STIG

13.1 1/4mile time slip makes me forgot about all the BS that car magazines are tlaking about. i just love my IS350 everytime i drive it. i just cant believe how lexus made a car so smooth yet fast at this price range. The smoothness of lexus is just amazing!

Gojirra99

For the same reason, I think Lexus purposely provide Sports Car International magazine a non-sport IS350 with 16" wheels for it's comparison withthe 3/C/G35

mmarshall

Drifting, especially on dry pavement, can be hazardous even for that 1% of so-called " professional " drivers....though sometimes they won't admit it. Every year the auto-test magazines wreck cars doing dumb things, and just during the last few years I have been reading them some of their people have been killed in accidents.

doug_999

What about their customers?

While it is true that only 15% or so of the 3-series sold here are manual at least BMW has the guts to keep offering the option. Give them some credit for at least catering to the enthusiast! (hint, until Lexus does this they will continue to lose comparos)

Lexus outsold BMW because they had three sport utilities - one of which sold almost 100,000 last year (I didn't check, might have been more). BMW (yes, they have more models) easily outsold Lexus in cars in the US.

STIG/DC52E55 - if Lexus does not publish how to turn off the VDIM, then the rags should not test the car with it off.

SC300Es

As quoted in the article:

This is the reason why Lexus gets beat in every article I read so far. These writers get to do things in these cars most of us don't bother/care/able to do. How many of us are going to activate this system on our daily driving?

Most of these magazines rate these cars based on performance and fun to drive factor, and I believe a Lexus is more than that. I read these articles and go on with my life. Most people buy their cars based on price, reliability, looks, and their needs, not because the car "makes you feel the road" or another stupid way they always seem to describe the BMW with.

Ed

doug_999

You have the list reversed. People buy cars based on their needs, the looks, the reliability, and finally depending on where they are in life, the price.

I personally needed/wanted a car that was fun to drive - that made me smile every time I drove it - so I bought a BMW. I have grown to love the looks of the 5-series. The 3rd Gen GS is better looking, has better reliability (probably), and costs less IMHO. But I "needed" a car that I enjoyed more than the other things.

PS - upon thinking about this more, I think the ranking depends on the person. There are plenty of people that buy a car based on its reliability alone.

LexFather

My next car will be based on how many girls at Hooters gives me the thumbs up

doug_999

I missed that one on the list! LOL!

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Thanks Henry - I agree with you too.

I strongly agree with you here too! Similarly I also felt the GS400's stock handling was way inadequate (too soft/floaty, and not controlled) for all the power and torque.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Dead on!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

good point there too paul. maybe that's why every time you start the car, the vsc is on. even with quite a bit of suspension mods, on the gs, if you take off vsc, you can easy throw out the car on corners

with over 300hp on the small IS, man

DallasLex

iTrader: (1)

Double Take: 2006 BMW 330i vs. 2006 Lexus IS 350

War of the Buttons: It comes down to electronics

Automotive News / February 6, 2006 - 6:00 am

It is as inevitable as death, taxes and magazine guys writing about their racing exploits thinking someone will care: Every carmaker selling a four-door smaller than a school bus compares its rig to a BMW 3 Series. Most compare it favorably.

“Yes, our Belch-O-Seltzer Six has all the corner-throttling dalliance of the vaunted 3 Series with none of the carbs!”

Or something like that. It doesn’t matter if the entire Belch-O-Seltzer model line is actually made in Botswana by dyslexic vegetarian parolees, assembled from cardboard and held together with library paste and spit; once the marketeers insert the 3 Series comparo into the massive brains of the automotive press, we pretty much go with it.

“Belch-O-Seltzer Six Takes on the Bimmer 3—One Must Die!”

The comparisons do make magazine sense. In addition to filling up nice chunks of the editorial calendar, it is only natural to pit new sedans to the benchmark in the class, and the BMW is certainly the benchmark.

