dbs600

Yes, between base, Luxury and F Sport, I thought Luxury and F Sport have more 'soft' material surfaces, but wondering if Luxury covers up more 'hard' plastic than F Sport...

SW17LS

I think the style and overall feel of the F Sport jibes better with the overall feel and style of the interior's architecture. Its a sporty interior by design, and in the luxury trim it strikes me as a sporty interior trying to be luxurious with wood trim that seems tacked on, etc. The F Sport seems a more natural fit to me. The seats have a lot to do with that I think.

They are equivalent. The parts of the interior that are "hard plastic" are hard plastic across all the trims. Those parts don't jump out at you though IMHO, as they do in the current ES.

dshkim2

Honestly, if it wasn't for the F-sport, I'd say go with another car in that same price range.. Audi A4, Infiniti Q50, or BMW 328. The BMW and Infiniti are faster stock than the IS350 stock and Audis are just incredible in terms of driver's feel . The F-sport package is what makes the IS stand out from its competition IMO.

natnut

The 328i is NOT faster than the IS350. Audi A4's nose-heavy FWD architecture and numb steering is not exactly a recipe for "driver's car".

In fact the biggest criticism of Audis is that their driving feel/feedback lags far behind their grip and straightline performance

CtSFox

I was just going to post the same thing, but you beat me to it!

SW17LS

Yeah I don't agree about Audis and driving feel. I almost got an A6 instead of my GS, and from a drive standpoint it reminded me more of my previous ES than the GS. You can definitely tell its at its core a FWD car...

reyoasian

iTrader: (2)

BUT.....with F-Sport models.....your REAR SEATS FOLD DOWN!!!

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

no all 3IS have 60/40 folding seats

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Short answer no, like SW13GS mentioned, everything is the same save for the "Trim" pieces for Base, Luxury and F-Sport

I agree that the "Style" and "Cabin Feel" go better with the F-Sport, but then that goes to show they failed to make a LUXURY sport sedan. A great sport sedan, but the "premium" integration is really lacking when you look at lack of features and physical quality of cabin materials.

tommay

serious question,

F-sport grill or non F-sport grill.

i personally hate the way the F sport grill looks and planned on swapping it out once i got the car. i dont like the way it looks now and i know i'll hate it even more once i have to put yellow NY plates on there (lol)

natnut

The F-Sport grill is a major reason why I prefer the F-Sport over the non F-Sport.

dbs600

How do we even make sure that the license plate braket is lined up / centered properly with on the grill? There doesn't seem to be any method to the madness. I like the grill otherwise, but I'm concered over centering / leveling...

Glashub

^^^^

License relocation kit.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

use a tow hook license plate mount

SW17LS

I don't know that I would take it that far. The harder plastics are much more hidden in the IS than in the ES, and in the case of the IS I think the overall car is enough of an improvement over the previous car to excuse SOME cost cutting on places like lower doors, etc. I think its pretty comparable with other cars in its class, such as the BMW 3 Series, etc. The features are there, just not in the F Sport.

I don't feel that way about the ES.

I think the F-Sport grill makes the car. I think the base and luxury model 3IS looks awkward compared to the F Sport.