Good afternoon all! I recently got to take part in a very enjoyable event that BMW holds every time it comes out with a new vehicle, the Ultimate Driving Experience. The following are my thoughts, in case they're of any value to fellow Lexus drivers.

A little backstory: I've had 2 Hondas, 4 BMWs, and one Lexus. I thought I'd be a BMW guy for life (not the douchey kind, but just because I love what they stood for), until I walked into the local Lexus dealer a little over a year ago, to look for someone else, and ended up walking out with a brand new 2016 IS350 F Sport.

What the UDE is: Basically, a 2 hour session with seasoned racing drivers that take a group of people around an autocross track, teach them the ways of the crossing of auto, and then do one timed lap following quite a few previous ones. Amenities abound, including complimentary food trucks, snacks, and refreshments, and at the end, we got to keep our BMW lanyards, and got a fancy S'well BMW bottle! Best part? It's all free of charge, and as far as I know, anyone can sign up. Additionally, a sample of each BMW model in their current range was available for test driving outside the facility, in which case, they let you take the car on your own, which is, of course, awesome. Next year, I'm going earlier, so I can drive more cars!

Long story short: I love my Lexus, and wouldn't trade it for a single car I drove yesterday. I didn't have enough time to drive a 6 or 7 Series, though.

2 Series: The first car I hopped into was the 2 series. Specifically, an M Sport 230i. Overall, I was pretty deeply disappointed. I get that it's the smallest and least expensive car in the lineup, but compared to my IS, I feel as though the interior was quite a few notches below. I would honestly take the 10th gen Civic's interior over the 230i's interior. Additionally, I just couldn't get over the sound of the 4 Cylinder engine. Speaking of the engine, it was nice and punchy down below, but as soon as the revs rise, it falls off, where the IS continues to pull. Handling, we couldn't test too much, but it did feel smaller and more nimble than the IS.

4 Series: This car was quite cool. It was a 440i M Sport Convertible, blue with brown leather. This was actually my first time driving a convertible car of any type, and I can't say I'm the biggest fan, except that it helped me to listen to the amazing exhaust note with much less obstruction. They must have had some sort of performance exhaust on most of the cars, as I don't recall stock BMW exhausts being this loud and awesome sounding. The power was definitely significantly more than my car, as far as the butt dyno was concerned, but throttle response is far from the same as a naturally aspirated engine, and after owning my 335i with the twin turbo N54, I have to say that I prefer NA engines. The transmission in the 4 Series was much quicker to shift, and also to react to manual inputs.

5 Series: I didn't get to drive the 540i on the road, but we autocrossed both the rear and all wheel drive versions. As I've read in reviews, the car actually handles quite a bit better than one expects such a big car to do. There's a lot of body movement, but it's well-controlled, and overall gives a good ride, even when being hammered on. The interior was very nice; gotta love that quilted, perforated leather. Overall, it has a nice feel, quality was great, and when the transmission and engine figured out what I wanted them to do, there was a ton of power on tap.

My thoughts on BMW: Overall, I'm disappointed. The steering in these cars is actually quite a bit more artificial and light than in my Lexus. Power delivery is good, but they don't feel like an NA motor, and as for the look of the interior and exterior, they're erring much more on the side of old man comfort car, which they should leave for Mercedes to do. If Lexus continues to head in a performance-oriented direction, I don't see myself switching away any time soon.

 

Thanks for the perspective!

BMW uses piped in sounds played by the speakers on many models these days, even on the M3....

 

Yeah no problem!

i can tell you that this wasn't an issue on the cars I drove. The 5 didn't seem to have much sound inside, so no artificial, same with the 2, and with the 4, the car was a convertible so I could tell, for sure, that it was coming from the back.

Side note, I LOVE the way my IS350 enhances the intake noise, and the fact that they sound so quiet when at low revs. The normal BMWs fell short when being pushed, as the sound doesn't increase much. I love that my car, when reviving above 4K, sounds like an absolute beast from inside. Just need to finally decide on an exhaust upgrade that's not too loud, but sounds way better.

 

Were there no M2/M3/M4/M5s there? Would have been curious to read the reviews on those. Also regarding the cabin sounds on stock, it does sound awesome at high revs! I really wonder how loud it is outside though. I've never heard the exhaust note from the outside.

 

After driving my friends 440i for a couple of days, I am very proud to say that I still prefer my IS over the 4 but the BMW has a lot less body roll and you feel more confident taking corners fast in that car. That's the only thing I really wish the IS had. Even the shifting speed of the the DCT didn't seem to surprise me much because I liked the more smooth engaging gears in the IS.

 

Nice! Sounds like a fun time. And sounds like you fully enjoyed it. Too bad you didn't get into the larger models.

As for the exhaust for the 350. Going with the F-sport axle-back is an easy solution. It's not too loud and if you ever want to go louder add an aftermarket b-pipe. I love my F-sport exhaust.

 

The 350 engine is dead in the water. Lexus is working on a TT v6 that will be the standard up-scale mill soon.

enjoy your n/a engine as long as you have it. but later on, it's gone!

 

Since my Lexus IS is now my work car, and I have a Porsche Boxster S 981 as my fun car, I could definitely go for a new TT V6 from Lexus once I decide my Lexus needs to trade up. Hoping this won't happen for a while though. I'd like to see Lexus blow out socks off with a major engine upgrade, and a transmission to match it.

Say what you want about BMW...Their event sure sounded generous! I wish Porsche would do that for us.