Ever since the beloved BMW 2002 changed the world as we know it (okay, changed the smaller performance coupe/sedan market as we know it), BMW has been the one to shoot for if you make anything smaller than a shipping container with four seats and wheels. Ever since the 3 Series debuted, it has been the class of the class.
Then came the Lexus IS 300. At first the Lexus faltered because this supposed sports sedan came with an automatic transmission and no manual. Lexus added the manual in the car’s second year and the IS 300 did pretty well as one of a handful of compact sedans with rear-wheel drive and sporty pretensions that didn’t cost as much as your house. The IS was fun to drive and competitively priced, but BMW still got the nod in all the comparos.

Now the second-generation IS, that would be different, right? Good question.

Being infected with the viral marketing suggestion that all cars must be compared to the 3 Series, we got an IS 350 and a 330i and headed to California Speedway for what promised to be a good throwdown in the old-school good-throwdown tradition. Maybe Lexus would finally topple the BMW myth, we thought. It would certainly sell more magazines.

Or maybe not. See, they did it again, starting the run of new IS sedans with automatic transmissions only for the uplevel model. Why do they do this? Hello? Is there anybody on duty at the Lexus Department of the Painfully Obvious (LDPO)? How do you aim to beat the godlike 3 Series with an automatic?

Maybe with more horsepower, LDPO professionals answer.

While the 330i gets a new 3.0-liter straight-six making 255 hp, the IS 350 also gets a new engine, a bigger one, a 3.5-liter V6 making 306 hp. Yow! Does that mean end of story? No, because the BMW weighs less, 3417 pounds to the IS 350’s 3527 pounds. That’s a difference of 110 pounds and 50 hp. So they could be fairly close, these two cars, yes?

Unless that automatic sucks the life out of the Lexus drivetrain.

Well, turns out it doesn’t suck the life out of the drivetrain. In fact, in a straight line the Lexus kicks butt.

Not that the BMW is any slouch. The first thing we learned to love about the BMW is that both its Dynamic Stability Control and Dynamic Traction Control can be shut off all the way. Hold the button down for more than about three seconds and BMW hands control of your little wheeled universe back over to you, the rightful owner.

After that, it becomes easy to experiment with engine speed, clutch engagement and wheelspin. We got the 330i to return a 0-to-60-mph time of 6.14 seconds.
We then got in the IS 350 and stomped on the throttle. That may be an automatic in there, but it’s a darn good one. Shifts are as quick and no-nonsense as they can be without alienating the softer potential buyers who may also be looking in this segment.

We grew to love the IS’s six-speed sequential-shift electronically controlled slushbox at the drag strip. It is as tight and fun as any we’ve driven, except for maybe that goliath bruiser in the M6, but that’s 10 or 15 classes above these two cars. The only problem is that the ratios in the Lexus transmission make it shift up just before the car gets to 60 mph. A slight change somewhere in there and it would be even quicker.

The IS 350 quickly banged out a 5.4-second 0-to-60-mph time and put the 3 Series on the trailer (figuratively speaking, in drag-racer trash talk). The Lexus’ Vehicle Dynamic Integration Management system was fairly nonintrusive at this point in testing. We were even able to get the wheelspin necessary for a quick run by turning the system off for launches. Throughout the remainder of the quarter-mile VDIM never reared its electronic head.

Braking performance goes to the BMW (just barely), the 330i stopping from 60 mph in 116 feet compared to 119 feet for the IS 350. Braking is even closer from 80 mph, 207 feet for the 330i to the IS’s 208 feet.

So as long as you stay in a straight line throughout your driving experience, it appears the Lexus is the car for you. But who wants to drive in a straight line?

The slalom is where heroes become goats and goats go home. It is here that the prodigious supply of electronics on both cars comes into play. Both the Lexus and the BMW are loaded with acronyms too numerous to catalog here, some of which do good things and others we would like to take a hammer to.

It is the two approaches to yaw control that stands out. As we said, BMW’s DSC and DTC can be turned off. Lexus’ VDIM can also be turned off, but then it magically switches itself back on at around 30 mph, and stays on. You can scramble the computer and cancel VDIM completely via a complicated pedal dance that must be performed every time you start the car, but Lexus doesn’t want you to know about that. In fact, Lexus reps swear to us there is no way to circumvent the system.

So we left VDIM on for the slalom. The transmission we had once loved in the Lexus also decides it knows which gear is best for you and shifts down when it wants to.

