EZZ

I have some friends that actually bought their 340 (F30 generation). Its been reliable for both with only 1 warranty issue between them. The cost of maintenance is higher though. I have many others that lease them and they get great deals where the cost of an M340 lease is cheaper than an IS350 lease but in terms of ownership costs after 5 years, I wasn't debating that. I'm sure a Lexus will be more reliable, but to many, having the BMW's panache and performance outweigh the slight issues with reliability. I'm not going to go into the 7 series and 5 series as those tend to be way less reliable

Also, my 5 year ownership cost was higher with my IS350 than either of my BMW friends as mine ate through tires and brakes far faster than theirs . Not to mention I got significantly worse gas mileage than either of them and theirs came with 3 years of free maintenance.

NinjaNap

I’m aware of what I have. The IS500 has the same performance specs as the GSF - so you’re fooling yourself if you think the IS500 will have cheap OEM pads and rotors simply because of the sport badge.

Also, screw “pay to play”. $400 for sensors and $1600 for half a brake job is BS.

JWIS350

I agree with you. Traded in my IS350 for the M340i last summer and haven't looked back. I'm intrigued by this latest offering from Lexus but it isn't enough to bring me back to the brand, yet.

flipside909

I'm not sure you do. Just because they have the same performance specs doesn't mean they have all the same parts. IS 500 F SPORT will have good brakes and rotors, just not Brembo branded. The GS 350 F SPORT and RC 350 F SPORT have pretty good OEM brakes that are not Brembo branded. The only Brembo branded brakes are currently RC F only. GS F, IS F and 4th Gen LS 460 SPORT/F SPORT had Lexus/Brembo branded brakes. There are numerous posts here about people complaining about how expensive the OEM/Brembo pads and rotors are, which is why many people here have opted for lower cost aftermarket options as replacements. Toyota/Lexus has always always had awesome OEM brakes in the industry.

Okay, so perhaps do some research on cost of ownership on a vehicle you may be interested for your next daily? There are plenty of great threads here discussing costs of these replacement parts.

flipside909

Not sure about your driving characteristics, but i'm pretty sure you and your friends do not have the same commute or driving styles. BMW makes great cars. The only one I would really consider would be an Alpina B3 if they every brought it here and of course a GR Supra. I'd rather have the GR Supra first.

wtwo3

I think when comparing cost of ownership, it's worth segmenting time periods (3 years, vs. long term), since so many BMW's are leased. Over that short term period BMW has a significantly lower cost of ownership because basic maintenance is covered (i.e. oil changes), in addition to the highly subsidized lease deals. Understanding it's not completely an apples-apples comparison (unless you're also leasing the IS). Of course long term ownership it's hard to compete with a Lexus.

Here's an older comparison chart from Consumer Reports which segments short term (3 year) vs. long term (10 year) and it does a good job of showing the dichotomy between the 2 segments when looking at BMW. Short term it's among the lowest cost to own, but long term it's easily the highest (and joined in the top 3 by its Germen brethren). And thus.... people lease...

EZZ

I picked an IS350 over a BMW 335 because the handling was much better on the 350. I chose balance and thought the IS350 was the better car. I would chose the new IS500 over the M340 if they drove the same. My bet is that the M340 will be faster but the IS500 will have better reviews as car mags LOVE V8s.

I would still have my Lexus IS if they had this option when i got it in 2014. Its a fantastic little car.

NinjaNap

The IS500 is not going to have f-sport level performance brakes. Whatever setup that’s allowing the OEM brakes to meet performance stats of an F car will not be cheap - Brembo or not. I’ve read plenty of the threads and a lot of people don’t do DIY they go to the dealer.

I’m not talking about aftermarket availability I’m talking about the ridiculous dealer prices that the IS500 f-sport is going to command despite it not being a F car.

flipside909

Fair enough, but that is 4 year old data.

Generally most people lease German vehicles because of the enticing payment. Once that warranty is over, it's a different story.

If you want to compare numbers, this is a compelling chart from yourmechanic.com:

flipside909

How do you know this? You must have not read my post in the other thread (click here)

OEM Toyota/Lexus parts were never cheap, but they do perform and perform very reliably. I'm going to be the in the minority as I think OEM parts are superior to their aftermarket counterparts and I myself like to service my vehicles at the dealer. Not everyone has the same sentiment, but I value documented national service history with my cars.

wtwo3

No arguments here. This chart more or less backs up that consumer reports chart from 2017. Long term cost of ownership for BMW is through the roof, whereas for Lexus it's significantly lower. My only point was over the course of a lease (3 years), which I believe most people choose as their method of acquiring a BMW - BMW is among the lowest. And for that reason I suggested segmenting cost of ownership time periods. I'm currently leasing an m340i and once my lease is over I have absolutely no intention of buying it out (not because I don't like the car - it's an incredible car - but for the reasons discussed here with long term cost of ownership). It'll be on to the next car.

EXE46

Everybody knows the only real advantage the IS500 may have is the long term reliability and resale value but those things don't matter to people who lease and or those who don't consider cars investment instruments. My M340 is now 18 months old and will be making my 4th trip to the dealer end of this month for service. So far zero out of pocket. Also, the services are more frequent so my oil changes occur about every 7k miles since the computer decides based on driving characteristics. My IS200T F sport only came with two complimentary services. Brakes were shot in one year, BMW brakes were at 90% after a year and I drive this thing very hard. 3IS brakes couldn't handle that level of intensity, I would get to my destination and smell the IS brakes burning from being over-heated and that car never saw the track. My M340i doesn't even have the track handing package brakes which are even more substantial than the stock brakes but they're superior to what my IS had by far. As far as reliability, BMW has gotten a lot better than my E46 days. Many F80 M cars and F30's are running big tunes, down pipes etc for years without engines being blown up. I can definitely notice their quality has improved since those cars are running hard and problem free.

As for Lexus reliability it can be luck of the draw, my IS developed an issue whereby it was going into limp mode. It took two different dealer visits to fix it. Fix was spark-plugs and injector replacement; again that car was slow, couldn't be driven anywhere close to my current car. As you can see any car can develop issues. Now, it is true that the typical Lexus will always be most likely more reliable than a BMW but not everybody buys a car with long term reliability being their primary deciding factor. I am leasing the bimmer as I did the Lexus IS. G20 chassis is superior to the F30 by far, the F30 was why Ia defected to Lexus 3IS. M340I pulled i believe a faster lightning lap than the GSF, imagine that. We can already assume this IS500 won't be a better handling car than the GSF since it won't have the bespoke suspension, RCF/GSF tranny and various bits that the true F cars get. If you have only driven a 3IS you'll think the transmission is decent until you try a BMW ZF8 which makes the Lexus transmission feels archaic. A lot of the advantage the M340i has had in various performance tests is attributed to how the transmission is tuned and as well as the suspension. I know the Lexus V8 is great motor but that alone doesn't mean it will be a better driver's car than a RWD M340i. Anyhow, soon we will know how these two cars match up.

wthrman2

Well, just to chime in that I have already been on the dealer's list - I will be getting this in the fall

JBison73

Did they give you any idea of the price?

macmaster

The front of the new IS is amazing. Totally clean, modern, and fierce.

The back is terrible however and they need to fix it. Looks WAY too much like a Prius. And I would know. Check out my avatar.