Just for curiousity sake, I went to the Lexus website to price out an IS350. I went through their site and built my own. I only chose the Luxury package, which I found the closest to my Premium package in my G. The IS350 Luxury package has a few more goodies, but nothing too all that super over and above the G. The final price..........

$64,906.00. I almost **** my pants when I saw this!! I am sure they are a nice car, but wow that is pretty damn pricey!! I think I will stick with a G, thank you.

 

They drive like a donkey anyway...I took one out a few months ago and was not impressed at all. Not to mention you cannot get the 350 with a manual transmission, which is a deal breaker for me anyway. They look good, but that is where the good points end for me.

 

Up into 330 bimmer territory for sure. It will be interesting to truly evaluate and price the new G against it. Our local dealer has only IS250 cars in stock right now.

 

Yikes, Shane...you can get a pretty well equipped M for that kind of dough.

C.

 

That is exactly what I was thinking Colin. That is definitely up there with the M. I knew the IS350 was more expensive than the G, but I was surprised to see it that much more. A fully loaded IS350 will cost $70,828.50........ridiculous if you ask me.

 

Ya the lexus.ca site is a bit confusing (I know, we maintain it) it's due for an overhaul shortly. But that price is with all taxes and charges included. The MSRP for the IS350 is $48k and $54k with the luxury package. The MSRP for the M35 starts at $56k.

Still more $$$ than the G but not crazy expensive and probably in line with other competitors. I'd still take the G if you ask me.

 

$64k? Even with taxes etc... that's going to be pushing the same price as the BMW 335i. Budds BMW told me the new 335i would be low 60's loaded, probably high 50's well equipped. Something tells me the 335i is going to blow the IS350 out of the water. Lexus is crazy.

 

LOL, my fully loaded M was only 2k more.

C.

 

Hmmmmmmm, IS350 or M45 Sport.....gee, that is a no brainer!!!

 

lol.....what!..u paid that much for a M45?...lol cool

 

If that's the price range for the 335i, I agree 100%

 

Well I hope it is. I have a deposit in on one (don't lynch me!). The U.S pricing looks like it'll be ~40-42k base, so that means about 52-54k base for the 335i. It comes with the sports suspension and cold weather package in Canada, so the options list should be something like:

Metallic Paint $800
Sport seats/wheels $2500
Premium $4200
Nav $2900
CA/PDC ~ $1200

for a total of 65kish loaded. I think a more reasonable configuration will be prem, sport, nav, ca for $60k ish.

Having driven the IS350 and the 330i...well, there's really no comparison at least from my point of view. The IS350 is fast, but that's it. I like the drive of the 330i so much better it's night and day, nevermind that even the 335i coupe will have more rear room than the IS350 sedan, should be just as fast (and more moddable), handle a ton better, look better (subjective, I know), and have better re-sale. The only downside is questionable reliabilty with BMW and turbos... we'll see!

 

I felt the same about the IS350, when I had one out...
Acceleration was the only + for me.
Suspension was really strange

 

Lexus quality is unmatchable. I came from an 04 IS300 and even for the lowest end Lexus, the quality of everything was leagues above our G35. Sorry, but its true!

 

I'm having the conversation in another thread interestingly enough. Sometimes quality is only part of the equation. As nice as it is to have an ultra-reliable car, sometimes "good enough" is exactly that, good enough. There are a number of trade-offs you have to accept for that Lexus quality, and for some of us they aren't worth it.