TopGear: M3 vs. IS-F`
12-01-08, 11:23 PM
#31
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^^^^
What he said!
I've never understood all of this bickering about which cars are better than others. I don't think any of us bought our F's thinking we were getting the faster car on the road, or the fastest car on the track, or the fastest car top speed, or quarter mile...blah, blah, blah. The M3 is a great car as is the C63 or RS4.
IMO, our car offers the best combination of daily driver and performance beast. The styling is something that people will debate forever as aesthetics are subjective and we are all entitled to our opinions.
I have yet to see an owner post that they think they made a bad decision and regret getting their F.
Ironically, most of the criticism comes from people that don't own the car...and rarely does it come from owners of the competitors...as we likely all know that we are fortunate to own such fine driving machines.
What he said!
I've never understood all of this bickering about which cars are better than others. I don't think any of us bought our F's thinking we were getting the faster car on the road, or the fastest car on the track, or the fastest car top speed, or quarter mile...blah, blah, blah. The M3 is a great car as is the C63 or RS4.
IMO, our car offers the best combination of daily driver and performance beast. The styling is something that people will debate forever as aesthetics are subjective and we are all entitled to our opinions.
I have yet to see an owner post that they think they made a bad decision and regret getting their F.
Ironically, most of the criticism comes from people that don't own the car...and rarely does it come from owners of the competitors...as we likely all know that we are fortunate to own such fine driving machines.
12-02-08, 12:03 AM
#32
I test drove all three cars before buying the isF and u really can't go wrong with choosing either of those three cars. I would have been just as happy with M3 or C63 AMG
12-02-08, 11:13 PM
#33
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Are you kidding me? M3's are very tune friendly, theyre are all sorts of things that are out for m3's various turbo kits etc. Youre comment is the exact opposite of whats going to happen the is-f will stay stock because the typical lexus owner does not want to void his warrenty or destroy the reliability.
While the Lex owners care about warranty, the majority know that the car will last well beyond its warranty period and are willing to get dirty early. I think the mod hungry crowd would suggest that F owners are willing to void, it just might take a while longer than G1 as I think the car is great out of the box. As soon as that OD hits the mark, I think we will see more engine mods thrown down to see where the numbers go.I was more getting at that the details that Clarkson talks about can be easily corrected at the compromise of daily driving comfort. The F can use some tightening in the steering and a bit more balance but I will drive it until the intial fun is gone and then I can identify the mods that I would like to change. The M is a great car, with great numbers and I would not mind leasing one at all.
I had great fun with an RS6 tonight...a pretty easy defeat really
Fig
12-03-08, 12:39 AM
#34
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I know they are tune friendly, it just seems like it takes several gens for the tuners to open them up and get to the goodies. The M3 owner expects the car to be "done" as is. I for one expected the F to be well on its way, meaning the luxury brand could not help but leave some harness out of things which I am happy to add back in. While the Lex owners care about warranty, the majority know that the car will last well beyond its warranty period and are willing to get dirty early. I think the mod hungry crowd would suggest that F owners are willing to void, it just might take a while longer than G1 as I think the car is great out of the box. As soon as that OD hits the mark, I think we will see more engine mods thrown down to see where the numbers go.
I was more getting at that the details that Clarkson talks about can be easily corrected at the compromise of daily driving comfort. The F can use some tightening in the steering and a bit more balance but I will drive it until the intial fun is gone and then I can identify the mods that I would like to change. The M is a great car, with great numbers and I would not mind leasing one at all.
I had great fun with an RS6 tonight...a pretty easy defeat really
Fig
While the Lex owners care about warranty, the majority know that the car will last well beyond its warranty period and are willing to get dirty early. I think the mod hungry crowd would suggest that F owners are willing to void, it just might take a while longer than G1 as I think the car is great out of the box. As soon as that OD hits the mark, I think we will see more engine mods thrown down to see where the numbers go.I was more getting at that the details that Clarkson talks about can be easily corrected at the compromise of daily driving comfort. The F can use some tightening in the steering and a bit more balance but I will drive it until the intial fun is gone and then I can identify the mods that I would like to change. The M is a great car, with great numbers and I would not mind leasing one at all.
