05RollaXRS

"The new IS has the best interior Lexus ever put in a car this side of the Lexus LFA"


That is a huge compliment and having sat inside nearly every Lexus in the last 10 years, I can say he definitely is right. It is truly an exciting place to be in.

corradoMR2

It's amazing because the (high) % of journalists who hate the styling does not reflect the common opinion of real-world everyday people, from my experience so far. Sales of the new IS will not lie, we shall see.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

F-Sport sells 2:1 vs base and luxury at my automall simply because of the grill. Besides judging a car by styling really has no merit on how it performs (other than coefficient), so anytime a test includes a design category with scoring, just ignore it.

IS needs more diversity though, or it will never sell in 3-Series or C-Class volume. It needs more powertrain and body styles - wagon, coupe, convertible and also needs more available options that are not limited by region.

You have the LFA and GS to thank for that

LexFather

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/8113610-post26.html

Some of my thoughts before i post my full review.....

KeyserS

I didn't think this comparison was particularly good, and I do not agree with some of what he said.

Both cars are excellent in most respects, and although I don't have much experience at all with the previous version of the IS, I do know that the Q50 is an enormous improvement over its predecessor. I am familiar with the G, and the many complaints of the engine being buzzy and loud inside the passenger compartment, and the ride being harsh, and the steering being sort of funky in the way that the boost and effort change dramatically when you approach an intersection, are all valid complaints. But the Q50 has fixed all of that.

Both cars are excellent. The major difference are with styling, inside and out, and with which of the two different approaches to the driver interface to the climate controls and radio controls, etc., you find least annoying. Personally, I think that they are both annoying, but the IS350 is less annoy in this respect than the Q50, in large part because with the IS350 you do not have to mess with the menu system in order to turn the AC on or off (while still using the fan). Additionally, in the Q50 you have those press-and-hold buttons for setting the temperature, whereas with the IS350 you get very cool dedicated touch-sensitive sliders. I ABHOR press-and-hold buttons for anything. You either wait or else you tap-tap. Either way I find it very annoying. The IS350 has this for adjusting the fan speed, which is annoying, but I don't often vary the fan speed manually, so I don't mind that anywhere near as much as a press-and-hold button for adjusting the temperature.

In this review, the guy criticized Infiniti for not going all the way with the touch-sensitive screen, i.e., for having a dedicated physical radio seek button. I totally disagree with what he said. In my personal opinion, the more dedicated physical buttons you have, up to the point where everything is too cluttered, the better. Said differently, the less you have to rely on the touch screen and the menu, the better. It would have been much, much better if Infiniti provided a physical button for the AC on/off. For whatever reason they did not, and I think that is unfortunate. On the other hand, their is a button for radio scan. There actually are two similar buttons, and although I'm not absolutely certain, it is highly likely that with one of them, you can scan for stations that can be picked up, as opposed to merely sequencing through the presets. Based on my limited experience with the IS350, the physical button only allows you to sequence through presets, and if you want to scan for stations, you have to use the menu system and the mouse. At least this is what the salesman believed and led me to believe, and if this is correct, it is a bit unfortunate.

I struggle to have any appreciation for all this menu-driven stuff, whether it is touch-sensitive or mouse based, because if this is really necessary or desirable, how did we get along without it for as long as we did? My present car, an Audi now more than ten years old, has a very good and very functional audio system, and using it, there is more than one way to scan for available radio stations. There is a tap rocker over at the top left, which also does track stepping for CD, and there is a second **** over on the right, that you can simply push to scan stations. And there are physical buttons for presets, and there are push-pop buttons for tone controls and balance and fader, and there is even a "hidden" five-band equalizer. The sound quality of the system is good but not great (Bose, you know), but from a control standpoint, I have to say that it is excellent, and I struggle with the idea of having to use either a touch screen or a mouse to access these same functions. I just do not like it, at all. Furthermore, I think that cost avoidance is actually what's behind a lot of this. Buttons with complex electrical contacts are costly to design and manufacture. I feel the same is true for the IS350s turn signal, which is mechanically an order of magnitude simpler than the more conventional sort of turn signal that stays where you put it (unless it self-cancels) and that you turn off by flipping it back to the middle position. I do not like the turn signal in the IS350 in the least, and I cannot avoid the sense that cost avoidance is largely what has driven this reinvention of a wheel that was perfected many decades ago. I think that cost avoidance is also the sole reason why the trunk hinges are the way that they are, and it bugs me that a car this expensive has those ridiculously cheap trunk hinges.

