Lex350F

Hello CL, first post here. Its been more than one year now of being with the IS350 and thought I should post some impressions that might help some first time buyers looking into the IS350. Being in Alberta, Canada, AWD was the obvious choice, they don't even have any RWD IS350's in stock here and I haven't seen any RWD on the roads either. I have seen RWD 250's, but no 350's.

I owned a 2011 mazdaspeed3 for the last 3.5 yrs, it was modded/tuned and very very quick, putting down 280 whp and 325 wtq. I put that little hatchback thru hell and back and it never once gave me issues, probably cause I maintained it very well and did all work on it myself. Eventually tho, my buddy got a 335xi and I caught the luxury sedan bug. All of a sudden the mazda felt rough and unrefined so I started looking into luxury sports sedans. I cross-shopped with the Audi S4, Volvo V60 R-design, Charger R/T AWD. I skipped BMW since my friend already had one and didn't bother with mercedes. I also didn't look at Cadillac's because of their CUE system. And I skipped infiniti since I'm not a fan of nissan.

I'll try to keep this part short, here are the impressions of the S4, volvo and charger R/T:
S4 - Pro's - Very quick, spacious cabin, very nice manual and DSG (I test drove both), looks like any other Audi on the road
S4 - Con's - Very nose heavy, overboosted steering, understeered into turns, Very expensive (65K)

Volvo - Pro's - Very quick acceleration (old school turbo dynamics), Comfortable seats, spacious, Handled very good, a little nose heavy like the S4, love the wagon design, priced very well.
Volvo - Con's - Mushy brakes, wife hates wagons.

Charger R/T - ...... its made for Santa. Only pro I can give it was interior space, I felt tiny sitting inside, its a very heavy car, sloppy handling, engine doesn't feel as powerful for being a V8. Good cruiser tho.

IS350 AWD Fsport - This was the last car on my list, I would never have considered a Lexus if my buddy didn't drag me to the dealership. Anyways...
Pro's - Cockpit like cabin, nice exterior design, good brakes, very good/neutral handling, adjustable suspension.
Con's - Could use more power, whoever designed cup holders should be fired at Lexus, they are very awkwardly placed, lacks storage space inside, heated seats don't work as well, OEM Tires suck.

I was heavily leaning towards the V60, but I think wife would have left me if I bought a wagon home. What sold me on the Lexus was the handling and brakes, also, it was priced the best out of all other cars. I got the series 1 (which is now discontinued) since I didn't care for the extra safety features that come with series 2/3 and neither did I care for a sunroof or anything. All I was looking at was performance, handling, braking, comfort.

So how has it fared for the last year or so. Well, not bad, good for the most part. It could really really use more power, the N/A V6 is nice and strong but they should have (could have) added more power to it, maybe rev a little higher to broaden the power-band. It really is designed more towards comfort vs performance. The all season turanza that come with the car really kill the car's driving spirit. They squeal very easily on any spirited driving and are terrible when temps get cold. I got a dedicated set of winter tires (square setup) which outperform the oem all seasons. Why does Lexus have a staggered setup on an AWD car anyway? I feel like it will perform better on a square set of summer tires vs staggered.

I don't have any plans for modding right now, I am not into the show/shine stuff anyway. If I do anything, it might just be a good set of summer tires and those R/R Bushings to improve steering feel. I also have my eyes set on the Stillen supercharger, but time will tell.

Lastly, for whoever is interested, the AWD hits 200 km/hr at the top of 4th gear, and its limited to 216 km/hr after that.

If I could change something, I would love to add the Mark Levinson sound system and the 8spd gearbox from the RWD model. But, for the price I paid, I can't really complain.

nathantse

Hey man,

If I don't mind asking..

What options did the car come with? and the MSRP, and the price you got OTD?

I am debating between a 2015 is350 and a 2016 is200t right now....

Lex350F

My 2015 Fsport AWD series 1 was $506xx (including freight/PDI etc) plus Tax (canadian $). I see that the new IS350 non fsport starts at 51,900 now, so they have upped the price quite a bit and the Fsport starts at 52,600. (plus freight/pdi/taxes).

I got fsport adjustable suspension, fsport speedo, fsport seats, heated/cooled seats, Fsport 18" staggered wheel setup and whatever the base head unit was with the round control ****, HID lights, probably some other basic stuff I am forgetting.

I didn't get sunroof, heated wheel, any traffic safety stuff, nav, backup camera, rain sensing wipers etc. All that is with series 2, 3 and executive packages.

I see that the is200t is RWD only with 8spd trans, so its a toss up on what you want for daily driving.

Lex350F

Hey buddy, I did reply to your questions earlier but it said mod has to approve it or something, if I don't see it post by tomorrow i'll write it up again.

nathantse

Ohh thats weird, if your not busy, could you try copying and pasting it onto a PM to me? I appreciate all opinions. lol

Northevo

The wheels are staggered because the car is RWD biased. 70% rear 30% front I believe.

computerwi

Seeing as the OP is in Canada, his pricing information isn't going to help your decision very much.

HanaleiISF

That's a top speed of 134.216 mph to your American friends.

Lex350F

oh yea, right. So its ok to run a square setup as well? that's what I have for my winter wheels anyway and I find it handles better.

yea dude, Canadian pricing is different. I paid around 50K for my series 1 all in.

rxonmymind

Don't sweat the M&L sound system. Find a #1 reputable stereo shop in your area and that way you shop locally & help keep the $$$ in your city. A win-win. One can easily surpass that sound system for $2500 not including labor.
Need
Sub+amp
Helix dsp pro
Six channel amp(Arc audio, JL audio, Alpine pdx)

Keep the same stock speakers.Put all that in the car & have them dial it in and your good to go! It's 80% tuning and 20% equipment.

theoryguy

The ML is around $850 itself, which is quite a bargain for it's specs. The $2500 you're referring to is a for the nav and ML system as a package.