jman-is350

I agree with you SPWOLF. Before I pulled the trigger on my 07 IS350 a few weeks ago, I drove the 335i and did like it at all, besides, you cant beat the Lexus reliability when compared to the BMW cars (even though they have free maintenance for 4yr/50K.

jman-is350

Now this will be a nice comparison write up.

Cornellian

LOL.....this thread has been RESURECTED from the Dead!

matsarge

Speaking as a unbias BMW owner , I will say that the IS350 is a very nice car and I considered buying one before I bought the 330i. The thing that killed it for me was the amount of room (or lack there of) in the back seat area and the overall disconnect from the road when driving it. Overall, IS350 owners have nothing to be ashamed of. Great power and build quality and an overall excellent car. I just didn't get the same "feel" I got from driving the 330i.

Will the IS350 outrun the 330i in a straight line, there's no question about that and it would matter to me if I was like 16 yrs. old. In terms of what most "adults" care about, comfort, overall driving feel, build quality, etc. the cars are evenly matched. You can't go wrong on either choice, it really comes down to what's most important to you.

socalJD

A question for you, aren't you a tad bit irritated that your '06 330i is now technically obsolete less than 12 months after debuting with the much anticipated 4th gen redesign ? I'm thinking it killed your resale value and increased the depreciation loss. Unless you had insider info and anticipated this, I know I would be PO's with Bmw over this . . .

matsarge

Good questions but to be honest, it doesn't bother me. Other than the motor, the car is basically the same. Looks the same, drives the same(cruising, not talking straight line), etc. I bought the car because I liked the look of the body and the feel when driving it, the performance of the motor was secondary to that. I bought it with the intent of keeping it for a while so I'm not sweating any depreciation issues, besides the resale value is still better than 99% of the cars on the road.

But most of all, it doesn't bother me because I drive the M3. My wife drives the 330i now and she could care less about a new motor in a car that looks exactly like the one she has.

Besides life is too short to worry about what a car company may or may not do next year. I'm sure there are plenty of IS350 owners who will be pissed when a 6SP version is released or Lexus adds something else to the car that they really wanted but didn't let it stop them from buying the car at the time they did. Anyone who buys a new car runs the chance of going "DAMN IT" the next year when the company decides to add a new feature. If we all worried about that, no one would ever buy a new car.

EBMCS03

VERY PISSED! they did that with the 545... it got replaced with the 550 and made my 545 an expired car in less than 9 months. Not the first time BMW did this... I hope Lexus wont do it with the IS 350... drop in a new engine by 08. (not talking about the IS 500)

IS350jet

Why can't the 335i and the IS350 be compared? This just does not make any sense.They MUST be compared! The two cars are now more closely matched than they ever were. The Lex still has more HP and now has the nanny kill switch. I say "bring it on". It will be hard to compete with 300 ft. lbs of torque, though. With the BMW weighing in at more than $7,000 more, I'll keep my 350 and be proud.

BTW, "stock" means "as produced by the manufacturer" Turbo or no turbo, the 335i is stock. However, add one little computer chip and it's no longer so.

matsarge

As far as the IS350 having more HP than the 335i, that's probably not the case anymore. Enough dyno's of the 335i have appeared (mags, tuners) to show that the 300 HP rating is not accurate and underrated by BMW. It's consistently pulling 275+ HP at the rear wheel which puts it closer to 315-320 HP stock. Here's one dyno...http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31578

VicsIS350

they say a 335i will pull 0-60 in 4.8 i thought the best we can do is 5.1 i own a c32 now and that competes with me