IS 500 Spy Video.

[stirl_ae86]

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...deoId=20098593

Time to compete with (and destroy) the big boys

[darksparkz]

Looks exactly like the IS350 to me. Even the front and back looks quite simliar. There's even an IS350 badging.

[stirl_ae86]

well.....I'm sure it pretty much IS an IS350, with the IS500 drivetrain, and maybe some other components for testing. Hood also looks bulkier, fenders look modified too which is probably why they're the only hidden parts.

[Tideland Prius]

Yeah, it's the IS500. I mean, just listen to the exhaust note.

[ECHOKnight2000]

Originally Posted by Tideland Prius

Yeah, it's the IS500. I mean, just listen to the exhaust note.

That could have been the camera guy farting...

[stirl_ae86]

for real, the exhaust sounds BADASS. the guy is never even gunning it and you hear this awesome rumble. I say V8 and not the V6+hybrid they mentionned....although i've been hearing rumors about a high performance hybrid from toyota for a while now, with an electric motor at each wheel.

[91MR2quickNA]

Test mules are fun. Now I wonder if they'll stick that lovely 5.0L in an IS coupe ... seems too much for the sedan. They're probably testing the performance oriented 5.0L, since the Atkinson-cycle V8 has already undergone most of its testing regimen.

[ShiningArcanine]

Originally Posted by stirl_ae86

for real, the exhaust sounds BADASS. the guy is never even gunning it and you hear this awesome rumble. I say V8 and not the V6+hybrid they mentionned....although i've been hearing rumors about a high performance hybrid from toyota for a while now, with an electric motor at each wheel.

"i've been hearing rumors ... from toyota"

Do you mean to say that Toyota is the one propagating these rumors?

Anyway, Toyota and pretty much all automobile manufacturers have done everything they could do to minimize their cars' unsprung weight to maximize handling ability. An electric motor at each wheel would increase the unsprung weight drammatically, killing a car's handling ability, so I sincerely doubt that Toyota would be considering such a design.