Re: Taste of IS250
I had the chance to test drive the 323i and the IS250 back to back yesterday so I do not forget the feel of either. There were 2 of us test driving the cars one after another and we drove the 323i for a good 15-20 minutes in total. The IS250 was slightly shorter at abt 10 minutes total for 2 drivers. This means I had the chance of being a passenger as well.
The 323i was the first car we tested. The interior is of course identical to the 320i (without i-drive). Relative to the IS250, it is very basic. The rims were 17 inches and I personally found them a little awkward shaped (compred to the rest of the 3-series - 320i, 325i, 330i).
Moving off in the 323i, the brakes were quite bitey - moving off and stopping in small paces was a little jerky. Steering feel was very good and weighted heavily.
Drove in D mode until I reached the traffic lights and I immediately switched to Sport mode. Throttle response was pretty immediate and it moved off quickly. When depressing the throttle harder, the engine note can be heard quite early on and it holds the same louder note til it reaches the higher revs - it sounded a little more pitchy than the E46 inline 6s. Both stand-still and on the road acceleration provided decent surge and was very accessible.
Road noise was surprisingly low despite the run flat tyres and the comfort was high - the dampening over humps and ridges was comfortable enough, yet firm; no "bouncing" on the descent.
The stock suspension (sports) setup on the 323i is impressive. Taking around the bends inspired alot of confidence even for aggressive driving. No excessive roll and controllable with relative ease. It'll be quite a waste to change the suspension to aftermarket kits.
On the whole, the paddle feel/response (brakes + throttle) is quite sensitive and immediate which I like.
Next we headed down to the Lexus showroom and arranged for a test drive. There were 2 test cars available and we took the luxury edition.
I took note of the rear passenger seats and the legroom was not as bad as anticipated. The headroom is much lower which may explain the crampness by other member reviews. Honestly, there were bits of plastic littered in the smallest of places like the door child lock, the gear shift plates and the heavy plastic gloss on the gear console.
Inside the car, there were alot of gadgetry. Noticably, the keyless entry, the auto-tilting headlamps, the seat coolers, front and rear parking sensors and the rev meter that lights up at a pre-set limit to prompt the driver to change gears. The paddleshift paddles were larger and made of plastic. When the engine is off, the steering wheel moves up to provide easier access. On the whole the gadgets are very well thought - like larger more expensive continental models.
Moving off the carpark, the steering was significantly lighter than the bimmer. It's very light to steer. Moving off the humps does feel a little tad more dampened. The accelerator was different too and much softer to the foot - admittedly, it's more spongey and that's the throttle feel.
Moving off in normal drive mode, the car was initially less responsive than the bimmer due to the different throttle feel. It was quiet inside the car, although the road noise is not much (perhaps even the same) as the bimmer. No where near the GS300/E60 5-series though.
I found the Drive mode quite normal and easy to cruise around. Thus I switched to the Sport mode to get a feel of the engine. Surprisingly, it didn't feel much different for the lower revs. The acceleration in the lower end was no different from the Drive mode - in essense, it wasn't pronounced unless you push the car a bit more.
Higher up in the rev counts (ard 3,500-4,000rpm), the engine note increases noticably. It sounded more bass-ey and the acceleration starts to pick up from there. The engine note also increases more aggressively towards the end of the rev range - somewhat exponentially. It's quite a punchy engine. It holds the acceleration better up to the higher ranges.
As I'm very used to paddleshift on my own car, I proceeded to try out the paddleshift on the IS250. The gear changes are fast and there's no obvious gear shifting jerk. The paddles change are pretty immediate as noted on the rev meter - with each click of the paddles and the gears move up/down quite eagerly. I really like the paddles.
The steering seems to stiffen at higher speeds, however the handling feel was not near the bimmer. To be honest, it's still quite a distance. I felt the handling gut feel on the E60 5-series is still better despite it being a much bigger chassis. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this - I last drove the 523i one month back.
On the whole, if you asked me which car I prefer, I'd personally take the 323i with little hesitation at this point. I understand what the reviews are all talking about when it comes to the driving experience. Despite the IS250 being faster, the 323i felt more eager, and strangely so. Why it's important is because over time - day after day of driving. The importance of the drive will catch up to me.
The strengths of the IS250 remains that majority of it's conviniences and options are included with the 2 packages (standard and luxury) with not much need to topup. Whereas the E90 3-series is alot more basic. As highlighted in many posts, the Lexus IS250 is more luxurious. Comfort wise, I'd say both are actually almost on par.
To sum it all, It's cliche to say, but the segmentation between the 2 types of buyers are very very different ultimately.
My 2 cents.
