ManXP

My GF currently owns 2nd gen IS 250 and she's happy about it, but it's time for update. She prefers Lexus, but also looks at BMW 5er (F10), so the choice isn't made yet. Going to buy 2012-2014 vehicle with full history and low mileage. Since we live in EU, we can only buy extremely underpowered Lexus models (Lexus stopped shipping normal petrol engines to EU markets in around 2012 or so), so the choice is between GS 250 and IS 250. Sure thing, there are IS 300h and GS 300h, but these are sooooo slooooooow that they won't even be considered. GS 450h is out of price range.

Could someone (who owns or at least tested) both new IS and GS compare those models? Since GS is bigger and heavier than IS, she's very afraid of extremely poor performance. Is new GS so much better than new IS that it's worth to sacrifice performance and go for GS? I personally prefer GS because of interior (IS interior feels cheap), but new GS is probably the most bland and boring vehicle ever made. So point us to the right direction

We also look at 5er because of a wide choice of engines. Plus, even entry level 520i is way faster than GS 250 (7.9 sec vs 8.6 sec from 0 to 100 km/h). The only thing in concern is questionable BMW reliability.

bb700092

In US, we do not get the GS 250, we get the GS 200T and GS 350. I own a 2016 GS 200T (not F-Sport) and I never felt lack of power in everyday driving (I am coming from a 290 hp Maxima). The IS is too small for my family needs and also the interior feels cheap for its price. If the hp/torque/transmission are similar between 200T and 250, my suggestion would be to test drive a GS 250 F-Sport in Sport+ mode and notice the difference with the IS 250. That is the best performance you can extract out of a GS 250.

ManXP

Just checked GS 200t specs, and it's much faster than GS 250 (7.3 sec vs 8.6 sec, which is a huge difference), so I truly believe you never felt lack of power. Oh well, I guess we'll take a test drive with 250 to see if it's really that sluggish.

Longevite1

Many people here report IS/GS 250 gas mileage are horrible same as 350 (not sure which model year).

e60bmw

iTrader: (1)

Don't personally know much about the gs250. What f10 model were you looking at? I had a E60 I finally sold after owning it 9 years and honestly the f10 never appealed to me much. I considered a 550i, but certain years have lots of known issues. For me it came down to reliability and the overall package. Looking up the specs, that is a pretty big difference in power. Honestly if the same car had that much less power I wouldn't have bought a GS, so maybe the 5 series is better, although it sounds like you are considering a lower end one like a 520/528, which probably won't be much faster. The GS350 is actually faster than a 535i and it all NA. Between the IS and GS, its not really that much difference in weight and the GS will feel bigger. If you go with a lower 5 series that is turbo, I think they might have 240hp and not feel bad, being turbo you could also tune them. You could also maybe consider a 3 series with a turbo although I haven't been a big fan of how the front of them looks, although you can probably update it to look better.

ManXP

We will look at 535i. Would love to get GS 350 ar 300 at least, but it's not available in EU, and performance is one of important things here; therefore, it's very possible we'll have to say goo-bye to Lexus because of their decision to only sell things with engines from lawn movers in EU. Unless GS 250 will really, really make an amazing impression during testdrive.

JDR76

I love the GS350 (and loved my IS). It's the best car I've ever owned. However, if my choices in an IS and GS were limited to the 250 models, I would get the 535i.