^^ Well, sometime, people eventually have an epiphany
GeoFSPORT - Congrats and welcome to the 500 family!! I totally understand what you are saying about the color and seeing in person. I was the same way about the red interior in mine, all the pics looked like too red and such but then I saw in person and fell in love with it.
All - I was able to do my inauguration drive yesterday and it felt AMAZING and I was surprised by how much attention it got. I was having breakfast at Tim Horton's (coffee shop here in Canada) and there was at least 4 different people that got out of their car to come and look at it so that was nice. Luckily, I have my favorite parking spot where no one can park on either side so it was safe I never got around to take pics because I was a bit pressed for time and had some errands to run but these will come. This car is simply amazing!!
In reference to Sam, I wanna be a total d**k but it’s not necessary. He may not say the words, but he knows what he did was boneheaded.
Torally agree here - one thing to note is that social media influencers like to create waves or stir up some controversy to gain greater visibility.
After watching several videos on his channel, I fear that he might be disappointed when he pits his IS500 up against other cars for his drag races. That's not what this car is designed for. It's quick and plenty fast enough but not the drag or track star that other cars may be. This car's value is more than just the sum of its parts or objective statistics - it's pure emotion and subjective enjoyment!
All - I was able to do my inauguration drive yesterday and it felt AMAZING and I was surprised by how much attention it got. I was having breakfast at Tim Horton's (coffee shop here in Canada) and there was at least 4 different people that got out of their car to come and look at it so that was nice. Luckily, I have my favorite parking spot where no one can park on either side so it was safe I never got around to take pics because I was a bit pressed for time and had some errands to run but these will come. This car is simply amazing!!
I had to go to Costco this weekend for petrol and afterwards ended up parking in a spot with rather high foot-traffic. I waited in the car while my wife did the shopping. I noticed many people looking at the car. I even heard one toddler tell his dad he liked the blue or something.
By and large, however, I don't get much attention in this car. Maybe cause every other person in my neighborhood has a Porsche. My dog gets wayyyy more attention than any car.
By and large, however, I don't get much attention in this car. Maybe cause every other person in my neighborhood has a Porsche. My dog gets wayyyy more attention than any car.
Maybe it’s the area, because my 2016 got a crap ton of attention. It’s one reason why I stuck with the color scheme. Atlanta has its fair share of Porches, hell…their headquarters and customer training track is here. My building is about 94 units and I’d say 15% of the owners drive some variants of them. (Macans, Taycans, etc)
Except for one of the Taycans and the Bimmers with the Dinan package, our cars are by far one of the prettiest. I also detail it every other week and the glistening makes people think naughty thoughts.
I see experienced car journalists say things like "This car is fun to drive, for a Lexus" and things like that all the time. It's as if they ignore the fact that Lexus has built the IS for three whole generations now, and it has essentially the same mission now as it did with the 1IS. It would be the same as saying that the BMW X7 is floaty to drive for a BMW, or that the Toyota GR86 is sporty for a Toyota... it goes on and on. I don't understand why journalists are always so quick to write the IS off.
Actually, I do, but it's for the wrong reasons. A lot of them see the V8 or V6 engines available in the IS along with their transmissions and think "old drivetrains", or they see the fact that the touchpad still exists and think "old tech". Or, they hear that it's essentially a refresh of the existing platform even after 7 years. That's pretty much game over for a lot of them. Yet, they don't actually drive the cars before already having some skepticism or even a dismissive attitude about them.
Having actually lived with my IS 350 for 10 months-ish now, I think Lexus struck such a nice balance with these ISes in terms of making them more than tolerable for daily use yet very capable on back roads. Journalists nowadays are so used to the wow-factor of a lot of other fun-to-drive cars with their DCTs and turbo engines that the smooth and mellow combo of a naturally-aspirated engine and torque-converter auto seems too old-school. But, in daily use, it actually is a little less fatiguing to drive and is more gradual in the way it builds power, making it easier to control in low-grip situations. For an enthusiast, these kinds of things matter - ironically, a lot of car reviewers also claim to be enthusiasts or simply are enthusiasts, but they don't have time to get to know the IS.
I may seem like an IS apologist at this point, but it's true that for the first couple of months I had mine, I would drive it back-to-back with my wife's 330i and think "Wow, the BMW is pretty impressive considering it's about the same price and is the entry-level engine." But, there are always little artificialities about it that bug me, like pumped-in engine noise and the oddly-quick steering. The ride is also a little firmer than it should be for a daily-driver sedan, unlike the IS, which seems to be firm enough but never bouncy. The 330i is actually a fantastic car, and I wouldn't fault anyone for choosing it over the IS purely from a practicality and usability perspective. But, it always leaves me wanting something, which makes no sense since I know it's theoretically just as quick as my IS 350, if not quicker, and has the arguably superior ZF 8-speed. I think that's mostly down to the fact that the Lexus just gets all the fundamentals right and doesn't try to cram them down my throat. The BMW wants you to know it's sporty and it's ready to go all the time, but the Lexus is happy to just cruise if that's what you want to do. Don't get me wrong, the BMW is a refined car, but man... you really have to big-toe it and be gentle with your inputs to get it to be smooth enough to ferry around your significant other without upsetting them. Whereas in the Lexus, which Lexus seems to remember is a sedan, it's actually pretty hard to drive it un-smoothly without doing something stupid. They get it. It took me a while to appreciate this style of tuning after having been in the GTI, GLI, and the 330i for some time, which are all much more hyper than the IS is. Granted, I still think VW struck a better balance than BMW. Those cars could also be quite chill if I wanted them to. My point remains that they still, along with a lot of other cars I've driven that were received well by journalists, have this hyper-response to inputs. Not so much in the IS, even the 500 as I have noticed some car reviewers point out. Most seem to equate this with the 500 being a "GT" which is a glove that fits, if you ask me.
