magnuscat

That's why I chose the IS350 as well.

gbsjake

Thanks for the opinion have you driven both ?

gbsjake

Great info, you guys know your cars. So to sum up, F Sport performance wise is merely an '08 with sports package and a few cosmetic changes.

magnuscat

Yes, I have driven both the 350 and numerous 3 series. As I think you have found here the f sport is more cosmetic than performance. The upgrades you can make to the IS will make the handling better than it is stock and closer to the capabilities of the bimmers. Of course upgrades can be made to the bimmer to improve those further as well. IMO nothing in the standard sport sedan market touches the feel of the bimmer handling.

Now all that said it is something of of hype borne out of expert drivers pushing cars in testing on tracks and writing about it. 99.9%of people ever even approach that type of driving. The IS350 is a confident handling car. I think that sort of "feel" is really only a matter of computers and programming anymore. If you want real bimmer feel, go back to the late 80's- early 90's cars. They had far superior feel than the faux feel of the electrically assisted steering of todays cars. However, these cars today still are superior in handling in reality. They are superior in design, materials, equipment and are in the end safer.

For me I knew I nearly never have an opportunity to push a car to its limits anymore and the IS is a fun car to drive when I get to head to the country, toward the mountains. I chose the IS350 due to the reliability ratings being far better, the resale values holding up.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Sounds like it to me; I guess I was ill-informed about the whole F-sport 2IS model because the only one I saw in person had all of the F-sport performance accessories on it at the dealership. Obviously they had all of those accessories added on it.

Since in '06, when my sport pkg 350 was manufactured, they didn't have an F-sport model...I can consider it an "F-sport". LOL

gbsjake

Hey, that is great information, thank you very much. I love my 328i. Well, not love, but it has been a great car, but it is approaching 66,000 miles. Car magazines have a proverbial boner for BMWs. They could rebadge a Pinto, and the editors would gush on how good this "bimmer" handles. I dont know that much about cars, but my hunch is the much vaulted "road feel" of BMWs has more to do with less steering assist. As for reliability, that too is over-hyped at least in my experience. My '07 328I has not had a single thing wrong with it. I think they've changed over the last 5-10 years. That said, I've been eyeing a 2012 Used IS350 F Sport on sale with 18,000 miles asking $34,500. I just dont know. Priced well below "NADA" for whatever that's worth. Is it worth it? Hmmmmm

magnuscat

It certainly is worth it, is it worth it to you. i will say the IS will hold its value better than the bimmer. What other features are on the 12 IS? In general I find the Lexus to be better appointed than the bimmer. Germans in general and BMW in particular have always put more emphasis on the fact that their cars are built to perform, not to luxuriate, though they have made improvements in that area in recent years. I am glad to hear you have had no issues with your 328. Here's the thing, I think in the first several years of life the differences in reliability are fairly even. In general the bimmer will have more issues than the IS, but you arent talking about large numbers of issues.

Where they seem to start separating themselves is in long term ownership and and maintenance problems. Well problems and scheduled maintenance. All of those wonderful BMW handling components will fail or require replacement sooner. The turbo charged vehicles require more maintenance and replacement. Funny things seem to start going wrong on the BMW like window regulators. All of these cars are mechanical devices and will require upkeep of course and anything can always go wrong, but with the BMW they do seem to have systemic issues with the same things year over year.

If you look at 10-15 year old BMW and Mercedes, you will notice how nice in general they are. And there are still a lot of them on the road. They will run for a long, long time. Most of my BMW friends, and I have several fanatics in the bunch will tell you that to keep their cars they learn to do a lot of the work or have to have a pretty healthy maintenance budget set aside. Some people do not find this a nuisance. At this point in my life I do. I spent most of my early life with 60's muscle cars, 3 mustangs and my fathers Cobra another Mustang, etc. The last true sports car i owned was a Porsche 928. As a side note the IS 350 is faster stock, with more horsepower and handles better than all of them. Oh and does it burning less gas and with far greater reliability. Between those cars and the multitude of motorcycles I owned, I am tired of wrenching. I will do some upgrades on this IS, but noting that requires huge amounts of time.

I wanted a used car that was reliable and that I could still get a good warantee for say 4-5 years. After that runs out i will sell it and buy another. Those BMW friends helped steer me to the IS.

If I was going to lease a vehicle for 3 years it might well be the BMW. Or at least it would have been a harder decision than it was.

WylieKylie

iTrader: (2)

I drove a bit of everything before getting my IS, including several 1 and 3-series. I wanted something that was RWD and handled well. The IS was several cars down on the list, but given practicality and reliabity factors I ended up with the IS. I'm not unhappy at all with the IS, but I will definatly be spending more $$$ on aftermarket suspension bits that I wouldn't be spending on a 335i with a sport package.

If I were in Germany I think a 135i/M135i/135is would be at the top of the list, especially if it were new enough to be under warranty.

Also I wouldn't completey discount the value of the F-Sport package on the IS. The seats are wonderful, (although they aren't as big of a change between the base and sport seats in a BMW) and the steering ECU does help quite a bit with steering feel. The steering ECU can be quite easily swapped out and a used unit won't cost a fortune, but the seats are a different story.

Smashin

The dealer can order an F-Sport fully accessorized with F-sport accessories but they are kind of rare... We had one at the dealer I work at and it had an extra 14K$ price tag to go with it which included the sway set,BBK, intake, shift **** and exhaust... That's too pricey IMO