The BMW had problems of its own in the slalom. While we appreciate the car’s active steering when negotiating the byzantine maze of multilevel underground office parking garages, for high-powered flinging into corners and around cones the system gets in the way. Changing ratios—like horses—is not something you want to do midstream. If this had an off button, would chaos immediately follow?

Nonetheless, the basic geometry and perfect balance of the BMW shine through. The 330i is controllable through the slalom and understeers mildly around the skidpad. True, BMWs in general do not have the lively feedback and responsiveness we loved not even 10 years ago. And that’s not the direction an autocrosser/amateur club racer/canyon blaster wants to see this storied marque go. But it’s still better than anything else in the class.

The IS 350 had hinted it might be a contender. It feels well-balanced and tossable, controllable at the limit and great fun... as long as you keep it under 30 mph. Now how the heck are you supposed to do that? We have never gone through the slalom at anywhere near 30 mph. Even in the most bloated minivan or the most flatulent SUV, we are well over that speed. A car like this should achieve at least 45 mph in our tight, 490-foot slalom.

You cannot do the slalom at 30 and call yourself an enthusiast driver, or even alive and aware of your surroundings. And VDIM is not just a suggestion. It shuts down the whole operation by braking various corner wheels and cutting power to the engine until you are crawling around through the cones like a flopping drunk on the sidewalk. The real tragedy here is that the reason the Lexus doesn’t clean the BMW’s digital clock is simply because its darn electronics cannot be shut off without going all Norman Bates. After several runs trying to work things out, we had to divorce ourselves from the Lexus based on irreconcilable differences. Any speed over 30, 35 mph, and the car becomes hobbled. Lexus could suddenly find itself winning some of these inevitable comparison tests if it would just reprogram a few algorithms. For whatever reason, it won’t.

Lexus brought a knife to a gunfight and still managed to shoot itself in the foot. The 3 Series is indeed the better car.


More Views
How can this BMW 3 Series fighter have no manual transmission? You can get one in the Lexus, but only with the smaller engine. That alone deters me from the IS. The 3 Series is a true driver’s car with a great engine, spot-on steering and stellar handling. It is a rewarding car to drive and wins in my book. —Jon Wong

The shame here is that Lexus did not give the IS 350 a chance to truly compete at the performance limit. Undefeatable electronannies? Wait one minute. Indeed you can permanently deactivate the traction/stability control, courtesy of a 13-step “code” known to Internet forum-using IS enthusiasts. But the complex process of stepping on and off the brake pedal and engaging and releasing the parking brake is both unofficial and maddening. I hear rumors you will be able to defeat VDIM easily on 2007 models. Then this might be a fight worth having. Give me a manual gearbox, too. Please, Lexus. —Mac Morrison

BMW has more expressive style and a more engaging driving experience (and allows a choice of transmissions). While Munich ladles too much luxury into its sports sedan for my taste lately, Lexus starts at the other end of the spectrum, doling just enough sport into a luxury sedan to lure the wannabes. —Kevin A. Wilson

I’d choose the BMW. The main reason is BMW’s driving feel, how well you’re connected to the pavement, yet it’s so smooth. Steering and brakes are superb. It’s a good feeling just going in a straight line on the freeway.—Joe Kovach

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

I know we all want more power I am; however, a believer that the cars chassis and suspension and brakes should always be able to keep up with the engine power. If the car becomes overwhelmed with too much engine power, the solution IMHO is not more electronic aids, but simply reduce the engine power. The electronic aids should come into play in an emergency, and not be there just to keep the car manageable. If manufacturers are going to play the HP game, they need to also beef up the suspension, brakes and chassis. Customers of these types of cars need to understand that if they want more power, they will have to sacrifice ride comfort.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

well, by driving the IS250 and IS350 at the lexus event? i can almost say that the IS350 has too much power for the chassis to handle. kinda surprised...

dreamin350

QUOTE=replica]Yes. In a sense. They are simply driving the automatic version of the 3 series sports sedan. If it weren't available in stick, then I wouldn't consider it a sport sedan either. Just like there can be no automatic sports car. They might be labeled as such, but it's a farce.[/QUOTE]


So what do you call a Ferrari with F1 paddle shifters? I think your statement is a little exteme.