Usually, the car with more power and a bigger engine wins drag races, especially the ones against direct rivals. Today, we watched a 2022 Lexus IS 500 going up against the 2022 Kia Stinger GT, and the drag race didn’t exactly end the way it was supposed to.
YouTuber Sam CarLegion recently bought a 2022 Lexus IS 500 F-Sport. It’s very nice, black with a red leather interior, not to mention the V8 is one of the last naturally-aspirated examples you can buy in a sedan.
He’s been racing the car against all kinds of rivals, like muscle cars or the Dodge Charger, which is the other aspirated V8 sedan you can purchase. But today, the challenger is Korean, the Kia Stinger GT. It’s an interesting race because Kia doesn’t have the same reputation as Lexus.
The two cars may both have four doors, but they’re miss-matched in terms of engines. The 2022 Lexus IS 500 features the 5.0-liter V8, producing 472 horsepower at 7100rpm and 395 lb-ft at 4800rpm. It’s hooked up to an 8-speed automatic, and you can only get it with RWD.
Meanwhile, the Kia Stinger GT is a pretty old vehicle, not that the IS is actually that new. In top-end GT spec, this comes with a 3.3-liter twin-turbo V6 engine, which is rated at 368 hp at 6000rpm and 376 pound-feet of torque. It’s also heavier by about 200 lbs. Nothing about these numbers suggests the Kia stands a chance except maybe the fact that it’s got AWD for a better launch.
Drag and Roll
Sam does two races from a dig and both are won by the Kia. Not by much, only a little over a car length. However, that just shouldn’t be the case when the Lexus has 100 hp ore. The YouTuber blames his loss on the AWD, but I believe the turbo V6 puts down torque earlier and across a much wider band.
During the roll race, the IS 500 is at an early advantage. Once the drivers put the pedal down, the Stinger needs an extra second or two before it makes boost. Once that’s going, the gap stays the same.
Drag racing isn’t everything; these are sedans, not toy cars. But picking a favorite between them can come down to preference. The IS500 is the last of its kind, a small luxury sedan by Lexus with a thumping big V8. Meanwhile, the Stinger GT can cost about $10,000 and offers a lot: AWD, a practical liftback, and Kia’s 10yr/100,000 miles warranty. It too can be considered a dead luxury car, since it’s probably not coming back the next year.
