"Witnessing an IS 350 burn out was a once in a lifetime demonstration of the potency of its 306-horsepower V6, with all of its governing electronics secretly disengaged by its chief engineer. (Photo: Justin Couture, Canadian Auto Press)"

What the F***? That's like a slap in the face.

Again, no sale until I can disable things, why should FUN driving be limited to lexus engineers only?

 

for the pits sake, why the heck do you get out of your chair and test drive the darn thing. I bet you wont even know it is there while doing your best to turn it on.

Or do you usually drive from your chair as well? :-).

 

Everyone is very tired of all the "Johnny-come-lately's" out there just learning, er complaining, about VDIM.

Move On!

 

Because they can do it. They don't want the average Joe Schmoe to do the same thing to the car then some smart guy pulls a lawsuit on Lexus saying, the car didn't do what it was supposed to do...save the occupants life in a real-world driving situation. Think along the lines of the stupid Hot Coffee McDonalds lawsuit. Not everyone in the world is a professional race car driver even though they claim to be in a cone filled parking lot. Drive the car for yourself and experiencing it. It's too easy to over-analyze what most media puts out. For what it's worth drive it yourself. Don't rely on magazine testing to finalize your decision. It's kinda silly to say..."oh i didn't buy the car because X Magazine said so". No offense but I'm a Business Econ major myself...what does that have anything to do with this? Ask yourself the same..."What does being an engineer have anything to do with what you read through data on paper and what you've experienced in a real world trial? Again, drive it for yourself and make a real personal assessment. You'll have a better idea in what you like and dislike about the car instead of magazine racing.

 

Looks that way:


"Witnessing an IS 350 burn out was a once in a lifetime demonstration of the potency of its 306-horsepower V6, with all of its governing electronics secretly disengaged by its chief engineer." (Photo: Justin Couture, Canadian Auto Press)

 

I totally agree. You have to drive it yourself.

If I didn't know (by reading every article during the past several months) that my IS350 has VDIM, I would never have known. I had an IS300 and really loved the handling, but I love my IS350 even more. I have driven it rather aggressively at times and have not been disappointed.

 

Same here - at the Taste of Lexus event I drove the IS350 pretty aggressively (enought to set off the PCS and seatbelt tensioner non-stop) and I did not notice the VDIM kicking in at all (perhaps it did so subtly). If I had driven my old IS300 or my current G35 6MT in the same way the TRAC and VSC respectively would have been going bananas.

 

Its funny cuz there are two kinds of people on hwere of what they think "agressive driving means".

Some people think agressive driving is just going through your ordinary turn a bit faster. So these people wouldnt even know VDIM is there or not and these people arent complaining.

But the people that ACTUALLY drive agressively once in a while they are the wants that want to power slide into or out of a turn. Simi drift the car, etc. These are the people complaining about VDIM not being able to turn it off.

I personally would like a "VDIM Off Button". Why pay $40k+ for a car that has all these restrictions?? Isnt it called a "SPORTS SEDAN" With VDIM always activated the word SPORTS doesnt have no meaning.

Its like buying a Porsche Twin Turbo that has Traction Control always on. Come on now.

 

When VDIM is active, do you hear the beeping noise that you did when VSC became active in pre-VDIM cars?

 

No because VDIM operates other of the control features other than VSC. VDIM is not a function that will beep at you. But when VSC is triggered, yes there is the usual audible beep.

 

Lexus has demonstrated that the car can drift with all 4 wheels. I've managed with 2 wheels. And note in the macleans article that if you drive it correctly in an aggressive manner, the vdim won't interfere. that's actually one of the best reviews i've yet seen. but again, drive it yourself.

 

that allowances were made for enthusiast drivers to allow slip etc. with the new VDIM on the IS350. When I drove it at the Taste of Lexus event there was a water hazard and then an avoidance maneuver and the VDIM was helpful and didn't spoil the party at all. Everyone has their own tastes yet it would be a good idea to test drive something before complaining about its handling etc. Unfortunately there will be very few IS350's in circulation as the production is minute. I am impressed with the new VDIM and consider it equal to the change from "pumping the brakes" to ABS. Lexus will sell every IS350 it produces and there will be a clamour for a manual shift and an all wheel drive too.

 

Your analysis is spot on.

If you want to drive your IS the fastest around a track, then VDIM can probably help.

If you want to "play" with your car, then it can be one more thing to get in your way.

But in the end, its all personal preference.

 

Exactly, thomas is right on, "aggressive" driving is subjective.

Now, what the lexus engineer is doing with the car in those pics IS aggressive driving, and you CANNOT do it with VDIM. That much I know WITHOUT even driving it. I've also got a feeling it will get in the way for me during aggressive turns. Not being able to hang out the rear of a RWD car is pretty sad, I've been doing that since I was 16.

As for the mention of lawsuits, few cars have these safeteys, you think a chevy,gm,bmw forces you to be safe? Theres a much larger number of cars you can freely drive aggressively with on the roads then cars you can't. The lawsuit thing is a moot point. Lexus clearly did it because they think they are still designing cars for old people (everyone i see driving an LS is over 50) when their target audience for the IS was supposed to be 20s and 30s, they have some mis-conceptions in their development team and need to focus on appealing to their target market.