Is350 F Sport

[Craig IS350]

It took nearly 6 months of test driving cars but the one that came out on top was the new Lexus is350 f sport. I have been owning and still love BMW's for the last ten years, but when it came time to upgrade my heavily modified e46 my first port of call was the BMW car yard. They make a wonderful engine like the 335 and the 330D but the interior and ride was garbage. Even the 650 was not much better for a $200 k car.

The merc e coupe was a nice car but the thought of paying $140k to get what I wanted was a joke. I tried the infinity nice car shame about the engine. For a prestige car the 3.7 from the 370 z is just too harsh. Then there were the Audi's. Wow, the supercharged v6 was insane but the ride and steering were appalling. My ps3 steering wheel had more feedback than the Audi. To be sure I tried two more models the s5 and rs and the same crap steering.

I also tried the VW passat CC with the v6. Nice car just too vanilla.

One car I did love was the new Chrysler 300 srt8. But it was just a reminder of my youth in my old xc coupe v8. Glad the mrs and kids talked me out of that one.

Not to insult anyone on this forum, I also tried the old is350. But it was way too vanilla and just didn't feel special.

Then I saw the new is350 f sport. I thought, that can't be a Lexus; way to out there. But after a test drive I was hooked. Yes, there a a lot of cars that accelerate faster like the BMW's. But as an overall package I could not fault it except for the under steer. But a rear sway bar should dial most of that out.

I have had the car for a month now and love the dual personalities I was chasing. Refined for business and a blast through the mountains when it is too hot to ride the dirt bike.

So anyway, I plan on having this car for many years and this was the final reason sealing the purchase was the reliability.

I look forward to sharing stories and considered mods to the car over the coming years but also feedback from fellow members at the BMW club. Which to date has been really positive. Even tomorrow I will be leading one of their great brekky runs through the back roads to a planned destination for brekky. Can not wait to give some of the m cars a bit of a scare from the new Lexus.