Tang98

Personally. I would get the F. But a 416 horsepower rear wheel drive car in the snow.... that's gonna be difficult during the winter.

Evil Teo

iTrader: (13)

I would get the F as it is going to be more rare as they discontinue it. Also if you are driving it in the winter, get some winter tires and you will be fine. I drive mines in the winter with snow tires. Blizzaks FTW!!!

Boma

iTrader: (4)

Driving in the snow and ice is not as bad as it sounds. With all season tires and snow mode you're good to go. As long as you don't do some idiot move like punching it everywhere you'll be ok. I would be more worried about the salt and other gunk from the roads.

I agree with the others, you will never regret going with the ISF. Not only does it have the performance, the MPG is actually really decent. For maintenance all you need to do are oil changes, wipers, tires, brakes pads and rotors every other blue moon. And like VJ said you'll be getting looks everywhere.

JDMV8

iTrader: (6)

Both are nice cars, no doubt. There is one vital difference between both cars: you don't want to ever get to your destination when driving an ISF

robertrios

iTrader: (11)

ISF>350 I could trade in my ISF for a brand new 350 with the new body style and still dont because once you go fast its hard to go back. Honestly most people cannot tell the difference in the IS models between 08-13 and then alot of people cannot tell the difference between an is250-ISF. Now I am strictly talking about non car people. Its really up to what you want, for me I got my 08 and extended the warranty by 4 years so I got the best of both worlds kind of.

Axle1

Thanks so much everyone for the input. It helps a lot knowing that there are some of you buying these cars/driving them with higher miles. I inquired about a white 08 F with 60k miles yesterday that's 300ish miles from me. I'm hopeful we can work something out with my trade-in!

Axle1

Do you recall the cost of the extended warranty? This is definitely something I would want to do.

tgui

I have a set of blizzaks in the garage mounted on wheels. Winter is fine.

Don't do something you resent later on. I had a new WRX for 10 months. Then I traded in for a new STi. Stupid money wise but I had a great 6 years in that damned car. Those could have been 6 lousy years

Going for a decade in the ISF!

VtotheJ

iTrader: (2)

I think it's about 1800 to extend 4 more years and total 75k miles. Check this thread for details on who to contact, you don't want to go through the Lexus website.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...ere-first.html

melbitoast

iTrader: (1)

Axle, my question to you is, what are you looking for in your daily driver?

There are pros and cons to both cars. I've driven both, and I can tell you I won't move back down unless I HAVE to. Literally, EVERY TIME I start my car, I smile and I'm happy. The sound is intoxicating. I've had my F for 3 years and almost 50k miles, and I never get tired of it.
Every morning on my way to work I have to merge onto a highway with a 75 mph speed limit. That means I get to punch it just a bit every morning and hear that 2-stage intake open up. The roar just makes you feel better.

In the 350, you'll may smile every few days whenever you have to get gas. But in the F, you'll smile several times a day.

sydtoosic

08 isf ftw... Exclusivity.

Axle1

Thanks for the link!

In my daily driver, I want: reliability, uniqueness, fun.. in that order.
If an 08 60k mile F is going to be reliable for me (which it seems it will be), then I think I will go that route in the end. I would like to smile daily My current joy on the way to work is getting on the TT and hearing the little baby turbo spool up. Thanks for your input!

That.. and I see a lot of middle aged women driving 350s.. I'd like to think I have a few years before I reach that point.

Weapon F

Here my 2 cents I use to own SFP 08' Is350 it had F-sport suspension, sway bars, intake and exhaust it was fun quick car, decent speed consistent 13.4 and 13.5 on factory tires at Englishtown, handling was ok, didn't like steer feel at all. Even with all F-sport parts 350 is NO way near anything like ISF power, sound, and handling night and day difference between these two. The 350 was my DD then and my ISF is my DD now, I drive 180 miles week with no issue whatsoever.


As far VJ's comments about getting bored if you drive it every day, have to disagree with you on this one VJ your still my bro lol. It all depends on your drive style, if you drive it like old lady keep it in auto mode most time and only occasionally putting it in manual sport mode then yea you may get bored with it. I drive my F in manual, sport mode on with Trac/VSC off and will engage Trac/VSC on only when road conditions warrant it ie rain,snow,fog,heavy morning dew etc. If you're like me and perhaps little more aggressive in your driving style you will find lexus direct shift transmission very engaging. Learning your cars sweet spot when shifting every car little different, looking for the perfect line if you have any twisty roads on your commute, taking advantage of those days when traffic maybe light and you can push car a little harder than normal, look for those back roads that you might be able to take to work I have 4 different ways to get work and home there all different.

Don't get caught up with romanticism of heel and tow stuff yes it can be satisfying when getting down that perfect shift and feeling shifter glide into next gear I get it, every sports car I have ever owned was manuel until 350 and now F but it's not so great when you're stuck in stop and go traffic or any sort of traffic for that matter and there those time when your just plain tired and it nice to have that option to shift into auto mode. Manuel in weekend only type car, track events, sunday drives, etc yea know problem in daily driver with 200 mile commute per week maybe not so much.

So if you're more of enthusiast and looking for fun fast DD that's handles well, sound great, is unique car not often seen, is very reliable something that you will enjoy owning for few years go for IS-F. I went for F and have never once looked back only thing I miss from 350 is color StarPearl. Good luck and hope this helps sorry for long post.

My current 2011 USB ISF

melbitoast

iTrader: (1)

I switched your bolded/underlined statement b/c you've got reliability with either car. You know what the answer is now.

COisF

iTrader: (2)

Just to make a quick comment on the gas mileage bit...

From what I noticed on fueleconomy.gov concerning the is350 AWD, you would be lucky to average 20-21 mpg around town and probably 25-26 on the interstate. I have been watching my gas mileage closely in the F and the lowest I have averaged in the last 9 fill-ups was 20.6 mpg (all in-town driving with an occasionally sprint). I saw between 23.5 and 26 with one fill-up averaging almost 28 mpg of interstate driving