Roym

I placed my order for an IS 250 RWD back in April and it is due to arrive in July. I have been browsing this site for a month now and find it very useful. I have learnt a lot about my car to be from all of you .
My brother took delivery of his IS 250 RWD last month and i think its a beautiful car. My wife has a TSX and I feel that sometimes it lacks power, especially when driving up a hill (there are a lot where I live). The 250's power is some what similar to that of the TSX other than the two extra cylinders. I have been visiting the forum on a daily basis now and notice that a majority of you own the IS 350.
I'm Canadian and ordered the sport package on the 250 but am now having second thoughts and think that maybe I should order the 350 due to more power. I will be keeping the car for at least 10 years.
Unfortunately, the decesion for me is not cut and dry due to financial constraints. If I do go ahead and order the 350, I can only get the moonroof package. Would you guys sacrifice some of the convenience and or luxury features of the soprts package for more power? I have until next week to change my order. Even though the ultimate decesion will be mine, your comments and insight would help in the decesion making process!

LeXusIS714

Go test drive the 350, you will never want to drive the 250 again period. I was in same situation as your, either a 250 with nav, or a base 350. Went and test drive the 350 and felt in love with the power.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

yea once you drive the IS350 its over for the 250

Nicelex13

i drove both, however, due to financial constraints (i'm in my 20's) i could only choose navigation via 250 or the power of the 350...decided to go with the 250 in manual and im very happy. I basically chose the luxury of the navi over the speed of the 350

umpalumpa

...but the 350 was at the top end of my price range, so i chose the 350 and a thomas guide!

Tmirk

iTrader: (3)

I personally drive alot and spend a lot of time in my car, so I wouldn't sacrafice power for useful features. But I'm also the guy that went from a supercharged 400rwhp mustang to a 4cyl honda civic then to a 4cyl toyota solara.

I am happy to have power again, but was very happy driving around slow cars for the past 3 years, but the comfort and features is why I chose this car over BMW, Mercedes, Acura etc.

Just remember no matter what you drive you will always want more power.

kensteele

350>250; the power is insane.

ba-b4

I also had the choice of fully loaded 250 or base 350... went with the 350 and couldn't be happier. That said however I'm sure the 250 is fine for regular driving hills or no hills. I think the 250 being a 6 cyl has a bit more torque than the TSX even given similar peak hp levels so I think the hills won't be a problem whatsoever. I live in San Francisco the town with the steepest hills anywhere and even my old 100 hp cars got me up and down over the years so I wouldn't worry about power if all you're doing is regular driving.

Slowk20a2

go for power since you said you have a lot of hills where you live. I'd rather let a more powerful car to do the job of going through hills than a weaker one truggle.

chubbymike

yeah, it's a hard call. I was fortunate to have an IS 350 w/ Navigation. if you ask me to give up one, I don't know which one I would give up. but I personally think the nav is more useful than the horsepower. I'm in california, but I find that it's pretty difficult to go fast here w/o being pulled over or get blocked by traffic. But with a navigation, it comes in quite handy. i just punch in the address or name of the place i want and it'll help me find it. if you get the IS 350 you'll probably be thinking what it's like to have the navigation and will be in situations where you wished you had a nav. on the other hand, if you got the 250 w/ nav, you'll probably be wishing for the power.

One solution is to get the IS 350. and then get the portable nav for about $800-1000.

hope this helps

sleepy1711

Definately go with the 350, power always cost more to upgrade and as stated earlier you could always add an after market one on there. I test drove the 350 for like 15 minutes and test drove the 250 for like 2 minutes. 350 all the way..!!!

flybret

I didn't buy the car to press buttons and play with the Navi. 350 all the way! I vote test drive, then decide.

RshaoKh

According to the Lexus website...
SportsPackage:
- Perforated leather-trimmed interior (Do you really need this?)
- Power tilt-and-telescopic steering column (Don't really need but it's cool)
- Lexus Memory System for power driver's seat (except lumbar), outside mirrors and steering wheel (Don't really need but it's cool)
- Heated and ventilated front seats (I'm in CA so I would probably never use this)
- Aluminum sport pedals (Cool looking....)
- Aluminum doorsill scuff plates (Very cool but you can probably get later on)
- Rain-sensing intermittent windshield wipers with mist cycle (I guess it's useful if you're lazy)
- Electrochromic (auto-dimming) outside mirrors with auto tilt-down in reverse (Cool but not a NEED)
- Bi-xenon High-Intensity Discharge (HID) headlamps(You can get aftermarket if you want HIDS)
- Adaptive Front Lighting System (AFS) (Do you really need this?)
- Sport-tuned suspension (Not sure about this since I don't have it)
- 18 x 8.0-in alloy wheels with 225/40YR18 tires front [3], 18 x 8.5-in alloy wheels with 255/40YR18 tires rear [3] (Aftermarket or if you can afford to get it alone with the IS350)

Personally, I think most of the options in the Sports Package are useless for me (I live in CA). One or two of them are nice and handy, but once again I can live without them easily. As for HIDs, you can try aftermarket since they aren't too expensive (around $500 installed?) Now if you're talking about Sports Package AND other standalone upgrades then that's a different story. Obviously if you're thinking about NAV with an IS250 and you NEED NAV then go for the IS250.... GL with your decision.

Oh BTW, I forgot to mention that a base IS350 is already very luxurious. So to me, the extra luxury items aren't worth the trade off for power when you're talking about a car that already has a nice interior.

casey225

That's ultimately your personal preference - I personally, will always go power first. But, some people prefer to have the luxury features and aren't worried about fast acceleration. Most of us would prefer both.

KuyaPatz

dont get the 250, just get the 2007 350... if ur planning on keeping the car for ten years might as well go all the way on everything, cuz there wont be any tuning back