We all know that the IS 250 is a slow car. But won't there be plenty of mods available to put in the 250 to get it run much faster (along the lines of a 330i or a G35 sedan?

I debating this IS 250 v.s. the 325i. The interior of the Lexus is something that I crave but the power of the 325i (which isn't much to begin with) is a big plus. The downside to the BMW is that you can't mod a bimmer because those engines are already tuned to max capacity (from what I have heard). So is my thinking correct in thinking that I can take a hit with the IS 250 for 6 months or so until 3rd party mods come out and then get it running real well?

Thoughts?

 

Hm, might be a little early to speculate on this sort of thing. N/A engines usually require more than bolt-ons to get any huge gains in power. I really don't think that it's going to be very easy to get an IS250 under mid 15's in the 1/4, which is still pretty slow. I don't even know that it will be possible to get it anywehere near a 330i or G35 sedan. They both run mid 14's stock. That's going to take some serious doin', and at that point you *might* just be better off getting an IS350.

 

I would but I want a manual and the 250 is the only manual option I have.

0-60 in 8 seconds...I would call that slow.

 

Actually, the 325i is the same as the 330i with a de-tunned 3.0l engine. In order to meet ULEV requirements, they had to do it with the new aluminum-magnesium block.

From all that I have read from BMW and the various web sites, the ONLY differnces between the 330i and 325i in terms of HP are :

1. Engine mapping (which would be easy to change)
2. Multi-Stage intake - 330i
3. Lower restriction exhaust -330i (from BMWNA site only)

So if you only re-map the engine, they should be an extra 25-35hp (the intake and exhaust are probably 10Hp together).

Also, some have looked up part numbers to confirm other items are identicle, but have found that the driveshaft diameter is larger on the 330i, transmission is a different part number (maybe different drive ratios, some have said that the 325 is geared a little more agressively).

Fuel economy is same for 325 vs 330

In terms of modding the IS250, it would be a bit harder since the displacement is not the same as is the 325 vs 330.

 

I dont know how much room to tweak there will be in the IS250, it already runs a higher compression than the 350 at 12:1. Maybe a little ECU reprogram and a K and N filter setup would help short of re-doing the exhaust system.
If you are that worried about tuning it, go with the 350 and let it be stock. There are tons of gadgets in these new Lexus's, personally it would worry me to be messing with all of that.

 

people who drove 250 didnt think it was that slow... It was clocked in 7.xx 0-60...

if you are concerned that much, rather spend few $ and get IS350. There is no way any mod short of turbo will be able to do anything similar to IS350 numbers and in that case it will be a lot more expensive than IS350...

 

It's not really that the 250 is slow, it's just that 7.xx 0-60 isn't fast enough for a mid-30k "sport" sedan.

 

Actually I do think it is slow. That is just my opinion though. It may be just me, but I've been driving old cars that had a 7.xx 0-60 time since the early 90s and at that time I thought it was mid pack and average. People say it doesn't matter in the real world, but even my SC400 that is low 7.XX second 0-60 range IMHO sometimes has a hard time getting up to freeway speeds quickly. Personally, I think for any car aside from your pure economy Civic and Corolla type cars you need at least low do mid 7.XX times. Lexus says it is a 8.0 time car and probably is a little faster, and that is pretty slow when the 4 cylinder TSX is a low 7 second car and even a Honda Civic like the Si is nearly a second faster. Two weeks ago my rental car was a 05 Camry LE that I believe has mid to upper 7 second 0-60 range. I put over 600 miles on it in 4 days driving between Las Vegas and the LA area and boy was that car slow. But like I said, that is just my opnion and my style and taste in cars. To me, the IS350 is where it is at.

 

I think it's slow too, and the more I read about it the more depressed I am that it *looks* like it will be in the 35k range. There are luxury sedans that will do 0-60 in the low 6's and 1/4 miles in the low 14's for that price.

 

Its a little early to speculate, but i don't think bolt ons are going to give you that much more power. Just like the current IS, the bolt on NA parts only give you a handfull of horsepower.

Throw in direct injection and a lot more computer involvement, and there may be some more roadblocks.

And you can probably forget about boosting it for a while. 12:1 compression + aluminum block + direct injection = really hard to boost. With direct injection, the fuel injectors are in the cylinders, which means they have to now be able to withstand the pressure from FI as well. I'm sure it will be done in time, but I'd be surprised if it were anytime soon. For a reliable kit anyway.

