italiandud

I have the 250 and i drove my friends 328i. They both seemed to have similiar power. I know the 328i has more horses and a little more torque, but how close of a race is this?

Thanks.

p.s. need to know who i can beat if they challenge me,

llamaboiz

umm... if its your friend, why dont you just go race him and tell us how they match up IRL and not magazine numbers

CeoStatus0

^^^ good point haha

VIS250P

iTrader: (1)

There is no reason to race.. I rather pick fashion over function...

llamaboiz

show some backbone man

inxexisten

what kind of race? drag? autocross? ect.?

rfx45

My friend also has a 328i and when we tried racing, he was ahead the whole time. It might have helped that he has a manual tranny too. He only won by half a car though, so it's not that bad. My friend '04 G35 coupe beat us both by one to two cars though but there's not much surprise there.

FiveOhNine

BMWs are built for the twisties, Lexi are built for comfort.....neither are built for straight ahead speed.

Having driven a 328 (I assume you mean e90), I would say the 328 takes the 250 by about a car length to 60mph.

CRB

The BMW will be faster. It has more power and torque and is pulling less weight. Having said that if you are looking for a fast car you wouldn't be shopping these two models to begin with when rockets like the IS350 & 335i are in the offing...so I'm thinking that you are really shopping price/value and in that case the IS250 is far and away the best value.

Scythe

^^ if the BMW beats the lexus on twisties, and straight ahead speed, how come the is250 is way ahead in price/value... cuz of its luxury aspects? ive never ridden the 328 but is it not a nice ride?

CRB

That is were the value comes in, to get up to even a base IS you have to start packaging up the BMW. Leather is a package. I haven't run the numbers in a while but I would guess that the BMW 328i equipped in a manner similar to a Lexus IS250 will be $ 4K - 5K more. That is a lot of money.

When I say faster I mean a bit faster a IS250 with the 5-speed manual ran 0-60 mph in 7.5 seconds for Edmunds. And BMW claims for the 328i:

Acceleration 0-60 mph - Manual transmission 2 6.3 sec
Acceleration 0-60 mph - Automatic transmission 2 6.9 sec

Which is quite a bit faster. Those numbers for the BMW might be a tad optimistic, the Germans used to underestimate and now seem to be going the other way, on occasion. With packages the BMW interior isn't bad at all but it isn't as luxurious as the Lexus. You can (or could in the past) avoid BMW's iDrive system with the 3-series. You should decide what you want to spend and sit in one that reflects that level.

lexus250

I raced my friends 328i and pulled about 3/4 cars to 80mph, but i also have intake and exhaust. And not only once about 4 or 5 times we raced from a dig, from 30, and from 40 and each time i pulled. From a dig though is when i pulled the 3/4 car and it was all in the begging of the race too.

(take it or leave it because I know most wont belive me but it happened)

FiveOhNine

I believe that it happened. I just don't believe that it matters unless you can put the same driver and same conditions side by side.

It's all good in your case though because you either are a better driver, have a faster car, or both.

FiveOhNine

The term 'value' is rarely mentioned in the same sentence as 'performance'. Though the two are not mutually exclusive, buyers tend to lean in one direction or the other.

Those 'value-minded' customers are paying attention to price, cost to own and operate, reliability as it relates to expense down the road, etc.

One thing BMW does much better than Lexus is combining nice handling character with nice ride. The combination is always a compromise in both directions though.

Lexus tends to compromise too much in favor of nice ride, IMO.

The 328i is a great example of good handling and good ride. The IS is a a great example of decent handling and great ride.

llamaboiz

Well imo the IS does handle alot better than most cars under 30k, which is the majority of the cars on the road already.