juvi22003

iTrader: (2)

FT86 / FR-s will be out soon

iRock

iTrader: (12)

Maybe the weight of the cars? I don't know how much either weighs.

Jeff Lange

iTrader: (1)

Yeah the new engine in the new 328i is quite impressive.

Jeff

projectdna

iTrader: (56)

"benchmark drag racing" - or in this case, benchmark "comparing" - is typically an exercise in futility, since it doesn't take into consideration real-world/everyday factors.

don't get suckered into making a relatively long-term purchase based on benchmark numbers. own the car long enough, and in a few model years the next-generation cars in its class will have gotten faster and more fuel-efficient, making your original comparison irrelevant.

test drive both, and find out which one is best for you, both on-the-spot and several years down the road.

Haris75

It does look quite beastly, but no way I'm taking the bus until I wait for it's release :P

dmvp29

The cost of a new 328i is comparable to that of a new IS350. Where is Kurtz? He's made this point a couple of times before.

dmvp29

The IS350 comes with certain features standard that the 328i does not come with. When you take all of that into account, I'm pretty sure a 328i costs as much if not more than a comparably equipped IS350.

dmvp29

Here it is I found it. Kurtz made the following post in another topic:

"Just checked 2012 pricing:

IS350 with Lux with 18s, nav and park sensors-$43,503 invoice, $46,590 MSRP

328i optioned to match the 350 (have to add: Luxury Line, Parking package, premium pkg, sat radio, heated seats, paddle shifters, xenon headlights, and technology package)- $43,990 invoice, $47,845 MSRP


And the 350 still adds vented seats, power rear sunshade, and a few other things the BMW lacks...

But either way, the 350 embarrasses the 328 performance wise, and it's cheaper and far nicer inside.

I can't image why anyone buys a 328.... (even moreso the pre-2012 iteration that had even less power)


FWIW- $47,890 invoice and $52,045 for the 2012 335i similarly optioned... so now the 335 is "only" 4-5 grand more instead of 9."

Haris75

I understand this, however the IS 350 will cost me about $1000 more per year for gas, granted that the prices don't increase (which they probably will)

dmvp29

$1000 more per year? The IS350 pulls 21/27 compared to the 328i's 24/36. At first glance it's hard to see how you'd possibly be paying $1000 more per year when the difference in city mileage is so small (+3 MPG). The highway mileage figure is more substantial. 27 MPG is a very fair estimate for MPG if you drove at highway speeds 90%+ of the time.

How many miles do you drive annually, and how many of those are "highway" miles?

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

OP, why is there no discussion of purchase price here? You're so hung up on fuel costs that you seem to entirely neglect the outright price of the car. You're comparing the 328i and the IS250, yet you don't bring up their prices when comparably equipped. When you do that exercise (see a few posts above), I think you'll find the 328i is much more expensive and is closer to (or higher than) the price of a comparably equipped IS350, which will give you even better power and performance than the 328i (at not much of a fuel economy disadvantage). Price is essential to any comparison like this - I could lament how the GT-R provides so much more power and performance than the FR-S, but that would be silly because there's a huge price difference.

Also, you're comparing apples to oranges here, in that the 2012 328i was just completely redesigned with a new engine. The 2012 IS250 was just a model year refresh, no big powertrain changes. Comparing the 2013 IS250 (which will certainly boast better fuel economy and likely power/performance) to the 2012 328i would be a more even comparison.

Finally, your fuel economy numbers for the 328i are out of date: http://www.bmwblog.com/2012/03/21/bm...omy-to-33-mpg/. The numbers should actually be:

MPG City/Highway
IS250: 21 / 30
328i: 23 / 33

Those numbers are extremely close, and keep in mind the above, that the 328i has an entirely new powertrain, whereas the IS250's has been largely unchanged since 2006.

syzygy

Ok let's take the best case scenario (favoring the 328i) and say you drive nothing but highway miles. The IS350 gets 27 MPG and the 328i gets 33 MPG (as per Calvin's post). The highway numbers favor the 328i in this type of analysis because the difference here is the largest (net +6 MPG for the 328i compared to only a net +2 MPG benefit if we look at city mileage).

The IS350 gets 27 MPG. Let's say you drive X miles/year. (X miles/year)*(1 gallon/27 miles) = (X/27) gallons per year for the IS350.

Similarly, for the 328i (33 MPG), you'll need (X/33) gallons per year.

Let's say gas costs $4/gallon. (X/27 gallons) * ($4/gallon) = 4X/27 dollars per year in gas for the IS350. Similarly, you'll be paying 4X/33 dollars per year in gas for the 328i.

The claim here is that you'll be paying an extra $1000 annually if you went with the IS350 over the 328i. In other words, you're claiming that the +6 MPG difference (only +2 for city miles, but I'm ignoring that and trying to make the 328i look as good as possible) is enough to mitigate that $1000 cost. So the question is, how many miles would you have to drive per year (X) such that the difference in annual gas costs [(4X/27) - (4X/33)] equals $1000?

[(4X/27) - (4X/33)] = $1000
Do the simple algebra, and you end up with X = 37125. If you drive 37125 annual highway miles every year, then yes, the IS350 will cost you $1000 more per year in gas prices. Bear in mind that this is a really conservative and unrealistic estimate because I'm only looking at highway mileage (where the 328i has the biggest advantage).

For a reasonable mix of city/highway, I wouldn't be surprised if you needed more like 45 or 50k miles annually (mix of highway/city) to end up with a $1000 annual cost of gas difference.

Of course, I don't know your driving schedule. It may very well be the case that you routinely drive > 100 miles per day (all highway) or > ~120-140 miles per day (city/highway)

You'd have to be driving at bare minimum > 100 miles per day (7 days/week) for your "$1000" claim to make sense.

RocketGuy3

iTrader: (1)

You're comparing brand new tech (328i) to 6.5-year-old tech (ISx50). That, plus, as others have said, a turbo'd I4 will generally give better fuel economy than a similarly rated NA V6.

But yeah, a lot of new powertrains these days are pretty impressive. The 328i is just one such example. I'm pretty hopeful for what Lexus will give us in the next gen IS.


Why are you comparing the 350 to the 328i? You realize the OP is asking about the 250, right?

And if you're going to compare to the 350, you have to take into account that the 350 is faster.

Jeff Lange

iTrader: (1)

I think it was because the 350 is closer in price to the 328.

Jeff

edgeucated

iTrader: (4)

To sum up this thread and answer your question:

The is250 is slow because it is underpowered compared to its competition and its quite heavy, around 3400 pounds. This disadvantage is even greater when you compare the 6 year old is250 to the brand new 328i.

Now about your money situation. Yes, the bmw will give you better gas mileage, but only very marginally. As corrected by previous posters, your mpg ratings are quite out of date. However, you forgot to factor in cost of each car. The IS250 comes much better equip than the 328i while still being much cheaper; like 6k cheaper. That 6k price difference will cover the small mpg gain by the bmw for 8 years.

So in reality, the is250 is cheaper and more reliable, while the 328i is newer, faster, and costs a lot more. If i were you, i would go buy a beater for less than 2k and drive it around until the new is250 comes out.