BMW 3-series vs Lexus IS

polyester1970

I have a 2005 TSX for my wife and just bought myself 2009 335 Coupe.

I think those 3 cars will get fairly similar gas mileage. If you plan on driving the car for more than a decade than Lexus or Acura might be cheaper to maintain than the BMW. The Acura is a bit wimpy and I kicked myself for not waiting for the Lexus IS250 before buying that, but mostly because i think the IS looks nicer, rear wheel drive, sportier, etc... The TSX has very little low-end power - that means you have to really step on it to get it to go faster. Not that my wife races it, but acceleration can be viewed as a safety and comfort issue.

I have strong opinions about the way the cars look but those are my personal opinions. I thought through this similar bunch of cars as I was buying my 335 and here are some of my conclusions.

- Lexus might save you a significant amount of money depending on the model & options.
- Lexus might have better technology, navigation, etc... than BMW, although the 2009 BMW's have a greatly improved iDrive (navigation)
- Many people think BMW interiors are a bit plain, but some call it a classic look rather than the cluttered, techy, LED, stuff ages really fast. And it actually looks good to me anyway.
- I think Lexus is the nicer of the Japanese luxury cars, but I still don't think any of them have quite the stature of BMW
- BMW's generally outperform Lexus at each price range - even if you don't like to drive fast - it handles better, more fun to drive, etc...

I ended up buying the 335 partially because the IS350 doesn't come in a manual transmission which is a requirement for me, but I understand I am a minority here. But mostly because of design, when you spend $50,000 on a car you're not just buying some piece of industrial machinery, you're buying a piece of art, and to me at least, the IS just isn't as beautiful as the 3-series coupe.

I also considered the Inifiniti G37 and Audi A5 (2 door coupe). The Audi A5 actually was a little tempting, but the fact that Audi share most of it's components with Volkswagen ruins the brand for me. It was also overpriced compared to the 3-series. The A4 and A5 are basically Passats and I've also heard too many mechanical horror stories with them.

So if you ask me and you're in the IS250 price range:
1 - BMW 328 Coupe (2009)
2 - Lexus IS250
3 - Infiniti G37

Good luck.

ivan_99

The A4 and A5 are basically Passats and I've also heard too many mechanical horror stories with them.

I think that is the *old* Passat...sharing the platform with the A6.

The new Passats (&CC) are on the same platform as the Jetta.

The A4/A5 are new platforms (much improved) and does seem very tempting (S5).

I think JD has the Passat showing a big improvement in reliability over the previous model (don't recall specifics)...though CR shows the new 2.0T Passat reliability as worse than average.

I've seen IS250's going for low to mid 20's; seems like a good deal for a nice car.

CR has both the IS250 and 328 as "Recommended"...strangely with worse "owner costs" than the less reliable Passat.

nycxprodigy

Would the BMW be even better in comparison with the is250 with the low financing rate?