impressions 2008 IS350 - returning lease

[Yogi335]

Originally Posted by Cdnrockies

That's an easy call...lol. Same as moving from an 335 to an M3....or a 350 to an F.



Lexus of Edmonton is awesome...(thanks Keith).

We bought both of ours there but wouldn't spend a dime here in Calgary. Ironically, the Calgary BMW that we've been dealing with has been the BEST dealership of any that we've ever dealt with....to this point.



HUGE pita. The necessary over-ride is a wayyyy bigger pita to make it work.



Your experience is clearly and statistically in the minority, but your opinion is certainly valid.



Again, very valid opinions, but completely and totally subjective.

Who's driving all the 328's?

Performance upgrades are defintiley an area where Lexus is lacking.

I see you have an "F." I was looking at maybe getting those but didnt even go and test drive since i already had the IS350 and quickly got bored with that. I would imagine the F is a completely different animal from the 350 but how would you compare it to a modded 335. I would imagine they are pretty similar (besides that glorious tranny of course, from what ive read).

[Straight6r]

Originally Posted by Yogi335

I see you have an "F." I was looking at maybe getting those but didnt even go and test drive since i already had the IS350 and quickly got bored with that. I would imagine the F is a completely different animal from the 350 but how would you compare it to a modded 335. I would imagine they are pretty similar (besides that glorious tranny of course, from what ive read).

My ex-brother and law had an IS-F. I will say that his car had the worst ride of almost any car I have ever been in this side of a model T. Every little rut and imperfection in the road surface transfered inside the vehicle. I was shocked. People who complain that run flat BMW's ride hard should spend a day in the IS-F. You will never complain again.

[Raine]

Originally Posted by Straight6r

My ex-brother and law had an IS-F. I will say that his car had the worst ride of almost any car I have ever been in this side of a model T. Every little rut and imperfection in the road surface transfered inside the vehicle. I was shocked. People who complain that run flat BMW's ride hard should spend a day in the IS-F. You will never complain again.

Those are some mighty accusations there!

[DASHOCKER]

Originally Posted by Yogi335

I see you have an "F." I was looking at maybe getting those but didnt even go and test drive since i already had the IS350 and quickly got bored with that. I would imagine the F is a completely different animal from the 350 but how would you compare it to a modded 335. I would imagine they are pretty similar (besides that glorious tranny of course, from what ive read).

The IS-F is not worth it.. Seriously.. This coming from a guy who has owned Lexus cars since some were riding on the yellow bus. I test drove this car more than once and was not satisfied at all.

[Muffnbluff]

I rolled up on an IS350 with an exhaust last week, actually sounded pretty mean. I've always liked the looks of those cars, especially in black, I've never driven one though.

[ragingclue]

Funny you should mention the auto-wipers. My auto function on my 335 is TERRIBLE. It's always too slow during heavy downpours and heavy misting from other traffic on the road (sometimes they don't trigger at all), and then, it's only when the rain stops, and the windshield is finally dry, I'll come to a stop at a stop sign, and they'll wipe two or three times consecutively over a dry windshield.

My wife's Lexus (granted, it's an RX) has auto wipers that seem to be much more intelligent and useful than my BMW's.

[DASHOCKER]

Originally Posted by ragingclue

Funny you should mention the auto-wipers. My auto function on my 335 is TERRIBLE. It's always too slow during heavy downpours and heavy misting from other traffic on the road (sometimes they don't trigger at all), and then, it's only when the rain stops, and the windshield is finally dry, I'll come to a stop at a stop sign, and they'll wipe two or three times consecutively over a dry windshield.

My wife's Lexus (granted, it's an RX) has auto wipers that seem to be much more intelligent and useful than my BMW's.

This I will agree with.. The auto wipers on BMW's are horrible.

[Cdnrockies]

Originally Posted by Yogi335

I see you have an "F." I was looking at maybe getting those but didnt even go and test drive since i already had the IS350 and quickly got bored with that. I would imagine the F is a completely different animal from the 350 but how would you compare it to a modded 335. I would imagine they are pretty similar (besides that glorious tranny of course, from what ive read).

I'm not sure how it would compare to a modded 335, I only shopped the M3 and C63. I'm not going to get into a discussion which car is better (as the peanut gallery has demonstrated they have no idea wtf they're talking about), but I am very happy with the choice I made. Each of these super sedans has their own strengths and weaknesses. I made a decision that was best for us.

