelerator pedal, trying to put the car sideways.
Lexus IS250 is controlled by the gambling of its opponent.
In fairness, it is worth noting that this feature of Lexus practically did not cause reasons for excitement: the car is equipped with an unlotted stabilization system that intervenes in the control process, even when the driver thinks that he turned it off. The fact is that the stabilization system disconnection button, intended for fans of compressing, only weakens the collar of this electronic system slightly, but does not completely turn it off. In this mode, the car can be put into a slight skid and even force you to twist on the spot. However, as soon as the stabilization system feels a panic in the driver’s actions - a sharp discharge of gas or unnecessarily active rotation of the steering wheel towards the skid - it will immediately wake up and return the car to a safe trajectory.
On the all -wheel drive Mercedes C280 in winter it is much more pleasant to ride. The car is accelerated without problems on slippery coating, and the slipping of at least one wheel is instantly suppressed by the stabilization system. Interestingly, on Mercedes ESP is completely turned off. Thanks to a complete drive with an advantage to the rear wheels C280, it demonstrates an almost neutral twist, which is easy to translate into excess. The rear axle obediently goes into the skid when adding gas. It’s just better to drive the gearbox in manual mode, not allowing the machine to switch at the most inopportune moment.
Mercedes can go aggressively, but does not have at all at all. The fault is rather empty and light steering wheel. Of course, you can get used to this, but there is no such unity with a car as on the Lexus IS250.
But C280 is ahead of the smoothness of the course and acoustic comfort, not noticing small irregularities and gently passing large ones. Against its background, the Lexus IS250 seems much tougher and noisy. The car practices defects of the roadway louder, not only due to the fault of sports suspension and low-profile tires, but also, possibly, due to large unsproved masses. In addition, at high speeds, the noise of the tires gradually begins to penetrate the salon. Mercedes does not allow himself this - silence in it remains even at speeds of over 160 kilometers per hour, allowing you to communicate in half a voice.
On the highway, both cars behave very worthy. It is interesting that Lexus is less susceptible to the ruts of asphalt, but it is not more calm to go under 200, but on a Mercedes, where the speed is felt not so acute.
The visibility of both sedans without stretching can be called good, and for various reasons. In C280, the three -beam star on the hood helps to feel dimensions, and the IS250 has a front parking sensors. It is easier to control the space in the back on a Mercedes, but in Lexus this is hindered by the massive rear racks of the body and a high trunk line. From contact parking of the driver here is also protecting parking sensors.
Practicality
When choosing a premium segment, their practicality, of course, does not play a paramount role. However, we note that the winner in this nomination was the Mercedes C280. He is noticeably more spacious than his opponent, possesses, albeit no more capacious, but more comfortable trunk.
In addition, Mercedes is equipped with an all -wheel drive transmission and has a higher clearance - which allows him not to be afraid of borders, snowdrifts and slippery winter roads.
findings
We were not going to choose the winner in this test. The Mercedes and Lexus, as it seems to us, has a very different image, and therefore different consumer audiences.
In terms of quality, if you invest in this concept of the efforts of the interior, ergonomics of the salon and the overall level of comfort, Mercedes C280 4Matic clearly wins its Japanese competitor. Lexus, despite the abundance of all kinds of fashionable little things, such as optronic devices or LED lining the number, is not enough the gloss and the impeccability in the details that the picky buyer of the Mercedes pay attention to. But IS250 will appeal to those who appreciate the driving qualities of the car above a comfortable suspension, and the spectacular appearance - expensive plastic of the cabin. And, judging by the abundance of new Mercedes and Lexus on Moscow streets, then among motorists there are enough both of them.