Originally Posted by Kanpai

@DLPTony @wthrman2 I am going to post about my Lexus Driving Experience here in the General thread instead of the Production thread.
TL;DR: V8 does indeed go VROOM

Originally Posted by DLPTony

What an awesome read! Thanks for sharing.

I would love the IS 500 no matter what anyone else thought, but I get stupidly excited when others come away with the same feeling. 😎 I really hope you guys get to park one in your garage.

Originally Posted by Kanpai

Well this event exists solely to push the driving school, which was half their time was spent talking about. The "feature" cars from this event were the NX (low buy in SUV) and IS500/RCF (Roughly same price), which made sense for the crowd of mostly casual folks looking for a test drive of basic cars. I'd say most of the folks didn't push their car at all during the Autocross because they weren't comfortable (like my wife) or didn't care, so the LC500 would be more or less lost on this crowd. They know if you're dropping $1k plus possible flights and hotels that you actually at least WANT to push these cars.

Originally Posted by macmaster

Very interesting. Seems like an odd angle to take because I can't imagine the Lexus Performance Driving school is a big source of profit for Lexus. $995 x 5 locations x 3 days x 20 drivers each? = $300,000 minus the gas, instructors, and track fees? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they have it.

Originally Posted by pprj

Great car, with a great drive train.
Congrats.

Originally Posted by Kanpai

I'm holding out hope that MY2023 would go better for me, and I am likely to expand my dealer search outside my area since my tri-state dealers have not been great for various reasons. In the meantime, I can at least say I drove one and know that I would come away happy if I do get my hands on one.

Originally Posted by Renault

I'm pretty sure you will be able to get one in 2023, I think the majority of die hards like us who really want one are actually a small minority. Hype for this car has died down a bit, and a lot of people I think will realize they may want something different (I've even seen forum posts of people feeling like it wasn't exactly what they were expecting). I chose this car personally knowing what it was, more mild mannered than the marketing made it out to be. I think I watched the savage geese review 100 times before getting the car and really took heart to what they said about it being in no way a track car. It's a spirited daily driver, that if you want to push you can. I think with the release of the Nissan Z and M2 by 2023 people will have a much easier time getting the IS500 at MSRP as those who didn't really want the Lexus experience will drop out of the race to get one.

Originally Posted by Kanpai

@DLPTony @wthrman2 I am going to post about my Lexus Driving Experience here in the General thread instead of the Production thread.

Booked our driving experience today for the wife and myself at Metlife today. This was my first time getting behind the wheel of the IS500 (and RC-F) after being in a IS350 F-Sport and multiple other V8s. They had us putt around in the new NX's for about 15 minutes before they let us get on the Autocross track with the IS500 and RC-F. I picked the RC-F first and the wife got the IS500 first. Was a great little track, starting with a small straight to top out 1st gear and let the V8's run out to redline, then it had a good amount of turns but not another stretch to go WOT comfortably. We then switched cars and I took the IS500 (in USB, of course, which was POPPING in the sun). Maybe it's my sheer bias for the car, but I felt it handled this track very well. I was not being easy on it and it got through the course with plenty of tire squeal and noise. I sweet talked the guy running the autocross portion to let me go one more round with the wife in the passenger seat to show her its limits and she was smiling almost as much as I was (I told her I am going full send and she got full send). I fell in love with the car and further convinced me that it is worth the wait. Talked to the Autocross lead after about the car and had a great conversation. Everyone running the event was great. I even had a convo with someone there detailing all the BS and shenanigans with dealers in my area and she even said you may be better off going out of the area and working with more reputable dealers. Overall, great experience, especially for free.

But what matters is the car. The driving position was mostly great, after some seat and wheel shenanigans (I'm a broad 6') but I could fit behind myself mostly comfortably. I oddly fit better in the IS500 than I did the IS350; maybe it was all the extra adjustments for the seat and steering wheel that come standard with the IS500 that helped, but definitely noticed that. Slammed the throttle to start to get the tires to chirp and get to redline in 1st just to hear the engine and it is GREAT. I've been in lots of V8s for different manufacturers and this one just has a different tone to it. I was throwing it in the twisties and it held up great for only being "F Sport Performance" but you could tell the RC-F could handle the extended abuse better. I smiled as soon as I put my foot on the pedal and it didn't go away until I left the car. Now, I am stuck waiting until whatever happens with the 2023 year since nobody there really had an answer as to the status of the car, but I am at least happy to know that all this waiting and BS with scummy dealers will eventually be the right choice.

TL;DR: V8 does indeed go VROOM

Originally Posted by cajun

I was there on Saturday. My take: The absences of the LC (despite advertising to the contrary) and NX 450h+ were a bit of a disappointment. And not serving a buffet of food as in the past (per the Giants Coach's Lounge) was also a letdown. No four-figure coupon on new vehicle purchases was also a bummer (not that Lexus is particularly motivated given the current market). That said, a very good experience with plenty of vehicles to drive. By the way, on the upside of waiting for 2023 IS 500 models to become available: You will probably have a significantly shorter wait than for the apparent two-year long list for those looking to purchase the LX. Ouch!

Originally Posted by macmaster

This is the review we need, but not the one we deserve. Did they let you take more than 1 lap in each car on the autocross? The other guy made it sound like they were limiting people to 1.

Originally Posted by Kanpai

You got 1 lap in the RCF and 1 lap in the IS500. I didn't notice that the website was pushing the LC, so I didn't really get upset at it not being there, but he is correct, they were absent when the event advertised driving the LC.

Originally Posted by macmaster

when I went a few years ago there were a handful of people in line for the autocross so I don’t think they would’ve cared or noticed if you did more than 1 lap. They weren’t ushering people out of the event either, so how did they enforce only 1 lap?

Originally Posted by macmaster

when I went a few years ago there were a handful of people in line for the autocross so I don’t think they would’ve cared or noticed if you did more than 1 lap. They weren’t ushering people out of the event either, so how did they enforce only 1 lap?