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Is250 Reviewed In Autocar


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A head to head test in todays Autocar: IS250 Auto vs 325 manual.

They couldn't get a manual IS to test.

Main points:

IS250 well engineered, well equiped but heavier, "impossibly expensive" feel to interior.

Critisism of "form over function" such as instruments are nice to look at but hard to read. Firm ride at low speeds, over-sensitive steering.

High levels of grip, much less understeer than BMW.

Quieter, smoother engine but less torque and not as "nice" noise as the BMW.

MPG about the same at 22mpg over the test.

Small boot at 378litres.

Overall "the BMW breaks it (the IS) down and eventually overwhelms it quite easily".

So the 3 series wins again according to the journos - surprise surprise.

They do like the new IS though and say it "very close" to the 3.

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yeah, but these are the same journo's that always claim the 3 series is best, regardless of all the points against it...

it would be interesting to know what BMW launches (and associated gifts) to these journos are...

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yeah, but these are the same journo's that always claim the 3 series is best, regardless of all the points against it...

it would be interesting to know what BMW launches (and associated gifts) to these journos are...

apart from the fact lexus is better equiped, price wise there is virtually no different, and i feel the 3 series is a better car, i love my 325. Bare in mind though, the cost of the IS250 is higher by far than the IS200, a 325i auto can be bought for under £30k new. I bought a 2 yr old 325i Sport for £16k, i'd say thats far better value than a 2 yr old Lexus.

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All the reviews I've read so far would confirm that the IS is now the better car, which is all I need to be happy. I couldn't care less if people still go out and buy the 3 series (in some ways this is better as it keeps residuals up)

While they may give the win to the BMW, in their reviews the Lexus wins in every category except 'pure driveability'. As, like most people, I drive on the road (and not on a track), as long as the handling is good enough that it feels secure at speed and reasonably high speed cornering, I'm not really interested in how easily I can get the tail out and slide the car round a corner!

The car that is better, is the one that can do that quite well, but also be comfortable, well equipped and well built, all categories that go hands-down to the IS.

In my opinion, as long as these reviews are genuine, Lexus is on to a winner :D

(Plus I couldn't imagine having anything as ugly as the new 3 series on my drive :P )

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The review i read today on the new model said they liked everything about the car apart from the small choice of engines at launch...they say theres a 400 Bhp version coming out later on :driving:

The other thing they didnt like was the Toyota sourced switch gear on the centre console.

Maybe in 10 years i might think about buying one :D

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A head to head test in todays Autocar: IS250 Auto vs 325 manual.

They couldn't get a manual IS to test.

Main points:

IS250 well engineered, well equiped but heavier, "impossibly expensive" feel to interior.

Critisism of "form over function" such as instruments are nice to look at but hard to read. Firm ride at low speeds, over-sensitive steering.

High levels of grip, much less understeer than BMW.

Quieter, smoother engine but less torque and not as "nice" noise as the BMW.

MPG about the same at 22mpg over the test.

Small boot at 378litres.

Overall "the BMW breaks it (the IS) down and eventually overwhelms it quite easily".

So the 3 series wins again according to the journos - surprise surprise.

They do like the new IS though and say it "very close" to the 3.

so they said IS handled better? sweet...

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A head to head test in todays Autocar: IS250 Auto vs 325 manual.

They couldn't get a manual IS to test.

Main points:

IS250 well engineered, well equiped but heavier, "impossibly expensive" feel to interior.

Critisism of "form over function" such as instruments are nice to look at but hard to read. Firm ride at low speeds, over-sensitive steering.

High levels of grip, much less understeer than BMW.

Quieter, smoother engine but less torque and not as "nice" noise as the BMW.

MPG about the same at 22mpg over the test.

Small boot at 378litres.

Overall "the BMW breaks it (the IS) down and eventually overwhelms it quite easily".

So the 3 series wins again according to the journos - surprise surprise.

They do like the new IS though and say it "very close" to the 3.

so they said IS handled better? sweet...

I would highly doubt that would be true though, considering they tested the IS250 against a manual and against a car that has near perfect 50-50 weight distribution.

I take it this was a stock 325i, and not a sport model? Is it fair to test against a sport, or is the IS250 a sport. The IS250 looks so high up, not sure how it could handle as well. And those mirrors must kill aerodynamics :tomato:

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so they said IS handled better? sweet...

Well, no actually - although they liked the sharp turn-in and lack of understeer, they were critical of slightly tail-happy handling;

"it wants to oversteer on turn in"...."the ESP system will quickly intervene, and in an untidy lurch you stay on the road"

They claim this happened regularly during their (wet) test drive.

They also state that the BMW is "unquestionably the better of the two to drive".

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