Nice garage, btw...you seem to have all your bases covered too.

[punkindrublic]

I actuallly just sold my 328i coupe for a Lexus. Bought the coupe early 2007 before I got married and now that our family has grown, we decided on the 2011 is 350 AWD. No more having to contort my body to put my son in his child seat!

One thing mentioned earlier that I definitely noticed is the luxury. Really comfortable interior with great fit and finish. Sadly, I have to wait 3 weeks before it gets here

[Raine]

Originally Posted by DASHOCKER

This I will agree with.. The auto wipers on BMW's are horrible.

Honestly, those auto wipers are so crap =(

[dvpouldar26]

Originally Posted by Cdnrockies

That's an easy call...lol. Same as moving from an 335 to an M3....or a 350 to an F.



Lexus of Edmonton is awesome...(thanks Keith).

We bought both of ours there but wouldn't spend a dime here in Calgary. Ironically, the Calgary BMW that we've been dealing with has been the BEST dealership of any that we've ever dealt with....to this point.



HUGE pita. The necessary over-ride is a wayyyy bigger pita to make it work.



Your experience is clearly and statistically in the minority, but your opinion is certainly valid.



Again, very valid opinions, but completely and totally subjective.

Who's driving all the 328's?

Performance upgrades are defintiley an area where Lexus is lacking.

Reason for this is because no one has been able to decode the ECU to make any substantial tunes. all that is out are intakes, midpipes, exhaust and headers. There is nitrous and supercharger kits, but the blowers only add around 80-100 hp because they cannot be tuned and rely solely on the adaptation of the stock ecu to tune it. My friend though, who owned the fastest IS350 in the country before he parted out, did run an 11.3 in the quarter on DR's, on a 100 shot, and 6.2's in the 1/8. Thats only $1500 in mods. Not too bad at all.

[Cerezo]

Originally Posted by punkindrublic

I actuallly just sold my 328i coupe for a Lexus. Bought the coupe early 2007 before I got married and now that our family has grown, we decided on the 2011 is 350 AWD. No more having to contort my body to put my son in his child seat!

One thing mentioned earlier that I definitely noticed is the luxury. Really comfortable interior with great fit and finish. Sadly, I have to wait 3 weeks before it gets here

You bought an IS350 for the backseat? Did you even try fitting the car seat? The backseats are SOOOO small and I don't even think you can fit a car seat on it, or if you are a little taller. OK maybe that's exaggeration but as soon as the little one sits in a front facing booster he'll be kicking the front seats.

I considered the IS350 as the replacement to the 325i I had. Even though the engine feels lazy but it drives pretty good overall. However the lack of adjustability of the front and the tiny backseat turned me away. I too needed to fit a car seat into it.

[Inspired]

Originally Posted by dvpouldar26

Reason for this is because no one has been able to decode the ECU to make any substantial tunes. all that is out are intakes, midpipes, exhaust and headers. There is nitrous and supercharger kits, but the blowers only add around 80-100 hp because they cannot be tuned and rely solely on the adaptation of the stock ecu to tune it. My friend though, who owned the fastest IS350 in the country before he parted out, did run an 11.3 in the quarter on DR's, on a 100 shot, and 6.2's in the 1/8. Thats only $1500 in mods. Not too bad at all.

Those are some amazing times. The fastest N/A ISF w/o nitrous is in the 11s. Right up in the 335 territory.

[jopa489]

They also suck in the snow, for anyone considering an IS350 after reading this thread. Even with quality snow tires, the car just doesn't function in bad weather. DTC is WAY too sensitive and just turns the power off rather than helping the car along. Maybe this has been fixed since, but our 2006 was a real pain in the winter.

[majin ssj eric]

Originally Posted by Cerezo

You bought an IS350 for the backseat? Did you even try fitting the car seat? The backseats are SOOOO small and I don't even think you can fit a car seat on it, or if you are a little taller. OK maybe that's exaggeration but as soon as the little one sits in a front facing booster he'll be kicking the front seats.

I considered the IS350 as the replacement to the 325i I had. Even though the engine feels lazy but it drives pretty good overall. However the lack of adjustability of the front and the tiny backseat turned me away. I too needed to fit a car seat into it.

