starstreak

Those who have been following my story about getting a new car, I went from trying to choose from a BMW 335i, Lexus IS, and a Infiniti G35. From that, I dropped the BMW, and moved the G35 to second place. I had a Matador Red IS on hold at a showroom to show my wife.
*junk part*
Ignoring the issues I had with the sales person, I got there tonight. He showed my wife the IS350. She agreed to it. Then we tried to fit the two baby seats in the back seat.... You can see where this is going if you own a IS. It fit, but not if kids are gonna sit in the seats.
Note: Hawaii's law is 7 or 8 years old or 40lbs or 4ft9in before you can let them out of the seat on to the chair. My kids are 5 and 3. So I have to keep the seats.

K, so she says lets look at the G35. My sales person knows I liked the GS350. So he said to show it to her, so I'm like ok... My wife's eyes are But agrees to look. Everything is nice. But its about 9 grand more.
Anyways. we go in. **Leaving out stuff out about the deal** anyways, he drops the price by $1500 below msrp. For Hawaii, I'm finding, that is a good deal.

So I ended up with a GS350 Chardonnay Pearl with all the options that Hawaii can get. No nav , Bluetooth, rear auto sunshade, the xenon hid lights with AFS(I can't tell if they are working),ML audio,reverse camera , and 18in upgraded tires.

Now that I drove home, only a few things are getting to me. Was it really worth the price? The gas average says I'm getting 16.8mpg on the trip home. GOD I hope it gets better of my wife will kill me for getting a lower mileage car. And I didn't even hit the gas.. Its big. Same as my Maxima. I had it so set in my head about a smaller car, I'm kinda lost. Why did I buy the same car as my Maxima? Turn radius. The webpage says 36.4, but when they sold it to me, it says 34.7 which is same as my maxima. If its really 36.4, I'm gonna hate parking. Once I get over shock I think I'm gonna like this.

Thinking about getting the GS vs the IS, here's something I'm kinda missing:
1) The instrument gauges are nicer in the IS
2) No orange/red indicator lights on the spedo
3) No aux audio. Hey , how do I put my ipod in now???
4) Metallic pedals
5) Better moonroof

Stuff I like as an upgrade:
1) LED interior lights for EVERYTHING
2) the LCD MONITOR!
3) Reverse camera (remember, Hawaii has no nav, so no reverse camera on the IS)
4) Rear sunshade
5) Power folding mirrors. Hey can I program my security to auto fold my mirrors when I arm?
6) Bluetooth. My phone actually worked! Didn't test any of the voice features. (again, no navigation, no bluetooth on the IS)
7) radar parking assist that shows all four corners and back AND FRONT CENTER

Worth more? Hmm..I dunno. I hope so. Help me say "yes" so I stop worrying that the g35 was 8-9k cheaper with almost the same features.

Anyways, thats my story. I now have a GS350.

Now I have to read up on:
1) Why my lights at night seem dim. And someone just told me that I don't have bi-xenon. WHICH SUXS! I didn't know that.
2) How to get an ipod to work with the LCD screen in the car
3) How to get the dvd play when the car is running. Why is that? I can't even turn on my car and watch dvd in park? I can't have my a/c on and watch dvd?
4) Programming my homelink. He the salesman couldn't do it.
5) changing the mirror puddle lights to led.
6) How to rollup my windows with alarm or do anything with windows with alarm for that matter.
7) Same with my power rear mirrors. I want to fold them when I arm my alarm.

carlmock

i just drove an infiniti g35x yesterday and wasnt impressed at all.. it felt and looked cheap and nothing more than an overpriced altima I thought. The sport model looks much cooler but Im in PA and need my car for work so I usually need all wheel drive. Guess I can scratch the g35 off the list...

Faheta

Congratulations on your GS purchase. I too trying to decide between the BMW 335i and the GS350. I own 2 BMWs and vow not to buy another BMW because of quality issues but after I drove the 335i, I kept saying "wow" ... "wow"
(That engine is something ... it kicks like a V8, handles better than an average BMW with the sports package ... feels very solid)

It's a bit smaller than the GS: less 2 inches of legroom both for the front and rear

Why did you drop the 335i as an option?

javyLSU

iTrader: (21)

Congrats on the GS purchase, starstreak, and welcome to the Lexus family!!! Oh, and by the way...



