A Pleasant Surprise......

[Silver Arrow]

Car's in for a service today and I get an IS300h. I immediately thought "Blast, back ache day again.....!"

This time I got an IS300h SE with Nav, and am happier. It has slightly better seats, less harsh ride (I would call this firm but not hard like the F Sport). It has lumbar support too, which I haven't seen on the SE before...????

Managed 76mpg through town on the way home too....so it can be done!! WOW

[Keefey56]

Hi, do you have an F sport? do you find the ride Firm/hard, just deciding on an IS, to be honest have done XR3 and so forth in my youth so do not really want a hard ride, but also SE seats do look a bit on the thin side.

[DJP]

The ride is so subjective you have to test drive them yourself. One mans firm, is another mans soft, if you know what I mean!

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

[Silver Arrow]

Once I got back inside my GS though, I realised how firm the ride is in the IS - even the SE with 17" wheels, and how the seats on the IS are made for young people...I can't kid myself, it's not for me!!

True the Hybrid is awesome, but the rest of the car is for a different type of person.

Can't compare old XR3's or GTI's, they were quite soft in comparison, and much lighter cars.

[Steve44]

+1 DJP.

You need to drive the cars. Any dealer should be able to organise an extended drive. Lexus Derby gave me an IS Lux an GS Lux back to back 24hr drives and I did 200+ miles in each, even though they knew I was a Lex customer with no guarantee of them selling me a car.

Personally, both cars rode very well. IMO the GS is softer, the IS sharper all round. The FSport IS I had from Toyota fleet was definitely firmer, but not so much it was uncomfortable. The ride was originally brittle until I checked the tyre pressures and reset them from 40psi back to the recommended 36psi and it became much better. It is exactly as I would expect given it had a sports biased suspension and licorice band tyres! I'm sure the GS FSport is similar but starting from a softer base. They are designed and optimised for different demographics.

[Keefey56]

Appreciate all your replies, hope to get a drive in both today, will report back

[Silver Arrow]

The GS F Sport also has AVS as standard and so it can really be firmed up, which really should have been the case with the IS (and NX).