While I agree that the backseat in our IS350 is rather small, I can assure you that a rear-facing car seat does fit just fine back there. Our 7-month-old daughter quite likes it back there!

[Cdnrockies]

Originally Posted by jopa489

They also suck in the snow, for anyone considering an IS350 after reading this thread. Even with quality snow tires, the car just doesn't function in bad weather. DTC is WAY too sensitive and just turns the power off rather than helping the car along. Maybe this has been fixed since, but our 2006 was a real pain in the winter.

What are you talking about?

I drove my F through 1 1/2 winters here in the Rockies and it was outstanding. I can't imagine that the 350 would be an issue.

[jopa489]

Originally Posted by Cdnrockies

What are you talking about?

I drove my F through 1 1/2 winters here in the Rockies and it was outstanding. I can't imagine that the 350 would be an issue.

Just posting what I noticed. Bought a nice set of Pirelli snow tires for it, but it was just dysfunctional with anything amount of snow on the ground. Maybe it was the tires, maybe they tweaked the ESP since 2006. I did like the car (which is why I didn't complain like the rest of this thread), but mine was just bad in the winter. Dunno what to tell you, certainly not hating on the car here.

[punkindrublic]

^Yes, I bought the Lexus for a backseat, but specifically for the 4 doors. It's so much easier to put my son in his carseat with the extra doors vs the long coupe doors. Right now, he's 16 months old facing forward and I do agree that the rear seats arn't that roomy, however he won't be kicking the backseats anytime soon. Most of the time, I'm driving with him only, as my wife has her SUV. There will be the odd time where I might take an employee out for lunch, carpool with 1 other person or take a couple friends on snowboarding trips so the backseats won't be used that much for adults.

I found the Lexus to be quite roomy in the front, I'm 6 foot 1 and didnt have any issues with adjusting to my preferred driving position. Sure, I could have bought an 328 xi, but paying extra for a paint color that I like and extra for real leather plus taking a huge horsepower cut didn't seem to make sense...so I went with the cheaper IS 350 AWD. Besides, I was getting sick of the bad service at the dealerships, and the horrible issues with the cars sensors (got software updates twice).

I should be receiving the car next week as it is still in transit. As soon as I get the car I'm also going to mount some Blizzaks, they are ordered, so I'm sure it should do quite well in the snow.

[Inspired]

Originally Posted by punkindrublic

^Yes, I bought the Lexus for a backseat, but specifically for the 4 doors. It's so much easier to put my son in his carseat with the extra doors vs the long coupe doors. Right now, he's 16 months old facing forward and I do agree that the rear seats arn't that roomy, however he won't be kicking the backseats anytime soon. Most of the time, I'm driving with him only, as my wife has her SUV. There will be the odd time where I might take an employee out for lunch, carpool with 1 other person or take a couple friends on snowboarding trips so the backseats won't be used that much for adults.

I found the Lexus to be quite roomy in the front, I'm 6 foot 1 and didnt have any issues with adjusting to my preferred driving position. Sure, I could have bought an 328 xi, but paying extra for a paint color that I like and extra for real leather plus taking a huge horsepower cut didn't seem to make sense...so I went with the cheaper IS 350 AWD. Besides, I was getting sick of the bad service at the dealerships, and the horrible issues with the cars sensors (got software updates twice).

I should be receiving the car next week as it is still in transit. As soon as I get the car I'm also going to mount some Blizzaks, they are ordered, so I'm sure it should do quite well in the snow.

Wow, you got the new 350AWD? Keep us updated on that..

I love the IS350 seats. They are literally like a sofa. I've sat in mercedes, audi, BMW and Lexus makes the best seats hands down.

[Yogi335]

Originally Posted by twinturbo335

Wow, you got the new 350AWD? Keep us updated on that..

I love the IS350 seats. They are literally like a sofa. I've sat in mercedes, audi, BMW and Lexus makes the best seats hands down.

I was happy to hear they are making a 350 awd too...

And about the seats And theyre cooled, even better and air conditioned sofa.

[majin ssj eric]

Yes, my wife never misses an opportunity to point out there HER car has heated AND cooled seats while mine does not....

[-=Hot|Ice=-]

Originally Posted by majin ssj eric

Yes, my wife never misses an opportunity to point out there HER car has heated AND cooled seats while mine does not....

I love your bike. I have an 09.