evren

I own an '06 IS350 and have bought 3 other lexi over the years. When I heard the IS-F had become available here in Canada, I called my salesperson and requested a test drive. His response was that due to the low allotments and driving characteristics, there are no demo vehicles and nothing available to test drive. This strikes me as absolute lunacy. I'm very serious about upgrading to the IS-F but I would not consider doing so without first getting being the wheel and seeing for myself what the difference is between this vehicle and my 350.

My next step was to pickup the phone book and try a second random dealership. I got the same story from the 2nd dealer with whom I had no prior relationship. I requested that their sales manager contact me to discuss further. A few minutes later, I got the same lame story from them, including a batch of equally lame excuses (car is too expensive to test-drive!!!! what a load of crap).

I was just about to give up, but I figured why not try one last dealership for the hell of it. Turns out three times is a charm, the third dealer was extremely curtious and professional, and arranged for a brand new (never been driven still covered in plastic) IS-F to be ready and waiting for me within 60 minutes of my call. I was allowed to zip around an industrial area for 10 miles and really got a good feel for what the car is capable of.

So has anyone else encountered difficulties test-driving an IS-F? Perhaps its a Canadian issue because of the relatively low allotment for this country? Who do you think I should voice a complaint to at Lexus Canada? Does anyone feel this policy is reasonable? I can appreciate why they might not want some 16 year old walking in from the street and playing around with one of these, but I've bought 4 Lexus vehicles from my dealership and I just can't understand how they could treat me like this.

what do you think?

350PsDMeuP

iTrader: (1)

same here in houston someone inside the dealershi actually bought the demo, so now they have no demo for anyone to test drive.

threeputt

What dealership allowed the drive, I am from Ontario and have not found one I could drive yet. No idea who you could phone or contact at Lexus Canada but my suggestion would be to get on the phone to state you have purchased that many vehicles in the past and hope you get an answer. Looking forward to your responese.

Also interested to know your impressions of the car versus the IS350.

evren

I wasn't sure if I should name names, but it seems like the info is pertinent and could potentially save people time and aggravation.

The dealership that treated me like dirt after I spent over $300,000.00 ($200k in the last two years) at their location was Ken Shaw Lexus @ St. Clair & Keele in Toronto.

The second dealership that wouldn't play ball was Erin Park Lexus. After a lengthy telephone conversation, the sales manager pretended to offer me a 'big favor' by suggesting that I could sit in an IS-F while a salesperson drives it around the block.

The dealership that was provided exemplary salesmanship and service was Scarborough Lexus. threeputt: As for my driving experiences, perhaps I should write a proper review. But for now, lets see...first thing I noticed was the comfy bucket-style seats. Exhaust-note is awesome, very nicely tuned and highly convincing. Definitely sounds like a very different car to my 350.

Now going from 0-100....its smooth and lightning fast. You just don't have time to notice how quickly you're accelerating before BAM, you're traveling at 100km/hr on a 50/hr side street I would imagine the 8-speed transmission has a big part to play in the smoothness of the feeling of instant velocity. Its felt like there was a there was a button one could press to "travel at 100 km/hr" and the moment your finger comes into contact with the button, you're doing 100.

Braking was superb, very noticeable improvement to the 350. I have no issue with the brakes in my ride but I don't doubt that the IS-F's brakes are a significant upgrade. My only concern would be the brakedust issue that is so very prevalent in the 350. It was quite difficult to tell if dust accumulated on the test vehicle because the rims were covered in the factory-plastic but I would guess that the dust would be even worse. The salesperson told me that in America he believes Lexus has a ceramic break option and that it may well be available through special-order for Canada. I would recommend this to
anyone with the cash to invest in keeping their car looking slick.

I didn't have the heart to really test the handling by taking sharp corners or any fancy stuff. My guess is that there isn't going to be a massive improvement in handling just due to the nature of a heavy 4-door sedan (as compared to a Porsche). But I can't say with any certainty how it handles relative to a 350.

oh and those rims are truly a thing of beauty. The salesperson's analogy of 'ninja throwing star' aesthetic was quite apt.

ngl1145

The dealership I went to was great! I purchased my IS-F at Inskip Lexus in RI. The person that helped me was Ray West. I would not have bought an IS-F if he did not let me test drive it. At the dealership, they did not give me any pressure. This was actually a pleasant visit to the dealership as opposed to a stressful one. My sales person let my fiance and I take the test drive by ourselves. After driving it I could feel the differences between the F car and the IS350. I realize it's one thing to have numbers on paper and it's another thing to experience those numbers.

