Did anyone lease or buy a 3IS 250 and drive it for a few years and recently upgrade to a 3IS 350?

curious to hear your impressions after driving the 250 for years and now having some long term time with a 350.

its easy to get excited on a test drive. Curious to hear from those who have spent time in both daily driving, mostly those who made the long term 250 to 350 switch as mentioned above.

 

I didn't upgrade from 250 ->350. But, I have driven the 250 on road trip (friend's car). And I own a 350.

What I find is that the 250 is more smooth than the 200t, but not as smooth and powerful as the 350 for sure. Long term wise, I hear ppl complain about the carbon build up in the 250, but the 350 does not have that issue. You might see better fuel economy with the 250 vs. the 350. But its marginal.

For reference, my 350 in eco mode, gets an avg 24-25 MPG combined. But I do 90%HWY/10%city.

 

i own a 250 and was contemplating trading it in several months ago but would have taken a serious financial loss doing so and so i didn't (i even created a thread about it where forum members helped me along in my financial thoughts). i do still think about it now and again, but mostly am happy with the 250; i can't imagine paying for a car well into the next generation's model. i'd rather pay this car off and then think about what to purchase next, e.g., the next iteration of the IS.

 

I leased a 250 F Sport in 2014 and liked the car a lot, but it was slow. I turned it in at the end of 27 months and got an IS350 F Sport. I love everything about the 350. It is very smooth, but has 50% more power. I sometimes drive it in economy mode, but I also enjoy Sport +. For me, it is absolutely worth it to get the 350.

 

I went from the 2nd gen 250 to a 3is 350 but there a big difference in power of course. But if i would do it again.. I would get a M3. Im tired of crying every night in my sleep from getting smoke from all these M3. T.T

 

The IS350 is slow. I wouldn't get the 350 and expect it to be fast. The worst thing about the IS is its gearing and weight. 300 hp isn't enough to overcome those two things.

 

It's a little faster than the 328 at a cheaper price. You get what you pay for. But besides the 340 and S4 and Q50 RS, the whole segment is slow.

 

I agree, the 340 will be next car when this lease is up.

 

The is350 isn't slow. For those that believe it is, might I suggest dodge and Chevy?

 

I disagree. The car is slow. The weight and the gearing absolutely kill this car. First gear is far too tall for any decent launch off the line and second gear is too tall to get a good push out of a corner. My old Focus ST was faster in these situations by a large margin than my IS350 awd fsport. Stomp on the gas at 25-30 to pass a slow driver? Great.... it will lug second gear. The by product of the poor gearing is that it "FEELS" slower than it is. And even with this tall gearing it STILL gets crap gas mileage.

 

Try using the paddles to shift. Don't just stomp the peddle. If I'm in traffic and I don't intend to Cadillac around, I switch to sport mode and keep my revs high. As soon as I see an opening to pass, or switch lanes, I downshift and hit it. Never feel slow or sluggish...

 

Oh come on, I use the paddles, I'm always in sport plus and I usually turn traction control off completely. It doesn't change the fact that second gear ends up at 70mph or so and first gear can't get it off the line at a decent clip.

Face it, the Lexus is is getting left in the dust by its competitors and there is no hope in sight with the next generation IS. Even The old is300 is faster than the is350 because of the pathetic final drive ratio.

 

Why did you even buy the car then? Wait you leased it, even more commitment. Did you notice this after the test drive? You sound like a really bad troll.

 

Sounds like its time for the Camarro bud.

-Matt

 

"Slow" is subjective. Current IS350 handles way better than competition, others will be slower on track.