I had great fun with an RS6 tonight...a pretty easy defeat really
Fig
In my opinion, I think your claims are without support.
12-03-08, 06:36 PM
#35
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You've obviously never checked out M3post or anything else. People that tune cars will tune their cars. People that choose to ride stock will probably remain as such. You can't really identify them with any particular brand. There's hundreds of modded M3s all over Bimmerpost, just like the IS-F over here on club Lexus.
In my opinion, I think your claims are without support.
In my opinion, I think your claims are without support.
From a suspension standpoint, I think motivated lex owners would jump on it first if the products were available due to the degree of softness the Japanese put into the car to retain luxury. That is all I am saying.
M3 owners will always benefit from inside tuners like Dinan that create factory warrateed parts to play with, I was mainly referring to the suspension woes that Clarkson spoke of which is really just a tribute to the German philosophy on a handling car.
Its all sacrifices, but I would always take the Japanese reliability factor over the German engineering
. Are there really hundreds of modded E92's already?
Last edited by TherealFIG; 12-03-08 at 06:39 PM.
12-03-08, 08:17 PM
#36
OK, fair enough. This is just my insight from the owners I know. The modders will always mod the faint of heart will not. The E92 may get faster attention but the E46 seemed like it took a while for things to trickle out. I think the two brands are for different people though, the lexus crowd has never had a car like this as a platform. Maybe this is just wishful speculation but I still think that a german car and a japanese car have fundamental differences in handling "goals." Is the ISF the stiffest production suspension lexus has ever produced, I would say yes. Is it going to be on the same scale as the germans, I would say not. It still has to err on the side of lux than pure performance, and the F does a great job of that.
From a suspension standpoint, I think motivated lex owners would jump on it first if the products were available due to the degree of softness the Japanese put into the car to retain luxury. That is all I am saying.
M3 owners will always benefit from inside tuners like Dinan that create factory warrateed parts to play with, I was mainly referring to the suspension woes that Clarkson spoke of which is really just a tribute to the German philosophy on a handling car.
Its all sacrifices, but I would always take the Japanese reliability factor over the German engineering. Are there really hundreds of modded E92's already?
From a suspension standpoint, I think motivated lex owners would jump on it first if the products were available due to the degree of softness the Japanese put into the car to retain luxury. That is all I am saying.
M3 owners will always benefit from inside tuners like Dinan that create factory warrateed parts to play with, I was mainly referring to the suspension woes that Clarkson spoke of which is really just a tribute to the German philosophy on a handling car.
Its all sacrifices, but I would always take the Japanese reliability factor over the German engineering
. Are there really hundreds of modded E92's already?I believe there's only a few modded E92 but millions of modded old M3's haha
12-05-08, 02:48 AM
#39
I think they should have switched drivers on a second segment. I seriously doubt JC in the M3 could have caught up w/ the professional driver in the IS-F. For that matter if the pro driver was in an IS-250 he probably would have beaten JC in the M3.
The point is that JC is not a professional driver so it's not surprise he couldn't catch up.
The point is that JC is not a professional driver so it's not surprise he couldn't catch up.
12-05-08, 04:50 AM
#41
12-05-08, 06:34 AM
#42
Pole Position
Rumor has it that Lexus is testing new ratios for the F. I for one would like to see that.
12-05-08, 06:36 AM
#43
While I generally agree with your sentiments I also feel that the gear ratios are not optimized for the F. So perhaps the complaint of too many gears is really more of a complaint about the gear ratio spacing.
Rumor has it that Lexus is testing new ratios for the F. I for one would like to see that.
Rumor has it that Lexus is testing new ratios for the F. I for one would like to see that.
At least for quarter mile racing.