Before I bought the IS-F, I had a IS350 and 350Z. I traded both in for the IS-F. The 350Z was my sports car and I did a lot of work to it. It represented speed as well as beauty. The car had great lines and was a blast to drive the 6 speed. In addition I had coilovers as an upgrade to the stock suspension. The IS350 was for practicality such as taking people around and was great if I didn't want to scrape the floor going into certain places. The IS-F had the qualities of both cars.

As for power wise, I believe I may have mentioned this in another post I made, the IS350 is great if you don't drive the IS-F. It's very quick off the line. I remember if I kept it in drive mode and stepped on it, as it was gaining speed you would feel it pick up even more. When I kept it in manual mode (paddle shifting) I needed to really keep the RPM's high in order to really feel any power. Previous to going into the IS350, I had a V8 Audi S4 (which had SOOO many problems.. that's why I got the Lexus IS350). But despite the problems, the S4 had lots of low end torque which you really feel. I remember telling my sales person that I knew that the IS350 was quick, but it just didn't feel like it was all there.

Well with the IS-F you definitely feel power without even having to really rev really high. It's solid power and boasts confidence especially merging onto the highway. When I'm on an on ramp, I feel there is no stopping this car. In combination with the new 8 speed quick shifting transmission in 'sport' mode, the ride is certainly exhilarating. I can't help but to smile or break out laughing because I couldn't believe how quick the car was. I realize both cars look alike and resemble each other, but realistically when you drive it you'll feel the difference. Myself, my fiance and various passengers who wanted a ride were all shocked at how brutally fast this car was.

Suspension wise, this car is much stiffer than the IS350. This is what I was looking for in a performance car. The IS350's suspension was way to soft and was geared more for luxury than performance. Any review out there like Edmunds who says Lexus should have made the suspension less firm and was complaining that the engineers who designed the IS-F should think about others are idiots. The IS-F is a speciality car. It was designed for people who drive aggressively or people who want to have track days. If you really are worried about the sports suspension, Lexus has other Luxury cars that you'll be more than happy driving in. When I say the car is firm, I mean it's firmer than the normal car suspensions. I can tell you that this is much softer and more forgiving than my coilovers that I had on my 350Z.

The only thing that you'll lose in the IS-F vs the IS350 is the 3rd seat in the back. I realize that Lexus wanted to redesign the back seats for a more sporty feeling, but I wish instead of the plastic with the 'F' logo in it that it would have a continuation of leather.

But yes, despite how nice the car is, I wouldn't have bought it without a test drive. If you're going to spend that much, you want to make sure you like it. I didn't have any obligation or deposit I had to make before I test drove mine. I can understand if the dealership wants you to leave a refundable deposit to show your sincerity in the car.

In the end though for all those considering, I love the F car. When you do go for a drive, put it in 'Sport' mode. The shifting is much more responsive. As for gas consumption, on the highway for a long drive I was able to get just over 300 miles on moderate and sometimes sporty driving but more on the moderate side. For city/i don't care about fuel economy attitude I got about 200 miles.

Good luck with your decisions!

Pictures of mine are on my web site.
MOTION-STUDIOS.NET

I8ABMR

just wait a year or so for the hype to dye down ( and for the bugs to discovered) then you will be able to walk in and have them kiss your *** and beg you to take a test drive like they sjould. I hate dealing with car salesmen who treat you like you are lucky to be buying the car.to be honest thats why I bought an infiniti first. Bec the lexus sales people in my arae are jerks

chikken

I had to put down a refundable down payment before i could test drive it. they didn't have a demo, understandable because its a new product.....I wouldn't want buy a new car knowing that someother guy just took it out for test drive and who knows what he did on the test run.....if you are serious about getting the car, just tell them you'll make a down payment, that way they know you are serious. Besides, its refundable if you don't like the car, just get your money back. I ended up with the car...

sincityIS

I would not let them insult me like that, put down a deposit first. For Gods sake it is a 60K car it is not a Lamborghini. Hell they sell a 90K LS460 do they expect people to buy that without first driving it.
My local dealer tried to get me to test drive a new one they had, but I declined because I am not ready to pull the trigger, I didn't want to jerk myself off.

Namir

Lexus has always been pretty good to my family. I get treated like garbage every time I step into a BMW store because we don't own any BMW's. They wouldn't let me test drive a 135 this weekend, even though they clearly had 2 demo cars... one that just got back from a test drive. When I asked about the M3 I was told to come back later in the week. I left the dealership and went to my Lexus dealer who took me for a ride in a new IS-F and then let me drive it (even though it was only about half a mile near the dealership).

I have always known Lexus to be good with pleasing their customers..... unlike certain other brands.

Sorry to hear they gave you a hard time, hopefully you end up getting the car you want.