Javier

starstreak

Faheta- After I put the carseats in the back, there was no room between that and the front seats. My kids would be resting their feet on the back of the front seats.


javylsu- Hey, it was 12:30am. I'll take some and post. later today.heh

Rexus300

iTrader: (1)

Now that I drove home, only a few things are getting to me. Was it really worth the price? The gas average says I'm getting 16.8mpg on the trip home. GOD I hope it gets better of my wife will kill me for getting a lower mileage car. And I didn't even hit the gas.. Its big. Same as my Maxima. I had it so set in my head about a smaller car, I'm kinda lost. Why did I buy the same car as my Maxima? Turn radius. The webpage says 36.4, but when they sold it to me, it says 34.7 which is same as my maxima. If its really 36.4, I'm gonna hate parking. Once I get over shock I think I'm gonna like this.

Thinking about getting the GS vs the IS, here's something I'm kinda missing:
1) The instrument gauges are nicer in the IS
2) No orange/red indicator lights on the spedo
3) No aux audio. Hey , how do I put my ipod in now???
4) Metallic pedals
5) Better moonroof

Stuff I like as an upgrade:
1) LED interior lights for EVERYTHING
2) the LCD MONITOR!
3) Reverse camera (remember, Hawaii has no nav, so no reverse camera on the IS)
4) Rear sunshade
5) Power folding mirrors. Hey can I program my security to auto fold my mirrors when I arm?
6) Bluetooth. My phone actually worked! Didn't test any of the voice features. (again, no navigation, no bluetooth on the IS)
7) radar parking assist that shows all four corners and back AND FRONT CENTER

Worth more? Hmm..I dunno. I hope so. Help me say "yes" so I stop worrying that the g35 was 8-9k cheaper with almost the same features.

Anyways, thats my story. I now have a GS350.

Now I have to read up on:
1) Why my lights at night seem dim. And someone just told me that I don't have bi-xenon. WHICH SUXS! I didn't know that.
2) How to get an ipod to work with the LCD screen in the car
3) How to get the dvd play when the car is running. Why is that? I can't even turn on my car and watch dvd in park? I can't have my a/c on and watch dvd?
4) Programming my homelink. He the salesman couldn't do it.
5) changing the mirror puddle lights to led.
6) How to rollup my windows with alarm or do anything with windows with alarm for that matter.
7) Same with my power rear mirrors. I want to fold them when I arm my alarm.[/QUOTE]


You know, you are in the same boat as I was, since I had a 2004 Maxima, and compared to the GS, I realize that the gas mileage was better when the GS was new, but now at 5,000 miles, my Gs is getting much better gas mileage than the Maxima. I am averaging 24 MPG city/highway. It was at 19-20 before when I got it. The best thing about the GS is the suberb turning angle compared to the lousy pathetic steering angle of of the Maxima. Parking the GS is much better than the Maxima. The quality and everything is much better than the Maxima. Handling is much better than the boaty feeling of my 2004 Maxima SL. You can get your headlights adjusted upwards since mines was too low at night, so the dealer uped the angle of my lights, and its so much better. All GS comes with xenon headlights. The cool part with the windows is that you press the unlock button and hold it, all the windows and even the sunroof will open to cool the car in the warm/hot weather. TO close all the windows from outside the car, just put your key into the door (remove the key from the fob), and turn it 2 times to the left to lock the car and roll the windows and sunroof to close. Homelink programming is so easy, just use the book and you should be done in few minutes. Overrall, you have made the best choice for the best midsize sport/luxury sedan, trust me. Its a sweet looking car and is well worth it. Enjoy!

starstreak

I hope the milage thing improves. The turn radius is better than the maxima? I'm glad to hear it. Since now I saw two different specs for turning circle for the GS. One was 34.* and the other was 36*. I saw the 36.* after I bought it. I hope its the 34, which is as good or better than the Maxima.
Yes, the car is a whole other level than the Maxima. It should. My Maxima was aobut 33k, this is 49k. well If I take out the ML radio its closer to 46k. hehe. But still.
I never gave it much thought that the car didn't say bi-xenon since I was moving from teh IS to GS, I took it for granted. So seeing those ugly (I had modded my 2k Maxima with HID) yellow lights on the same time as the projectors, I have to find a way to change it.

Faheta

darn, looks like I have to drop the 335i for the same reason

starstreak

Oh yeah. bring your car seats. Trust me. Once I moved the seats to where I liked them, the space between the carseat and the kidsseat was less than 10inches. Put the kid in the seat, his legs ar pushing on the seats infront.

starstreak

I hope I resized them ok. Btw, now you know why my wife didn't want a large car. Thats how close I need to part it to fit it in the garage.
I can do only one at a time. go figure...

starstreak

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and the last