Did a quick google search, looks like this exact comparison has been done a year ago.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2093289

As for the man's thread: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...ighlight=lexus - it's been very civil. The Bimmerphiles gave very sound advice (ie. Don't buy a luxury marque. Just buy something to get you by, and focus on your career).

 

Is350<335i

 

Haha, this contributes nothing to the discussion.

 

I'm going to get hated for this but........

Bismarck if you are so tight on cash wait it out man, you are going to strangle yourself financially and by the sounds of it, still feeling unsatisfied and wanting more.

Bank some cash, make some wise financial choices, and then pick a vehicle that checks all the boxes, you will be satisfied, financially comfortable and have some cash left over for your other obsessions.... or mods

Of course this is coming from someone in the financial industry, but for me, every time I settle on something It's backed by regret and losing the love because I actually want something else.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I go Lexus for full outright ownership; however, if I could lease, I'd take a BMW.

 

Have you checked fuel prices? Considerably higher than in the US.

 

Yeah, I've checked fuel prices, I lived in Germany previously. I had a 316i when I was there, and had relatively no complaints, given I spent about 300€ in maintenance over a 25k and I bought it with 198k on the clock. Sold it with 222 or so.

TBF - I am not super strapped for cash. I am by no means maxing out my budget buying a e46 or an IS 200. The IS 250 would max me out, as far as my car budget goes. I am not dipping into other chunks of my budget to finance a car I cannot afford. I am just debating on whether I should dip into my car budget to bank some cash.

While one of the members over there gave me some very sage and sound advice, if I was to purchase a FWD can opener of a car, I would have it 6 months before selling it and buying something else. Cars are my weakness. Some dudes its ****, others its women, others its booze, but mine is RWD and has a clutch.

I've toyed with the idea about getting a RX8 that fails a compression test for like 2k€ and then rebuild the motor for a couple thousand Euros and wa-la I have a RWD stick which looks pretty nice. The problem is that I am not going over there as some English teacher who couldn't get a job doing anything else, I am an attorney, accountant and economist. While some of you guys might think "bwah, its just a car who cares" just like in the United States, in Germany you are expect to "live up to" a certain "standard of living" to be taken seriously.

Showing up with a 03 Opel Corsa


just really isn't an option.

Acura and Infiniti doesn'T (and didn't until 2012) exist in Germany (respectively) and the used car marketplace for these automobiles is limited to service member's imports or stolen cars from Eastern Europe.

The most I think about it, practically I shouldn't get the IS 250, and I should go with an e46 Coupé with low miles and maintenance history. I could take about 3000€ out of my car budget and stick it in the bank (aka Gold bullion) and when I have to replace a single component of the coolant system on the car, I just replace the entire thing, which I can do myself in a weekend.

I hope this can clear up my indecisiveness.

 

Given the many reports on this website of carbon buildup, disintegrating dashboards, leaking water pumps, expensive oil leak repairs, and poorly shifting manual transmissions, I don't think one can claim that the IS250 is a reliable automobile. I won't claim that the BMW is better. But regrettably, reliability and IS250 do not belong in the same sentence. At least given what I've been reading.

 

These problems are definitely not the norm for most most people on here, Im sure the problems you read on the BMW forum are much more the norm and Im sure theres much more of them. I really wanted to get a five series when I was looking for a car but you just cant beat the reliability of a Lexus.

 

Would it be cheaper to buy the car here in the US and have it shipped over to germany

 

No, it would have been, but too many Germans figured this out, and starting doing "Autokaufreise" or a "Car Purchase Vacation."

The German government caught onto this in the quickness and changed the laws making it prohibitively expensive.

 

Too much assertion and not enough facts/stats. On both sides of the debate.

That said, I have a hunch that my 2009 IS250 will be surpassed by my 2009 Toyota XRS in terms of reliability. But I hope my hunch is wrong.

 

agreed

if it came down to utmost reliability, i wouldnt say the 250 at all. i would say the 350 before the 250


i agree with this as well. with a good lease i would do a bmw, but to own for the longer run, i would go with the lexus all day

 

OP, Acura doesn't exist in Germany but the TSX is sold their as the normal "Honda Accord".



It has similar/more specs than its US TSX counterpart too.

 

I would get the BMW. My co-worker has one... he's a big BMW fan. He even says that some BMWs are garbage but others are not. His 318i went 260K miles before he sold it (for $7K!!!) and he now has a 328 with over a 100k miles that he has had 0 issues with (he drives 70 miles each way to work). The IS seems like it could be hit or miss... I am even debating on whether or not to keep my 08 IS250 or sell it and keep my old 02 Toyota Camry with 265K miles on it. I can buy a rebuilt motor for the Camry for what the dealer charges to fix an oil leak on the IS. Even though the IS250 is not part of the cam gear recall, mine randomly makes the noise when started... I also occasionally have hesitation off the line which I fear is the start of a carbon buildup issue.