iPanir

Hey Guys!!

Long time lurker. I currently drive a 2016 VW GTI and am about to pull the trigger on a 2017 IS350 F Sport.

Reasons for Lexus:
1) I drive 25,000-30,000 miles per year
2) Reliable & holds its value
3) Somewhat sporty


I am coming here to hear any suggestions or inputs. Do you guys wish you went with something else? Do you enjoy your car? Anything I should know before pulling the trigger? Regrets?

Looking forward for your suggestions. Thanks in advance

GetKinetic

Good over all 6 cylinder. Get the awd if you have seasons.
if want performance though, get the RCF. 160 more horses.

iPanir

I live in CA so no seasons here lol

i would love the RCF but much more expensive payment, insurance, and gas

leg3ndary

Great car overall. I was hesitant at first but glad I made this decision. Also, check out RR Racing's build. The car should be getting a blower kit and tuned ECU to match. Fo real fo real.

jkonquer

Be ready to go through front tires every 15k miles unless you have get aftermarket lower Control Arm bushings. Other than that no problems what so ever.

"Somewhat Sporty" is the correct words. This is no sport car and with that said If I were to do it all over, I would have purchased the GS350 F sport. Not only they did great job on the design on the new 2017, it performs similar to the IS, has much better room if you have family and much better interior quality. It is only approximately $10k more than an IS.

Also I don't know if they hold the value that well anymore since you can buy an used 2014 to 2016 IS350 for at around $30k compared to $49k new. But maybe after 5 years.

iPanir

I don't have a family to transport or anything so spending an extra $10k on the GS350 isnt worth it for me. Losing 10k over 3 years isnt bad. I am getting the car for 11k off msrp which is nice.

But in terms of sporty, how would you compare it to other cars? How does it handle in the canyons or driving aggressively? I test drove it a couple times but always short drives so I never really had a chance to really drive it

premier3IS

Or you can wait a few more months till the 2018 comes out when they try to clear the lot of 2017's. Get a deal then.

And chill with the canyons lol, this is just a luxury sport sedan. Wouldn't try to do anything crazy, but that's just me.

jameshan

iTrader: (1)

My only regret is not getting RWD. There wasn't any available at the time anyway but awd makes the car heavier, slower, less gas efficient and midpipes/coilovers are waaaaay harder to find for awd.

iPanir

I don't know, I saw a lot of reviews speaking about how impressive the handling is on the car. Do you think getting a $49,500 car for $39,500 is a good deal with this car?

That's good because I was actually wanting to find the AWD.

Jay89

its no GTI. Your gti will probably out perform the IS350 by a lot. The IS is good, compared to a Camry or Accord. Maybe even compared to your standard 3 series, which got a little sloppy in recent years, but only if you have the active suspension. It’s sporty by family car standards, but not by German car standards....if that makes any sense at all, haha.

I love driving my IS, it’s comfortable, can corner decently, has sufficient power for city and highway, and you get the Toyota reliability. If you buy this thinking it’ll be a great canyon carving machine, you’ll probably be disappointed. I bought mine because I liked how it looked, interior felt nicer than bmw, and it drove pretty well. All in all, to me, it felt Like a better package than the Germans, despite the Germans doing pretty much everything better, other than reliability, and interior.

iPanir

I see. Yeah that's honestly kind of dissapointing. I have a tune on my GTI and acceleration wise it blows the is350 out of the water. I was just hoping that it would at least be great in the handling department.

I don't necessarily need a full on canyon carving machine, just wanted something that can hang in the corners because I like to go a couple of times a week.

Can you think of any other car that is reliable, comfortable, holds it's value and sporty?

EZZ

The IS350 is a better handler than the 3 series which is saying quite a lot. It’s a better handle than a stock GTI and a great canyon carver. I don’t know why the previous owner thinks differently as most comparisons have the IS350 F sport as top of segment in terms of handling dynamics. I test drove many cars in the segment and many were faster than the IS but did not provide the smiles the way this car behaves on the road. I have the lightning lap attached for you to see where the car is in the pecking order of other cars.

iPanir

Oh wow. This information is fantastic!

That's the thing. I test drove the 340i which is a significantly faster car, but just wasnt fun. It was a very dull car.

For this car I might lower it and put aftermarket wheels + wider tires to have that more aggressive stance and to have better handling.

For the first year or so I am probably going to keep it stock and enjoy it that way. I still can't believe it did better than the 135i, 335is, and evo. That's very impressive

EZZ

Only way to really know is to test drive it. I hated the way the 335 drove too. I tried this car out to see why it won the comparos and it really put a smile on my face. Just sublime handling vs ride tuning. After 35k hard miles, mine doesn’t have a single rattle. So much quality in this car. It drives a lot smaller than the 3 series and the GS too. GS is too big for my taste but this car seems like the perfect size. Highly recommend this car.

EZZ

The one caveat I have to this car is that you need to drive it in Sport+ mode. Only the 350 F Sport variant has it though. None of the other models come with Sport+ which has the stiffer AVS suspension. Test drive it in Sport+ to get the best sense of the handling of the car (make sure it’s just not in regular Sport mode). Sport+ can be access by turning the **** twice to the right.