The First Luxury Convertible Priced UNDER $39k And It's A Lexus. ANOTHER Reason For the Competiton To Get Nervous!

The "Competitive Comparison" should compare the IS350, BMW 335Ci together, the CLK350 (E Class Coupe) is defunct and no longer a direct comparison to the IS and 3-series. IS250, 328Ci should be compared together, respectively.

...of course Lexus didn't include the 335Ci since they know that it's a much faster car....marketing people can be so lame.

— david969isAFool:

| ...of course Lexus didn't include the 335Ci
| since they know that it's a much faster car

0-60 mph:
Lexus IS 350: 5.2 sec
BMW 335i: 4.9 sec

Quarter mile:
Lexus IS 350: 13.8 sec
BMW 335i: 13.4 sec

Observed mpg:
Lexus IS 350: 22 mpg
BMW 335i: 21 mpg

MSRP (for convertibles):
Lexus IS 350 convertible: USD 43.000
BMW 335i convertible: USD 50.000

So yes, this 0.3 of the second is a brutal difference, makes the bimmer indeed MUCH faster. You also need to run the car a quarter mile to split them by 0.4 of the second. So MUCH of a difference.

Source: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Comparos/articleId=120903/pageId=124130

what are you talking about? The new Lexus is ALOT smaller compared to the 3-series, just like the IS250 is tiny in passenger space compared to a sedan of a 3-series sedan. I would expect the base price to be less. You are comparing the preformance times of the sedan's. The conv arent quite that fast. Wait and see, this will be another comparision that the lexus will lose to the BMW.

8.4 seconds for the IS250 conv is pretty slow.

Mrbratwurst,

The 4.9 sec 335 time is from a magazine test, not the official numbers from BMW.

All manufacturer numbers are usually conservative.

Just a heads up.

001

AND the 4.9 was on a coupe not a 335 convertible.

001

Oh my goodness i am so tired of these bimmer fanboys. No matter what you say about your immature testosterone driven insecure manliness 0-60 times, your beloved 3 series is UGLY. Seriously. A 335 could rape a porsche boxter or an audi a5, but I'd take those 2 any day, and so would anyone else. Not for grown men, but little boys who just got their license and want to race and be king of the road. Hey, a 335 will definitely get the guys hard, but I am personally intro driving a much more stylish car, that maybe might attract women and not 16 year olds who want to always race at stoplights.

Sidenote: The lexus looks ass ugly, but still not as bad as the 4 door 3 series. I can't tell which looks more japanese anymore.

so would anyone else? lol I love the Lexus common on here, actually the 3 outsells either of those cars so no everyone else wouldnt not to mention there would be no A5 or IS if there was no 3 series the rest of your comments I wont even touch as they are just creepy, but so are most Lexus common comments on here. Lexus comparing the 328i to the IS350 is a bit rediculous as the IS350 in sedan form isnt that much cheaper if at all in some cases than the 335i so there is no way the Is350 will be cheaper than the sedan but thats marketing to the low brow I guess. It should be a good competitor though other than some odd styling cues it isnt that bad looking(though I think the G37 looks alot better top up)

You guys do realize that it is stupid anyways to compare the 0-60 times? Lol
C'mon, how old are you?

Not sure what it is but the convertible version of the IS looks more plain and boring than the four door version. The IS convertible just looks boring and boring.

P.S. Does Agent001 work for lexus or something. He seem to post a lot of non-objective evaluations of Lexus products. Maybe it is all about that Lexus advertisement I see on the left hand side of my screen. I am starting to wonder about autospies' impartiality to auto manufacturers?

Sooo funny.

When we say good things about BMW, we're paid off by BMW, Audi, we're paid off by Audi, Lexus, we're paid off by Lexus.

Never ends LOL,

001

001, you must be rolling in the dough with all these automotive bribes! Who knew the struggling automakers had so much cash to give out under the table.

They just sent all the bailout funds to us! ;)

001

I don't think the competition is too worried. The 3 and G convertibles will greatly outsell this frumpy looking car.

Isn't the G Convertable the first one under 40k. It's price range is between 32 and 38.

The ISC should be worried once the A5 Cabriolet and new E Class Cabriolet come out...

define luxury convertible? The 128 convertible starts at $34,000.
I would have to see this in person. The front end is so identical to the corolla, it may start to cheapen the lexus. I am sure a lot of laides will drive this vehicle. Its good that there is a lot of competition out there. It is only good for the consumer!

You know part of the reason I went with my C70 was the price point. The 328i was too expensive, and the next hardtop below mine was a Pontiac G6 (bleh). The C70 was in the sweet spot. I can see the IS also bringing in sales at that price point.