RNM GS3

I like Carlos Lago's reviews much better than this dude.....Either way glad the IS won!

Few thoughts:
- Impressive Test #s for the Q50S (Wonder how it drives with the standard steering rack)
- Lexus get ur ***** together and offer a NEW ENGINE
- IS Fsport interior is great BUT it really needs a bigger NAV screen and some REAL leather
- Love the styling of the IS, it looks awesome in person...both Fsport and Base.....Infiniti not so much

D&G

Q50 is fugly and don't stand a chance with the IS in all levels. Sorry but you might want to compare the Q50 with the Hyundai Sonada. The drive and quality is night and day.

05RollaXRS

Although, Johnny thinks the IS needs another 50 HP, but the real reason behind the underwhelming acceleration number are simply Lexus dropping the ball on the gearing.

As seen from comparison of 2IS gearing and 3IS gearing, the 3IS 8 speed gearing is much taller overall than the 2IS 6 speed gearing, which results in less torque multiplication through gears despite the extra 2 cogs. The AWD 3IS was only 1/10ths slower with the 6 speed auto despite being 300 lbs heavier and actually trapped higher than the RWD 3IS with 8 speed automatic.

I hope Lexus revises the final drive ratio and gives it a shorter (numerically higher) final drive ratio along the lines of 4.1: 1 in the 2nd production year.

dk206

i love my is350 f sport, best car i ever owned, but 50hp would make it perfect for me.

machmike

I drove them both back to back to back two weeks ago in Denver.

1-The IS350
2-The Q50S
3-The IS350 F Sport

I'm glad i went back to drive Lexus because the q50s almost won me over. After the last lexus ride I knew Lexus was the way to go.

My take:
Comfort:
Winner: IS350 / IS350 F Sport wins by more than I expected. The seats felt better in every aspect. Especially the head rests, which I thought was weird i even noticed them.

Interior: Look only
Winner: Q50s I thought about it more after the drives. I like simple things. But those two display screens were a nightmare. but they look great, work horribly. Cleaning the dust out of all of the right angles of the Lexus is going to be frustrating.

Performance:
Winner: IS350 f Sport. I thought the Q50 didn't have a great feel to the ride. Something was weird. This video explained it. I had no clue it was drive by wire either.

Looks:
Winner: IS350 F Sport and IS350. The Q50 looks like a honda... with a nicer front end. Those headlights feel like an owl face staring...its weird.


Paint:
Winner: Q50s The black looked much richer. The colors are great. They have a sharkskin grey-ish color that changes with the daylight. It was awesome.

Price:
IS 350 F Sport and IS350.
Q50s is overpriced by 2k I think

Value of options:
Q50s has more integrated features in a sport model.

blksolara

I still want to see a review of the 350 F vs Q50 Hybrid which I think might be a better car. 370HP with 31 AVG MPG.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

You're entitled to view the Q50 as "fugly" as that is your opinion as it is subjective but the rest is plain ignorant. Clearly you have not experienced the Q50 in person and are going off what the internet is telling you. The Q50 is a major improvement over the G37, and is faster in a straight line over the IS350 due to gearing and power. Where the IS shines is the chassis and the "drive" which is all enthusiasts seem to point out. A win nonetheless for Lexus, but then folks forget what this segment is about.. Luxury Sport. This is where the Q50 beats out the Lexus. The cabin materials are a notch above anything else in it's segment ie 3-Series, ATS, IS, C-Class - and nearly matches A4. The single most important goal when redesigning the IS was to give it the "fun to drive" factor which it nailed. Unfortunately Lexus roots were eschewed in order to make it happen. It's the difference between having your cake and eating it too. Both are great cars with strong suits but neither are perfect with the Infiniti having an artificial feel, dull design, and teething tech problems, and the IS's aging power trains and material downgrades. Either way comparing to a Hyundai is completely asinine.

BTW its Sonata.

natnut

Apparently the Q50 hybrid is even more of a boat than the Q50 and the standard drive by wire DAS steering on the hybrid is artificial in feel.

Ramon

I'm in full agreement that an extra 50 hp/tq would be great in the IS and I think it really needs it. The trap speed between the two is quite a lot. The Q did look fun to toss around. The ability to turn of the nannies is certainly a plus.

s6 4rings

iTrader: (1)

Nice paid advertisment from Infiniti! What did the Lexus get like 1 min of that entire video?