Anyway
tl;dr the Lexus IS is misunderstood, and my guess is Sam just fell into the trap of analyzing it on paper before living with it himself.
tl;dr the Lexus IS is misunderstood, and my guess is Sam just fell into the trap of analyzing it on paper before living with it himself.
But he hasn't even lived with it himself yet - he has 35 km! I feel like he only got it because he thinks it'll be rare, nobody else is making videos with it, and he got it for MSRP.
In this regard I think Lexus dealerships should start marking these up like crazy so it doesn't easily fall into the hands of people like him. Or save the MSRP deal for people deep on the waitlist, like the hardcore enthusiasts.
I see experienced car journalists say things like "This car is fun to drive, for a Lexus" and things like that all the time. It's as if they ignore the fact that Lexus has built the IS for three whole generations now, and it has essentially the same mission now as it did with the 1IS. It would be the same as saying that the BMW X7 is floaty to drive for a BMW, or that the Toyota GR86 is sporty for a Toyota... it goes on and on. I don't understand why journalists are always so quick to write the IS off.
Actually, I do, but it's for the wrong reasons. A lot of them see the V8 or V6 engines available in the IS along with their transmissions and think "old drivetrains", or they see the fact that the touchpad still exists and think "old tech". Or, they hear that it's essentially a refresh of the existing platform even after 7 years. That's pretty much game over for a lot of them. Yet, they don't actually drive the cars before already having some skepticism or even a dismissive attitude about them.
Having actually lived with my IS 350 for 10 months-ish now, I think Lexus struck such a nice balance with these ISes in terms of making them more than tolerable for daily use yet very capable on back roads. Journalists nowadays are so used to the wow-factor of a lot of other fun-to-drive cars with their DCTs and turbo engines that the smooth and mellow combo of a naturally-aspirated engine and torque-converter auto seems too old-school. But, in daily use, it actually is a little less fatiguing to drive and is more gradual in the way it builds power, making it easier to control in low-grip situations. For an enthusiast, these kinds of things matter - ironically, a lot of car reviewers also claim to be enthusiasts or simply are enthusiasts, but they don't have time to get to know the IS.
I may seem like an IS apologist at this point, but it's true that for the first couple of months I had mine, I would drive it back-to-back with my wife's 330i and think "Wow, the BMW is pretty impressive considering it's about the same price and is the entry-level engine." But, there are always little artificialities about it that bug me, like pumped-in engine noise and the oddly-quick steering. The ride is also a little firmer than it should be for a daily-driver sedan, unlike the IS, which seems to be firm enough but never bouncy. The 330i is actually a fantastic car, and I wouldn't fault anyone for choosing it over the IS purely from a practicality and usability perspective. But, it always leaves me wanting something, which makes no sense since I know it's theoretically just as quick as my IS 350, if not quicker, and has the arguably superior ZF 8-speed. I think that's mostly down to the fact that the Lexus just gets all the fundamentals right and doesn't try to cram them down my throat. The BMW wants you to know it's sporty and it's ready to go all the time, but the Lexus is happy to just cruise if that's what you want to do. Don't get me wrong, the BMW is a refined car, but man... you really have to big-toe it and be gentle with your inputs to get it to be smooth enough to ferry around your significant other without upsetting them. Whereas in the Lexus, which Lexus seems to remember is a sedan, it's actually pretty hard to drive it un-smoothly without doing something stupid. They get it. It took me a while to appreciate this style of tuning after having been in the GTI, GLI, and the 330i for some time, which are all much more hyper than the IS is. Granted, I still think VW struck a better balance than BMW. Those cars could also be quite chill if I wanted them to. My point remains that they still, along with a lot of other cars I've driven that were received well by journalists, have this hyper-response to inputs. Not so much in the IS, even the 500 as I have noticed some car reviewers point out. Most seem to equate this with the 500 being a "GT" which is a glove that fits, if you ask me.
Anyway
tl;dr the Lexus IS is misunderstood, and my guess is Sam just fell into the trap of analyzing it on paper before living with it himself.
@arentz07 - It’s not a rant when so much of it is truth. Nice.
@macmaster - I don’t know how best to deal with this joker or others like him. I agree with whoever said he will be disappointed with the track results. He clearly does not understand the mission of this car and I’m annoyed his ignorance will have far reaching affects.