I was going to get a hardtop convertible. And one of the Models that caught my attention was the Volvo C70. I loved the look (top up or down), the interior not so much.

When I started to look into it for possible purchase there were a few major items that I couldn’t get past.

1) FWD (What is this? a Civic?)
2) 0 performance (Toyota Corolla like performance numbers)
3) Complaints of cowl shake and lack of body stiffness (during magazine reviews).
4) The Handling is nothing to brag about.

The Volvo looks nice but that’s about it. It doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same category as the RWD, better balanced convertibles like the 328, G37 and IS IMO.

The C70 had some potential but FWD, Lack of power, and body stiffness issues relegates it to the back of the pack when compared to the other hard-top convertibles. Sorry. They’re reasons (several) why it costs less.

A few counter points to that.
- I love the interior. It is typical sweedish contemporary design. Not overstated and button happy, but a good clean design, I rank it up there with the Audi interiors IMO.
- FWD, yeah I agree with you a bit there, but except for the turning radius, I don't really notice.
- I wasn't looking for performance, and the T5 engine does a great job of carrying the car while still giving decent gas milage, and will still accelerate when needed, that's what I look for. And full torque from 1,500 to 5,000 is a plus.
- I beg to differ on the shake and stiffness, they really did a good job with it and the car feels quite tight.
- Handling, again agreed, but again, not looking for a performance car. Looking for a nice daily driver where I can drop the top on nice days (such as today)

Also as you said with the looks, it is one of the best cars i've seen with the top up *or* down, which is a bit hard to pull off sometimes.

It's not trying to compete with the other cars on performance and that gives a big value to people who want a nice upscale convertible but don't want to pay the premium for performance they will never really use.

People who want the cheapest will get the Lexus. People who want the best will get something else. That's the way its always been with Lexus.

I drove the non-F fitted 350 on Saturday. It drives pretty nice and holds the road well. The comfort level is high and the fit and finish are perfect. Nice execution, Lexus. Overall an impressive ride. However, I'm still waiting for a manual with the 350??? By the way, the black 350C with F-mods looks pretty darn good in person.

I have not driven a BMW 335 conv, but the coupe drives a tad sportier than the 350C. If I had to buy one of the two, base on performance, I'd go BMW; based on everything else, I'd go Lex (styling between the two in my opinion is close...at least in person..with F-mods). Value wins in my book.

The Lexus screams it's a chick car or one of those San Francisco bois would drive it.

They're predicting a 50/50 split male to female buyers of the car.

001

LOL the only way they get a 50/50 split is by getting the women who buy these vehicles, and the men who buy this for their women.

No, its ugly. Give me the new A5 Cabriolet any day over this. Add the S5 to it.

You ever see the A5 Cabriolet with the top-up. You know the cloth top? It isn't a good look imo.

SL buyers flocking to this? 001, you must admit that's quite a stretch. It's like saying S-Class buyers switching to an IS350. Are you really that smitten over it after having driven some of the best cars in the world? Just look at the panel gaps and the Solara-esque hump above the rear wheels! Just because it's under $39k won't make it successful as convertibles are a discretionary buy. Am I alone to say I'd rather pay more for the new A5 cab, 3 series, or the Infiniti G? Oh, and no way in hell will there be a 50/50 split between male and female just because Lexus says so.

This thing looks like a Toyota Solara with a hard top. Terrible.

Plus, who buys a convertible with 0-60 times in mind?

I was going to jump in and say no way, the Z4 is cheaper and then I went to bmwusa.com to price one out. Holy crap, they are so much more money than when I bought mine!!! At this pace, they will probably be 150 grand a piece when the Mesiah is done with all the change.
In the light of this, hell yes, the Lexus is very decent value.

Side-note to 001:
Please throw some of that stimulus money to your code monkeys; the site's been having some Javascript issues lately that result in page freezes with high CPU utilization (likely very long-running loops or recursion).

Not to mention the cars weight. The IS250c will exibit tepid performance at best.

I'm not sure what is the bigger crock of sh*t:

The BMW fanboys v. Lexus fanboys swearing their lives on this

OR

001 saying it won't surprise them if SL buyers will flock to this...

The slide are great, the slides point out the difference between BMW and Lexus; preformance would never be the second on BMW Goals.

this single quote discredited the entire thread: "It won't surprise us if traditional Mercedes SL customers flock to this car because the pricing and package is more 'responsible' in these uncertain economic times."

so buyers of $100,000+ SLs (one of the world's foremost convertibles) are going to run to a $39,000 ugly little convertible? NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. NONE. NOT ONE. in fact, most SL buyers don't even know lexus EXISTS.

Very nice car, I like it but its not from Germany soo I cant give it an A.maybe a C.