Herblenny

iTrader: (1)

Well, I been searching and looking to purchase an IS-F..

Just out of curiosity, what other cars were you looking at and why did you choose IS-F?? I'm guessing normal M3, S4 etc?

RX7 RAGE

iTrader: (18)

Is that you Phil? Get the ISF.

vbb

iTrader: (3)

I'm going to need to start saving my response to this question so I can just cut and paste it!

But yes, when I decided I was going to get a new car, I looked at/drove the S4, M3 and ISF. I decided the CTS-V was a bit more than I wanted to spend (for a similar year and mileage) and I'm not a huge fan of Mercedes or the C63 AMG even though it is a beast of a car.

I have kids and often drive with my coworkers to lunch, so I wasn't considering any 2-door cars, though I do have friends that have S5s and drove both a manual and an automatic one just for kicks. To make a long response short, I went with the ISF because it was the best all around car in the class. The categories that were important to me were: reliability, performance, exclusivity, aesthetics, and gas mileage, and the ISF was easily the car that hit all of those notes for me. You get Toyota/Lexus reliability in a car that has gobs of low end grunt (torque), gets the best gas mileage out of the class, and is the car you will see on the roads the least. It made the ISF the car for me.

Herblenny

iTrader: (1)

Yup! Its me

Herblenny

iTrader: (1)

Thank you for that response..

We have an RX SUV and so far the local Lexus dealership have been great! Another reason why I'm leaning towards Lexus vs. other brand. I also had a bad experience with BMW dealership and hence why I am not even looking into M3... even though that was on the top of my list 3-4 years ago.

DallasISF

iTrader: (4)

I looked at the usual cars M3, C63 and CTS-V. I also looked at the possibility of going up a class (but an older year/higher miles) and looked at M5 and E63. I was lucky enough to find a local dealer that had the first 3 including an IS-F. Since the M3 and IS-F are similar in power I then looked at amenities which the IS-F blows the M3 out of the water since every extra thing you get on a BMW costs extra such as the sunroof. I also had a difficult time finding a 4 door M3 which was one of my requirements. After shoring things up and finding similar setups the IS-F generally is the less expensive of the bunch and was the only vehicle that I could get an 8yr extended warranty and the price for the warranty was still less than a 3yr for the BMW or Mercedes. I also ruled out the CTS-V since the one I wanted would have been the newer model and was then out of what I was wanting to pay.

I think ultimately I got the IS-F because it had all of the amenities for a great price and the reliability is unmatched especially with the ability to get an extended warranty that will likely outlast the time that I will keep the car giving me some leverage when I am ready to trade up.

Boma

iTrader: (4)

I agree with that statement!!

I also agree that I chose the ISF because it blends all the things I was looking for in my next car, namely: performance, luxury, exclusivity, and of course reliability. It also helps that the car has pretty decent gas mileage for a 5.0 V8, and it comes with plenty of cool F badges!

Seriously speaking the F is a solid car. It doesn't have as many aftermarket parts as other cars in its class, but to most people it is perfect right out of the box.

bnizzle87

Performance and luxury without sacrifice. The M and AMG have been in the market for awhile, so there is a prestige factor there. As a factory setup, the F simply cannot be beat in terms of pricing, reliability, and wow factor. To have the same amenities and add-ons in an M3 would easily push the price into the $80k range including TTL.

Best of luck with the car shopping. Test drive each one you might consider to get a personal perspective on it.

Herblenny

iTrader: (1)

Thank you everyone for your input..

my next question is.. What year would you recommend?? Or should avoid?? or all the years are pretty much the same..

And how many of you tracked your ISF and how did it do? I do have few toys but I'm looking for something that I could also drive it to local track for some fun laps (once a year maybe)?? Most I would do to this car will be wheels and tires. Nothing more and wife will have to love driving it..

iH8RICERZ

iTrader: (3)

I started looking at the g37 sedan, acura tl type s, gs400/430 but realized if I spent another 10k, I could pick up something that I would actually enjoy driving so I started looking at the RS4, C63, M3 sedan, and the F. The F was the most reliable out of all of them and in my price range.

djeuch

Most of you will probably laugh at this post, because I honestly didn't think I'd end up with my ISF (but did anyway) and I compared it to cars that don't traditionally fall into this category.

New, I didn't think I would want to swing the overall cost, so I was always looking at the used market. I test-drive my first used ISF this past summer. Liked how it felt, but just didn't quite do it for me. My daily driver at that time was a 2004 Volvo S60R 6MT. It's not in the same power class (300 HP), but it makes up for a lot of that in its other features (more room, AWD, manual transmission, adjustible suspension) so I wasn't quite ready to give it up.

Fast forward to last week. at 135k miles, my S60R had a broken gearbox... at 9 years old, time for a new car.

But I was all over the map. I have a strong preference for AWD and manual (been driving that combination for over 20 years - prior car to the Volvo was a 1993 Toyota Celica Alltrac Turbo)... but after that was RWD (I'm not overly fond of FWD)... yeah, I like rare-ish cars (big plus for the IS-F).

I had test-drove an AMG before. Although impressive, I felt the inside was a little too "plastic" and didn't like the layout.
BMW just isn't my thing.
Dodge Charger R/T Max AWD or SRT8. Impressive car for the price, but felt "loose" on the highway. 5 speed AT
Hyundai Genesis R-spec, interesting design and specs, but never even saw one
Infiniti G37x
Acura TL
CTS-V (but I really don't like how GM does their interiors)
(and a few others)

Not your usual comparison with an IS-F, but all in the $35-45k category.

Test drove a particular 2009 Ultrasonic Blue IS-F with just over 40k miles... it was more solid than every new vehicle I had tried up to that point, even being 4 years old!

So... I bought it!

Murph145

Before I got my ISF 9 months ago I had a 2007 Acura TL-S modified and it looked great but it was lacking performance and the "fun" factor.

I was looking at the F and the M3 most seriously but I found a 2011 F with only 7k miles at the price that fit me... when looking at similar year and mileage M3's they were $10k+ more so I figured go with the F not only a fun car but reliability, great financing rates and extended warranty made it all worth while.

I like the C63 as far as its performace goes but in stock form its looks just dont do it for me.

The CTS-V is dope for sure but more of an older persons car IMO.

Acura when introducing the new TL messed up everything and it is horrible looking. infiniti G series too played out on the road and the IPL coupe version over priced for what you get.

Those were my basic reasons

Boma

iTrader: (4)

OP, all the model years from 2008 to 2013 have had minor tweaks here and there and I believe your best route to take is to get a '11 or '12. Those years have revised suspension setups for a more enjoyable ride and the harddrive nav system which I find to be more convenient than the disc based system. They also come with the mechanical LSD which will help out if you plan to visit the track. Aesthetics-wise the later model years also have the LED headlights that is all the craze right now and I believe slightly wider rear tires as well.

Other than those tweaks the F has essentially remained the same. You can't go wrong.

VtotheJ

iTrader: (2)

The tire widths are actually the same from 08-13 but I believe the OEM rim offsets are different.

Boma

iTrader: (4)

I see, I thought I read somewhere that the tires were like a half inch wider.. i might have read wrong. Thanks VJ.