Rent Lexus IS 2022 in Dubai

Renting a Lexus IS 2022 in Dubai is worth it for one reason: this sedan drives with the eagerness of a German sport sedan while carrying Lexus's reputation for turning up and starting every single day of the rental. We get it to your hotel, home or office inside one to two hours of booking, in white. Under the badge sits the IS350, a naturally aspirated 3.5-litre V6 with real reserves of power and a rear-wheel-drive chassis built for someone who still wants to drive, not just be driven. Cross-shop it against a BMW 3 Series or a Mercedes C-Class for the week, and the Lexus holds its own on all but outright pace.

What's under the bonnet, and how it drives

Under that long, low bonnet sits a 3.5-litre V6 with no turbo bolted on, making 312 hp and 380 Nm, sent through an eight-speed automatic to the rear wheels. Zero to 100 km/h takes around six seconds, which is genuinely quick for a car this size, and the way the power arrives is the point. It builds smoothly and keeps pulling right up near the redline instead of shoving you back and tapering off early the way a turbo four does. On Sheikh Zayed Road an overtake past 120 needs one confident push of the throttle, and the gearbox drops two ratios without hunting around for the right one.

Rear-wheel drive is what separates it from most rivals in this bracket, several of which have gone front-wheel or all-wheel drive by default. On Dubai's dry, well-surfaced roads that mostly shows up as sharper turn-in and a more balanced feel through a roundabout, not as anything you'll fight to control. Against a BMW 330i or a Mercedes C300, the Lexus gives up a little outright pace to the turbocharged four-cylinders both rivals now run, but it makes up ground on refinement. Naturally aspirated V6s are getting rare, and this one is smoother at idle and under load than most of the class.

Boot, back seat and the daily use

Boot space is 450 litres, a genuine sedan-sized trunk that swallows two large cases and a laptop bag without anyone folding a seat down. A DXB or DWC airport run for two with a week's luggage is easy. Add a third passenger's bags and you're packing carefully rather than throwing things in.

The back seat is where the IS shows its size. At 4.72 metres long and on a 2.8-metre wheelbase, it's shorter than a 3 Series or a C-Class, and two adults sit comfortably for a cross-town trip, but a tall passenger behind a tall driver will want to negotiate legroom on anything longer than that. This is a car built around the driver's seat first and the back seat second, which is an honest trade for a sport sedan and worth knowing if you were expecting E-Class-style space for four.

Five seats and a flat rear floor mean three people ride fine for a short hop, and the boot's regular shape, with no odd intrusion from a spare-saving foam block, means grocery runs and mall bags load in without the usual sedan Tetris.

Running cost, heat and the cabin

Fuel economy sits around 8 km/l in city driving and closer to 10 on the highway, so call it roughly 9 km/l combined. The 66-litre tank turns that into about 550 to 600 km of mixed Dubai driving, which for most renters means one stop at the pump across a full week rather than several.

Cabin cooling is strong, and it needs to be: a black-topped Marina car park in August will bake this cabin like any other. The IS pulls the temperature down fast once you climb back in, helped by a cabin that isn't oversized, and rear passengers get their own vents rather than relying on spillover from the front. Ground clearance is around 140 mm, typical for a sport sedan and fine for Dubai's regular speed bumps, but the steepest mall and Marina ramps deserve a slow, angled approach so the front lip doesn't catch. At 4.72 metres it's no harder to park than any mid-size sedan, and the reverse camera and sensors handle the rest in a tight multi-storey bay. As with any rental here, Salik tolls and RTA fines during your week are billed to you, and everyone in the car needs a seat belt regardless of seating position.

Who should rent it, and who should size up or across

Rent the Lexus IS 2022 if you want a sedan that's genuinely enjoyable to drive on Dubai's open roads and don't need to impress anyone with badge size. It's quick, composed at speed, cools down fast inside, and it comes from a brand that doesn't spend its week in the workshop, which matters more on a rental than it sounds. Two adults with luggage for the airport, or a week of business meetings, is exactly what this car is for.

Look elsewhere in two cases. If four adults need to ride in real comfort, a C-Class or a 5 Series-class sedan gives more rear-seat room than the IS's shorter wheelbase allows. And if straight-line pace matters more than balance, a turbocharged German rival will edge it off the line, though it won't sound as good doing it. As a premium sedan the IS350 carries a refundable deposit rather than a no-deposit deal, so budget for that when you book. Your daily allowance is 250 km, extra kilometres run at AED 0.5 each, and you'll need to be 25 to take the keys.