Isf - First Impressions

[Realitycheck77]

Most of the posts about the ISF are from those who don't & won't ever own one, and haven't driven one either. Here are the first impressions of my ISF as a road car. Straight away, it puts a big silly grin on your face and it stays there.

When you see it, it looks much better than all the pics on your PC. Where the IS 250 is bland to the point of ugly; the ISF has much more purposeful lines and is a good looking car. The interior is very plain and quite dark with black (really comfortable & supportive) seats, black fittings, flooring, dashboard, roof lining and slightly tinted windows.

When it starts up from cold there is a powerful V8 grumble loud enough to annoy the neighbours, but which soon settles. As you drive it in normal traffic, it is ultra smooth, quiet and not at all a beast, using all 8 gears to give good mileage - so imperceptibly you need to set the display to show gear-changes to know when they happen. Parking in tight spots is really good with both front and rear sensors plus a reversing camera which shows on-screen the path the car will take. As you give it some stick, at 3600 rpm the exhaust note opens up with a very healthy V8 bark, very shortly after which you have exceeded legal speed limits. As to handling, I have only had it for 3 days and am treating it gently. I leave it to those who have had their ISF a bit longer to comment on this.

The ISF is worth every penny - but with sunroof, extended warranty, prepaid service, gap insurance, separate tyre insurance and a Tracker necessary for road insurance; it took a mountain of them to prise it off the forecourt.

Why buy the ISF? Firstly, build quality plus legendary reliability that BMW just can't offer, and costs much more with Audi & Mercedes. Secondly, it is so useable - the BMW M3 is horrible in traffic although great on the track, and the Audi & Merc V8s so big that there is never anywhere to park them. Finally, the ISF is a Lexus - a choice for thoughtful people, as Audis & Mercs are for those who think with their wallets, and BMWs for people who sit on the little bits they think with.

Good photos don't do the ISF justice at the best of times - and mine are not good

Are the Quad Tail Pipes connected to the Exhausts?

[Scorps01]

Are the Quad Tail Pipes connected to the Exhausts?

I thought you would of known the answer to that? :)

[Tango]

So in theory, we could start to see people making IS250 into replica IS-Fs, a bit like people buy 318i and put all the kit on to pretend it's an M3. So I could go out buy a top end IS250, swap the wood for carbon fibre and I have the same interior as an IS-F?

It's already happening, the Koreans don't wait long to make an idea a reality...

[Realitycheck77]

Are the Quad Tail Pipes connected to the Exhausts?

I thought you would of known the answer to that? :)

My understanding is they were not to begin with, then they were connected after for official production models.

The only reason I have queried this again is because of Top Gear's comparison test (see below) Tom Ford mentions they are not connected.

http://www.topgear.com/content/features/st...ories/09/1.html