925tsx

what are the specs on the is250, can anyone link some pics up.

vwong

http://clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175591

ostrich

If the IS 250 fully loaded will be selling for $35K, why don't you get the TL with navi instead? It's much faster than the IS 250 and it looks better too.

Mitlov

A quote from Motor Trend's test of the IS350:

And Lexus has announced that the traction control system cannot be manually turned off. That's right, this is a RWD car that can't do doughnuts.

So let's get this straight. Compared to an Acura TSX, the Lexus IS250:
* Produces barely as much power, despite the two extra cylinders.
* Has lousier handling.
* Has a lousier transmission.
* Costs nearly $10,000 more, similarly equipped.

Why would anyone want the IS250 instead of a TSX?!

925tsx

meh, good point.

Powered by Honda

I'm also considering the IS250 base with no options over the tsx. The rwd and lexus quality is a turn on. I haven't decided yet as you did, but man its tough. Enjoy your Lexus buddy.

AlterZgo

According to those stats, the interior volume is 88.3 cu ft or only 85.7 cu ft w/ sunroof. This is actually smaller than the current IS300's 89.2 cu ft which has a shorter wheelbase and overall length, lower height, and narrower width. WTF?! 85.7 cu ft is tiny. A Honda Civic 4 door has 88.10 cu ft.

I was really considering an IS350, but I'd have to check it out to see if the back seats will work for my family needs.

kaikai114

Uh... are you gonna raise up your TSX for your wife, I think you should, or else it aint gon be healthy for the front lip my car aint even close to being low, last week i lend my car to my mama and scratched the front when i get the BC coilover installed this weekend, I'mma gonna raise the car up like a 4x4 so mama cant do that schmuck again! but anyways, good choice on gettin' the IS250, that's gon be my next car too!

-KC

AlterZgo

Dude! The TSX IS his wife's car. She knows exactly how to drive it. Right vwong?

But, I agree with you about letting girls drive your car. I remember when I got my first 300ZX back in 1990. I let my girlfriend drive it after she kept bugging the shit out of me for a month. First thing she did was to make a turn into a curb! I was like, WTF are you doing?!!!

newbie75

I have been to the TL Forums and read about all the problems the TL users have with the car. I also test drove the TL, its nice, but it was all over the road like the accound, its heavier car and not as firm around the corners.

I really do not mind even forking up to 40K for a car, as I was also considering the BMW 3, but I can not stand thay awful interior of the bimmer. I love the creature comforts in the IS.

static808

If you want a "drivers" car with excellent steering and great feel, get the BMW. I owned one and its truly a drivers car. The 2006 325i should be fast enough, it has the the 3.0 engine that is detuned to 215hp. IMHO it should be much better than the IS250 on the road. Interior is another subject matter, but at least the leather looks good.

dom

Lets not jump to conclusions here.

GIBSON6594

Sounds like a few other cars I can think of..and the name sells them. I look at us tsx'ers as smarter for not buying a car for the name.

newbie75

I strongly dislike the BMW interior. Call me shallow but I sat in one and tried to convince that I will be ok, well, it was not ok, I had the compulsion to get out of the car. The materials also felt cheap and plasticie. Not sure what were they thinking, perhaps to keep the pricing down, they compromised on the interior, it’s a big compromise.

Mitlov

Okay, somewhere between $6000 and $10,000 more for a similarly-equipped IS250. And I would be very surprised if the difference was merely $6000.

I still haven't seen a single category where the IS250 is actually a better car than the TSX. Sure, Lexus is reliable--but so is Acura! Sure, Lexus makes good interiors, but the TSX has one of the coolest interiors I've ever seen.

newbie75

I have always like the TXS and the interiors, I think the TXS is a very handsome cars. Take a look at the Car and Driver Oct. Issue. They did a comparison of 8 cars, BMW 3, Lexus IS 350, G35, Audi A4, Volvo S60R, Acura TL, Saab 93 …. Some facts are good about the article and some have to been seems by a personal test Drive, the IS 350 came second after the BMW, it only lost to the back seat space by 1 point. I think the perception of BMW has a psychological affect on people.

vwong

Yup, the TSX is my wife's daily driver now. She's been trained on how to go up driveways and speed bumps.

vwong

Because I already have the TSX. I don't want 2 TSX's in the family.

ianS

Me too. But one of my neighbour really get 2 TSX for there family. 1 pwp and 1 ssm.

waterrockets

Why is that stupid? People act like adding two cylinders to an engine should cost $10K. I know the 350 has more standard features, but the engine just shouldn't make as big of a difference as it does in today's car prices.

It works in my favor, because I prefer efficient 4-cyl engines though

waterrockets

IS250 is RWD. This gives it the potential to handle better if they did everything else right. That's certainly not $6K to $10K worth of usefulness though.

The fact is that Lexus cars are worth more money because of their name. It's true for new and used. It's just a better brand than Acura. Kudos to Toyota for building and maintaining such a strong brand. Their cars may or may not be slightly better than Acura's, but that only means so much in the mind of the American consumer.

Mitlov

That point is moot, though, because they DIDN'T do everything else right. Motor Trend says the steering is mushy, and you can't deactivate the traction control. So I seriously doubt the IS250 will out-handle the TSX, even though it lacks FWD torque steer.

More prestigious, yes. More exclusive, yes. "Better"? I'd hesitate to say that, even if we weren't talking quality-per-dollar or performance-per-dollar. And if we are, there's no question Acuras are better. You can get an RL for the price of a stripped GS.