(I'm hoping someone will prove me wrong)

 

i am not sure just how "slow" the 250 is, but i don't think it will be that slow for any normal person. i'd figure an auto one will probabyl do about tsx 6mt type speed. the 5AT tsx is pretty slow.

i suppose some people have a point about the passiing on freeway speeds, but it just depends what you are used to .

case in point. i used to have a 2001 altima. did 0-60 in maybe 9 seconds. i didnt think that was too bad on the freeway.

anyways, after that i bought a 2005 g35 coupe. 0-60 in like 6 seconds . now that i'm used to it, i 'm pretty sure 0-60 in 9 seconds feels slow.

anyhow, the g35 is in the shop (some asshat, backed into it , hit and run too...) and i'm borrowing a 1996 camry v6. probably 0-60 in 8.5 or so.

and yes.. 8.5 is pretty slow. but you can easily drive with it, you just cant drive it like say a g35 or an is350. no zooming by people in this. i could barely keep up with my coworkers 2005 corolla in the camry.

i figure a 0-60 in the 7.5 range would be plenty. i mean, most of its competitors in automatic (and lets not kid ourselves, barely anyone will buy a manual is250) are probably slower anyway. like i said non manuals. i don't know, i live in LA, and barely anyonje would buy a manual sedan here, it would just be pointless. in auto, the c250, tsx, a4 2.0t, are probably slower than the 250, as well as tons of other cars. sure you wuoldnt be fastest on the freeway, but most cars arent, i dont think it'd be "too slow"

 

I mentioned above I too think the 7.5 second range would be okay. Problem is, Lexus claims 8 seconds for the manual IS250 and higher for the AWD version. All the cars you mentioned are faster thus far. Maybe only the Mercedes C230 at 8 seconds would be about even. A4 is lower to mid 7 second range. Even the 4 cylnder TSX in automatic trim is a lower 7 second range (Tested in the 7.3 second range) and the manuals are about 0.5 second faster, although I believe the claimed manufacturers specs is still about 7-7.2 second range. The 2006 TSX gets a bump in HP to 205 with the new SAE standard, so that is practially a 10-12 HP increase over the 2005 TSX. Anyway, I know 0-60 only tells a small portion on how the car drives, but so far from experience it is a good indicator on how the car performs in the real world. Gearing and things can change things up a bit though. IMHO, the IS250 so far from what we know by its specs is definately drivable and most people will have no problems driving it. But for the rest of us it is unfortunately too slow. Even the Honda Accord is over a full second faster to 60. The reality of today is even the Civic is about on par with the IS250 performance wise the the Civic Si out performs it for about $20K. Now, I'm just talking performace here and not the over all car and interior and such.

 

Lexus Switzerland said the IS250 M/T will do the 100 km/h (or 62mph) in 7.6 seconds and that's not slow IMO. OK, it's not a rocket like the IS350 but it's faster than my current IS300 SportCross - and it's a smaller engine AND there's a manual transmission . I'm very satisfied with my IS300 in terms of acceleration.

I don't buy a Lexus over the acceleration or horse power number - if I would, I rather would go for another brand.

 

As good as the IS350 is, it is the IS250 that will be bringing in the bulk of the sales for lexus. I think the IS250 is underpowered for the market segment that it will be competing in. I am predicting that lexus will have to quicky upgrade the engine or introduce aggresive financing options if they hope to maintain their sales target through to the next model year.

 

The current IS300 manual does 0-60 in 6.8 seconds. The e-shift does 7.3. And the IS300 was already considered an underpowered car by many. If the 8 second 0-60 of the IS250 is any indication, then I would agree that it is going to have a hard time keeping up with the competition. Sure it will be drivable, and yes, that is decent power/accelleration for the "normal" person, but in terms of this market segment, things are getting more competitive. The IS250's saving grace, however, is its excellent gas milage, especially with the gas prices these days.

And yes, I know most people don't look at accelleration or horsepower numbers as high priority items when shopping for a Lexus, but this is lexus's SPORT sedan, so those things SHOULD be high priority in this car. If you are looking for a cushy luxo-cruiser with "normal person" decent accelleration, then the ES is for you. The IS should have more oomph. IMHO

I'll reserve final judgement until after I drive it, of course. But the the information I know now, the interesting part of the game will be where Lexus decides to price the 250.