Companies would kill to be Lexus. They stand perched atop every quality survey, make cars that feel as princely as their price tags, receive kilotons of kudos for their attention to detail, and watch as the world rewards them with first-place sales.Yet praise, envy, and wads of cash can only go so far. Lexus eventually wanted to be the brand people crave, not just carefully consider, and a few years ago saw its upcoming small sedan as a chance to break out of its ultra-conservative mold. When the IS300 landed, it broke more than that, shaking up the class with trend-setting style (ever heard the term "Altezza taillights"?), a polarizing instrument cluster, suede seats, and BMW-threatening handling. The IS was their wild child, and speaking of children, its buyer turnout undercut the brand's average age by half!Problem was, it also missed the sales target by half, if not three-fourths. As well-designed and built as the IS300 was, theory goes that too many aspects of its design and character were at odds with the public's image of Lexus. Naturally, the new IS has been rethought and reformed from a whole new piece of clay, sharing little with the old car past its name.