Hi, 1st post!

First off, yeah I know they are two totally different kinds of cars, but that's what I'm looking at

And I know I'll obviously get a bit of a biased response here but that's ok, I'd like the opinions of actual IS350 owners.


So I need a new daily driver and only car. I am in outside sales so I drive alot, about 25k a year, and so I want a nice daily car that is at least mostly reliable. I have read the reliability threads on BMW forums and it seems like the BMW would be alright as long as it's under warranty. I would get a CPO car and extend the maintenance to 100k as well. Basically at that point all you pay for is tires right???

On the M3 forum it seems like a lot of the owners use their M3's as daily drivers and say they love 'em as daily drivers. I guess I am a little concerned about the ride on a daily basis. Because like 95% of my driving is just around the streets and freeways of Sacramento, which are mostly cruddy roads. So I guess I wouldn't use the handling capabilities on a daily basis.

So, trying to put yourself in my shoes.... if you drove like I did, which would you choose and why?


The way I see it:

I love the M3's style, love the interior style, more sporty looking to me. Love the performance.

Love the Lexus's extra options and luxury interior, definitely a little more comfortable. Great performance at least as far a power goes...very close to the M3 on power/acceleration. Like the fact that its brand new and since a Lexus...probably not have to worry much at all.

Oh btw, I do not need a 4 door, it's just an extra convenience. And love the look of the coupe M3.

Ok, thats it for now. I really appreciate any good input.

Thanks,
Tim

 

That's almost the exact situation I was in when i bought my 350. My uncle had a 2003 M3 that he was going to sell me at a good price. I drove that car quite a bit around town and on the highway. It definately was a really nice car that I would love to have. But like you said the IS is "almost" just as fast and handles pretty well. In my opinion, the comfort and ride is better in the Lexus. Also, the interior in the IS, from the leather seats to the dash layout is superior. If your going to be doing a lot of city driving and not going out on the back roads, I'd say get the Lexus.

 

if you are talking about daily driver.. get the IS

 

if you want to play safe, i would choose the is350 for sure

 

I understand where you're coming from here, and I'll preface my reply by saying I absolutely love both cars, and still plan to get an M3 later on down the line when I can more easily afford to have a "toy car".

BMWs are very high-maintenance cars (though not as bad as Audi) and you can expect your car to be in the shop fairly often after it's a couple of years old. And realize that most M3s you're likely to find are going to have 35k+ miles on them already, so your warranty may only be good for a couple of years at the pace you're driving. And once it's gone, it's VERY expensive to own an M3. Most parts are $1k+ and from the track record of my friends who own them, you can expect at least 3-4 failures a year in things like belts and gaskets once the car passes 60k miles. This is the primary reason I didn't get one -- I don't want to pay for constant maintenance on my daily driver, nor risk it being in the shop when I need it.

The M3 has a racing suspension, as you would expect from a car built first and foremost for track performance. It's extremely stiff and it's designed to let you feel every contour of the road -- precisely what you want when racing, but less appealing when driving around on bad roads. The IS350's suspension is stiffer than most luxury cars, but it's still a lot gentler than the M3, especially if you go with the regular suspension instead of the sport. At the same time, you'll see a lot more body roll on the IS and feel a little more "disconnected" from the road, which means it will never be as good of an experience on a track.

From an interior perspective, I found the Lexus seats far more comfortable for long driving than any of the seats BMW has thus far put into the E46 or E90. Having ventillation helps a lot for long trips. I think Lexus' climate control system is better implemented than BMW's, and its nav system is vastly superior -- but if you're looking at an older M3, you probably aren't planning to get a nav. And, as one of the Car & Driver editors put so well, "the Germans have yet to figure out how to make a decent cupholder" -- there are a lot of little touches in the interior that Lexus simply gets right, from the center console compartment to the divisions in the glovebox, that make the car so much easier to live in.

Also, the IS is a much quieter car than the M3 and has a great stock stereo (and the Mark Levinson system is one of the best OEM sound systems on the market), so you can listen to music on a drive without having to blast the volume to eardrum-damaging levels.

I agree with you on the M3's exterior, by the way -- the E46 remains one of my favorite car designs of all time. (Not so hot on the E90, and I'm dreading seeing the new M3, unfortunately.) And honestly, the M3 is very much a "prestige car", which may be a subtle bonus to someone in sales. People who know cars will drool over one; the IS may get admiring looks, but it'll never live up to the hype attached to an M, no matter how well it performs.

 

you said you need something reliable and driving 25k miles a year? Hands down, i would take the IS 350. If you really have your heart set on an M3 buy a civic and an M3 as a toy or something.

 

POLL TIME!!!

And daily driver, IS 350 without a doubt. Don't get me wrong, M3 is on my GS replacment list, I love that car.

 

Comfortwise, because you plan to drive 25k a year, any Lexus beats BMW hands down!

 

350 with LMS intake/exhaust already has as much or more hp than a M3

 

Ha...this magically turned into a poll! Thanks for the replies so far.

 

Yes, but it doesn't have the handling, and you'd have to do some pretty heavy modifications to change that. The simple fact is that for the money, the M3 will always be a better performance car -- it'll take more than the $12k or so price difference between the two to get the IS on level with the M3's baseline performance in all areas, and every dollar you spend on mods beyond that can be spent on the M3 as well to boost its performance even further. Engines aren't everything.

The M3 is the finest sport-luxury coupe in its class; the IS is the finest luxury-sport sedan in its class. Let them have their differences, and respect what each one is designed for.

 

For your purposes, defintely the Lexus. The ride of the M3 is a bit too punishing for the amount of use you plan to give it, especially since you said you drive on lots of bad roads.

 

huh this is a comparison thread, its impossible to leave differences aside in a thread like this

OP: I think you answered your own question when you said you wouldnt use the handling in the cruddy streets, go IS

 

As a daily driver, and I must emphasize the word "daily", you are much better off with the IS350. The M3 rides hard, even on standard 18s, and you can only appreciate the performance when you drive the car hard. The behavior is very similar to the S2000, and you can't really feel the dynamics unless you drive it like you've just stolen it. Drive it normally and it feels like a lowered 3 series coupe.

With that said, it's a moot point to soften the suspension. I dont' think coilovers with the softest setting will change the situation one bit, and probably even worse than OEM.

On another note, due to the problem with SMGii trannys, I highly recommend sticking with the 6-spd. It's much less trouble free and hence, much cheaper to maintain.

 

Also M3 is a screamer, gotta really rev to get peak hp, torque is lower than the IS 350 (I think). Also, daily driver means, auto. Not sure where u live but if traffic is bad or avg, a manual can make u want to pull your hair out.

On the other hand, I have 4 kids I ride when it rains (I don't like getting the RX wet) and let me tell you, you buy them fockers a jolly rancher or two, and they'll get you to work faster than an Enzo.