With Lexus (as with BMW or Mercedes), you're paying more JUST for the name-plate. That isn't true with Acura.

laee3

I have to say, IS250 is a handsome car, it looks like smaller version of the new GS. I was waiting for the new IS series as well, before I bought my tsx. Considering that Fully loaded TSX will be around the base price of this IS250, i just went ahead and got myself a 05 TSX.. and so far i'm loving it. Its very cool car. Well now that is250 is around the corner i decided to check out the specs... and wow i have to say i'm very disappointed... what is the point of having 6 cylinders.. if it only pumps around 205?? are you kidding? 205.... please... you might as well as make it 4 cylinders for better fuel economy..... 16 second quarter mile?? man.. hahah i have to say.. i give props to lexus for making IS250 16 second car lol tsx is not alone anymore!!! im pretty sure IS250 will be selling like hotcake... but tsx is a better car here.. hands down... and other thing.... at 205 horse power.. i doubt that IS will have better handling than TSX.. look at awesome FWD cars like prelude and Integra... just because IS is RWD doesn't mean it will have better handling... well i'm bit skeptical about is250... but is350 looked really awesome.. but if i had money for is350.. i would just get the new gs... just my two cents lol

xjohnwx

Even if the IS250 price doesn't go up that much, aside from having to add packages to get similiar features that are standard with the TSX, you're still looking at paying more in other areas, i.e. the useless (205 HP?!?) V6 that will eat up more gas and raise your insurance rates.

vwong

The useless V6 (as you put it) won't eat up more gas. The gas mileage is 20/29 city/highway for the 6MT, 24/32 for the 6AT RWD, and 22/28 for the 6AT AWD. Tell me how is that going to eat more gas than the TSX??? From Acura's website, TSX gets 22/31 for 6MT and 21/30 for 5AT. I say the numbers are very close.

away

AlterZgo

I think there is too much of a gap in power btw the IS250 and IS350. They should've went with an IS300 and IS350 line up. They could use the GS300's 245 hp V6 as the base engine and keep the 306 hp on the high end. 60 hp should be enough to differentiate btw the two.

I'm thinking this will eventually happen. I'm positive the IS350's potent V6 is going into the base GS as soon as they come out with a more powerful V8 for the GS430.

At that point, maybe Lexus will give a boost to the IS250 by installing the 3.0 GS motor in it.

Mitlov

I read that they used the 2.5 liter motor because of some wierd licensing or insurance thing in Europe. For the US market, though, they should have used a more powerful motor. $35k for a sport sedan that barely makes 200hp? Not good enough, Lexus.

waterrockets

That's the whole point I'm making. I said the "brand" was better, not the car. You don't literally pay more for the nameplate, you more pay for the brand. Nameplates cost $20. Brands cost thousands. Lexus' brand is much stronger than Acura's, therefore it's worth more.

laee3

well no no but i think its just that if it was 4 cylinder maybe the rating could been up a little, since it only puts out about 205 horses anyways i think 4 cyliders are adequet... just my two cents..... i mean you have to admit that 205 isn't what you expected

laee3

well but then horsepowers don't mean much... i remember discussion people had when TSX came out... even before it came out TSX only 200 horses... some predicted that TSX won't sell that much.. but look its one of the best selling car in honda/acura line...... IS has better styling but I think TSX is just better car, i'm kinda glad that i didn't hesistate to get 05 tsx.. cuz i really didn't like the foglights and standard rims on 06.. and is250 wasn't what i expected.

g35doc

Even with 205 hp the IS250 does have a lot more torque though. Plus it's only got 0.1L of displacement over the TSX. Honestly though, they should've at least kept the IS300 engine.

xizor

The torque peak is at 4500k rpm or something though, very high for a V6

Those are EPA estimates, which can be very different from real life. I'd like to see autoweek do a real life test to see what it gets in the city. We know hte TSX can as good or better than EPA, so time will show what the IS gets.

biker

Exactly. Look at the combined average the car rags got on the 350 - something like 17MPG - nowhere near even the city number. And I don't care how different the gearing is between the AT and MT on the 250, in real life you're not going to get 20% diff in city driving (20 for the MT and 24 for the AT).

rtyk

I have seen the same... are you around Calvert?

laee3

i have to say is300 looks better than these new is.... don't you guys agree? lol

sveet

Twice the build quality.
Much better dealer support and experience.
Uses the wheels God intended to power the car (the rears!).

Those three are enough for me to justify the $$$.

robeaneee

no way...i think the new IS is way nicer than the old one. i for one did not like the old design at all. without the L-tuned body kit, it looked ridiculously boring.

iNteGraz92

twice the build quality!?!?

gthrow8awayr

twice the build quality!?!?

Freudian Penis Envy

Mitlov

Agreed. My mother has owned a Camry and two Corollas. I have owned two Honda motorcyles and a Honda Civic. I don't think the build quality of my Honda products was any worse than the build quality of her cars--especially not the Corollas. They certainly were not twice as good.

As for the "the wheels God intended cars to use" point--RWD does not ensure that a car handles better than FWD! If it did, a Lincoln Town Car or a 2WD pickup truck could outhandle an Acura RSX Type-S. Motor Trend said the IS250 does NOT handle well when driven by an enthusiast. Given its electronic steering and non-disableable traction control, I believe them.