Thank you everyone. I've been reading this forum for a little while now. Even before I bought my car. Just to learn as much as I can to make an educated decision.

My dilemma was, I loved my hondas. Never owned anything other than a honda. My TL-Type S was awesome, but honda transmissions just aren't very well built. That's just my personal opinion. When deciding on this purchase, I really had my heart set on a 04-08 Acura TL. And I wanted a White one. IT HAD TO BE WHITE!! I found some TLs, but they were high mileage (lowest i found was 56K on 08 TL). And i sat in them, I wasn't that impressed with the interior, I thought it would be better than that.

Anyway, then I saw this IS sitting in the same lot, thought I'd give it a go. Test drove it, sat in it, played with it, pushed every button, smelled the leather, and kind of just fell in love with the car. Between the 08 TL and my IS, these are some of the pros and cons.

08 Acura TL

Pro - more power
Pro - i like the exterior styling on the TL a tad more
Pro - head lights and side markers are my favorite touches
Pro - more room

Con - FWD
Con - Handling is a little sluggish
Con - Butterfly key (i personally think this is a little played out)
Con - No standard foglights
Con - Gauge cluster not as attractive
Con - Friends' TLs have all lost Bluetooth capabilities (coincidence?)
Con - Honda transmission
Con - Leather not as nice
Con - Interior styling kind of outdated
Con - Seats weren't as comfortable as IS (still quite nice though)

08 IS 250

Pro - Very Comfortable
Pro - Quality interior
Pro - Gauge cluster is simple yet very elegant
Pro - Oem wheens are better looking (i dont plan on changing them)
Pro - RWD
Pro - Less road noise
Pro - Transmission is buttery smooth
Pro - Oem Foglights
Pro - Handles pretty awesome to me (personal taste)
Pro - Paint color, my Grey IS is 10 times better looking than the grey TLs.
Pro - SMART KEY!!!!!!!
I could go on..

Con - Limited rear space (i can live with this, but it is useful)
Con - No rear folding seats
Con - Headlights aren't that great.
Con - Staggered tires, no rotations.

Overall, I felt that I was getting more for the money with the IS250. Love love love, my interior. I still have the new car smell, she's only seen 28315 miles before me. Practically new. I really wanted the white one, but I think the grey is pretty sexy. Not regretting the decision for this at all.

I spent last Saturday washing, then went over the whole car with clay bar, then waxed it. Today it rained....

Some more pictures.

Day I brought the car home.


Beautiful Paint


Cleaned up

 

Nice...I just got mine recently too...coming from a 2GS and I'm actually loving the IS with the exception of it being a bit small in the back

 

Very good explanition.....

 

welcome and congrats!!

 

What's on your mind to do first?
More tint if you really love the leather. Specially in TX.

 

^ im curious too! Whyd you choose the lexus over TL? I'd love to drive an Acura TLS
Its always been my all time favorite!

 

Welcome! super clean!


Con - FWD
Con - Handling is a little sluggish
Con - Butterfly key (i personally think this is a little played out)
Con - No standard foglights
Con - Gauge cluster not as attractive
Con - Friends' TLs have all lost Bluetooth capabilities (coincidence?)
Con - Honda transmission
Con - Leather not as nice
Con - Interior styling kind of outdated
Con - Seats weren't as comfortable as IS (still quite nice though)

I totally agree! I bet my friend that traded in his TL feel the same way. He upgraded to an 09' A6.

 

I am an old guy but appreciate all the advice i can get from anybody on the forum.
Reading through the postings i feel that i should have joined long time ago and it would have saved me lots of money and time.
I am driving Lexus since 2002, after being unhappy up with some German brand. Our first Lexus was a IS 300 for my wife and a RX 300 for me. We traded both for a IS 350 and RX 350 and two weeks ago i traded the 07 IS 350 for a 2010 IS250 .
I ordered right away the LED conversion headlights from Sewell but have some problems to make the so called "plug and play " fit on my bumper brackets.
But with your advice we will prevail.

Thanks and Hello again

 

Congrats and welcome!

 

nice decision,welcome to the club!

 

Believe me, it was no easy decision. I lost sleep over it. I'm quite a loyal Honda driver, but it just didn't make sense for me to buy a vehicle strictly on exterior styling. That's what we do when we're in high school. Get a car that looks good outside, even if you had to roll the windows down manually and there was no AC. As long as it looked good. TL-S is probably a pretty sweet ride, I've only driven the non S models. There were some things I didn't like:

- TL-S has the aggressive styling that I don't care for. (I prefer simple styling on base model)
- Red Gauges (too boy racer for me, note - i said for ME, not trying to offend anyone else)
- Leather seats still not as nice as my IS.
- Interior had little differences from base TL, really just the "carbon fiber" panels.
- Wheels were nice on the TL-S though.
- Poor color selection with TLs. (every IS color is beautiful to me)

I'm not a fast driver AT ALL. During my younger years I've spent too much money on the S2000, and paying off too many speeding tickets. I'm 28 now, and just like to drive normal. That's all relative I guess. Normal to me is on the limit. I haven't even gone past 75 in the Lexus. My Valentine One is sitting in my tool drawer, I have no need for it these days. Power being a minor factor, it gave reason not to even look for an IS350. I'm looking for a SMOOTH vehicle, that has all the creature comforts that I wanted for personal enjoyment, with good handling. For my driving habit, the Lexus met and exceeded all criterias.

The TL/TL-S are very nice vehicles. I actually prefer the 4th gen TLs over the new 5th gen. ones. I think Honda hasn't done as good a job in the styling department as they have in the past. The 2nd gen. IS is a very attractive vehicle, inside out. I haven't found anything to complain about other than the headlights being somewhat poor. But there's a fix for that.

 

Can you guys believe the previous owner did not drill holes for the license plate? Man, am I glad about that. What a clean bumper. Why would you want to deface it with screws? There are alternatives.

I know the major of the members mod their cars. I have no plans for any performance enhancing toys. But this weekend I will start the process of laying a mold for a fiberglass corner box. Even though I'm very satisfied with the oem sound system (non ML), it could use a little extra bass to fill in some of those low notes. These are the only plans I have:

- 10" subwoofer.
- Fog Lights changed to yellow bulbs and/or yellow film (need to do more research).
- Ipod integration