gengar

Please don't do this; crossposting the same topic is against the forum rules. Certainly, if the OP has further questions specific to a certain model, he can create a new thread in the specific forum.

jchong

I live in Canada as well and had an ISF, but I had a beater in the winter. I would hate driving driving a nice car around with all the idiots on the road around you. I drive an Is250 now and dont miss the ISF as much as I thought I would.....but there is a new toy coming, so that may be curbing me missing the ISF.

seansmith

I too have another car to use in the winter, my wife's Honda so at least I have an AWD vehicle for any really bad days. What's your new toy?

Thanks for the reply...

seansmith

I didn't think I was allowed, but thanks for the reminder!

seansmith

I like the looks of a coupe but those long doors make it a bit of a hassle in the garage and parking lots etc so I'm definitely leaning towards a 4 door sedan.

That GSF looks hot! Is it really coming next year? That would be quite a sweet car. Lots of room with all that V8 power and engine sound...

seansmith

I think you're right, but I love the 8 speed in the IS-F, what a transmission! Why do they only give us the 6 speed in the AWD? Not enough room for the bigger geabox with center diff etc?

I know the IS350 AWD would be a great all around car. It's lighter, faster, and more reliable than my MB, but the similar price btw what I'm looking at makes it a tough decision. Thanks for your reply.

SW17LS

It sounds to me like the IS-F is what you really want. You should go for it...

dmvp29

One more 'pro' for the ISF is that the 2012 model has had 4 years of refinement (since the originally ISF came out in 2008) whereas the 2014 IS is a brand new model and is therefore likely to have some minor problems here and there.

I mean all Lexus models are extremely reliable but generally speaking later model years are slightly more reliable than earlier model year for the same model.

dmvp29

I also think you should definitely try and test drive the ISF on dedicated winter tires. From what I've heard as long as your prudent you shouldn't have too much trouble driving the ISF with winter tires.

Also, my IS350 has a "snow mode" where it significantly reduces my accelerator pedal sensitivity and basically eliminates 1st gear in auto mode (Granted, the IS350 is fully automatic whereas the ISF has a true manual mode with paddle shifters).

Anyways, driving in rain or ice in "snow" mode is extremely useful for my RWD IS350. If the ISF has a similar snow mode then I'd say you shouldn't worry too much about driving in the rain or snow assuming you get winter tires.

dmvp29

Oh ok I looked it up and it looks like the ISF does have snow mode. Toothdoc had this to say in another topic -

"I actually find it starts the fastest in normal mode with trac off (but not VDIM off). So, until you reach 30 mph, you can spin a bit more and once you hit 30 mph, trac is back on. Snow mode is just too freaking slow and sport mode has too much torque. I've had no problems going to and from work - however, days like today remind me of how sweet it was to drive the RX400 with Pirelli Scorpion snow tires on AWD. Nothing beats AWD with snow tires on all corners."

It is true that snow mode will make the car very slow because you're setting the "floor" gear as gear 2 (i.e. you're eliminating 1st gear) but it makes it so much easier to drive in the snow/rain, especially when accelerating from 0.

ISF350

I vote go for 2012 ISF if you get it now.

gengar

Yes, the IS-F has a snow mode as you noted in your next post. Even in dry conditions, I always leave my IS-F in snow mode when I'm just DD'ing around and not doing anything interesting.

It's interesting what you mentioned Toothdoc posted. In snow, I always left the IS-F in snow mode. The only issue I ever had with the IS F was when stopped on a particularly low-traction surface (really packed snow, or icy). In that case, the TRAC would work against me as it would sense the wheelspin and reduce power to the wheels, keeping me stuck. Turning off TRAC would allow me to get enough wheelspin to start moving. There was one intersection back when I lived in Indiana where this happened a lot as it was a road a lot of heavier cars traveled on so the snow would just get really packed down, but this was the only place I ever had trouble.

jchong

A Porsche....the model is tbd lol... Still debating on whether or not to get a gt3 or get something more girlfriend friendly lol...it sounds crazy I know