Lexus ISF curiosity
 

Has anyone owned or driven an isf. Always liked those cars and was curious for opinions and feedback from Z owners

I drove my friend's is-F and I really liked it. The interior is very refined but I guess you can expect that out of Lexus. Nice power and sound, especially when you pass around 3.5k and you hear that throaty grunt. I raced him with my 997-S and it was pretty close. The only thing I didn't like about it was the fact that the gas pedal was top hinged, but that's just me haha

What about the 8-speeds gearbox ? Top Gear and Fifth gear are complaining that this is too much, and the gear management is downshifting / upshifting too many times

I read bad reviews on it but I heard the car in person open up on a straight and it sounds absolutely amazing

We have one at the shop ;)

It sounds amazing. The green doesn't hurt either!

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6611952_n.jpg

They have made some considerable revisions to the 2011+ model, in addition to recalibrating the 8-speed gearbox. It's allegedly made for a much better vehicle that the first car.

I have a bit of a soft spot for the IS350, so naturally I do like the ISF, as well. Though being offered exclusively in auto does kinda' suck.

I went and looked at one but did not drive it. Our local Lexus dealership sucks. Wal-Mart has more class. Luxobrand-fail in my book.

Just peeking in the window, it looked like a fairly nice sedan. Nice amenities, good looking interior. I don't consider it a sports car, though. It has too many seats/doors.

I would cross-shop it with the BMW M3, and CTS-V Sedan. To me, it loses out compared to these 2. Not nearly the appeal of Supercharged American muscle or high-winding German engineering.

Then again, I have not driven, ridden in, or bothered to even sit in one, it's just my initial impression upon seeing it and looking at the rather dismal performance numbers given the claimed horsepower.

Drove one. Personally not really a fan of the car.

My close friend got IS-F 2011 in blue color,

Let me tell you the truth, I used to believe those ppl who say bad things about the gearbox,

but after I ride the car for several times, I realized that these ppl are just haters and dont have funds for IS-F.

This car is amazing, Upshift and downshift is really really fast, there is zero lag weather you're downshifting nor upshifting.

oh and let me tell you, its way cheaper than M5,C63, and many those high performance sedan and the IS-F still smoke them easily..

IS-F is a phenomenal car, I driven it on a track and got the tail out a couple of times, if it was my money and I was in the market for a sport sedan , ISF or C63 would be my bet.

The 8 speed is just fine with super fast shifts, The engine growl is addicting when you get on it and around town it feels better than a M3 because of the low end torque. I wouldnt call the ride too stiff as it is a sport sedan and there is road feel. It probably is cheaper to maintain than a C63, M3 or RS4.

Now the downside.
The Leg room is not existent in the back and it only seats two small children, if that matters to you. There is no exhaust note compared to the nice one on M3 and I dont like the tail pipes too much.

Now the down

My brother has an ISF
 

And I have a 370Z, the ISF is an incredible car, his only has an intake to make it LOUD!!! :yum:

It handles a LOT better than I expected and honestly, I trust his car to out maneuver my car. The major difference if one of us has 4 seats, one has 2...

That's quite the reasoning

Apparently, the head engineer who started building the IS F at Lexus wanted a sports car, but didn't like that sports cars only have 2 seats. So he thought the IS sedan was a good platform.

I trust Toyota/Lexus to make a fine product; but, many of their products are bland.
I'd like to drive the IS F to see how fun it is

I've ridden in an IS-F around the track and it did not disappoint. Nice cars.

Ive been looking for one around my town, test drove one and LOVED it. Im young and looking to buy a home soon and i dont wanna put $6k+ down and pay $600 a month for it. :(

I personally think the car is amazing.

Wow sick dont really like bright green on cars, but this one looks mean!! :tup:

I just traded my 2011 Starfire pearl IS-F for a new GT-R and it was an excellent car. It handled extremely well and the ride wasn't very stiff at all. I loved the huge center tach and the comfortable seats, but what I liked most was the sound! The secondary intake opens at 3600 rpm and is pure sex. The reliability has been perfect and my only complaint with the car is the lack of space in the interior. It really should've been a coupe. Honestly, if I could keep it AND the GT-R, I would.

:|

Yeahhhh... the ISF feels WAYYYYY more planted, the first time i took a freeway onramp at... 130mph, (lets say it was a closed course) I couldn't stop laughing at the grip the car has, I take my 370 around it at 80-90 and my holes start to pucker up like the car will slide and I will die... LOL!!!

Who the **** do you people hang out with? I have read a few "My friend owns one". Wanna know what my friends own? cars under $10,000 lol. An isf is something we go to the auto shows just to see...

On a sidenote. Who wants to be my friend? I need your connections. Oh btw SpeedElement, I am a great friend to have :tup:

Have you taken either car to an actual road course?

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My friend has one and they are sick .. When they are modded OMFG ..

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...10-lexus-is-f/

A decent-at-best handling car that feels planted because it is fat. Straight line performance is good (shocker...), sounds great, but seriously...65k for that? I can make a novel practically, of cars I'd prefer to own than the most beige GT car out there lol. M3 and CTS-V being right at the top.

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I own it if it makes you happy...
 

My brother who I live with owns it... I daily drove it for like 2-3 months...

No road course
 

I haven't taken it on a road course, and I don't think either of us (me or my brother) ever will... (We do drive the living sh*# out of both of our cars though). We both agree that his car is faster, feels WAYYYYYY more planted to the road. But the 370 is kinda fun to **** around with.
The Lexus's ride quality SUCKS, I mean you feel it when you run over an ANT, and the 370 is 15 times more comfortable to take on long drives, but the 370 is also 15 times LOUDER, in the annoying road noise sort of way...

Biggest thing that anyone who has driven both our cars say is that my 370 drops its acceleration at 3rd gear, where the Lexus will pull in ANY gear, and YES, 8 is too many... We ALL agree on that too...

Used
 

Oh, and we got it 2 years used with 4,900 miles, for $40k... And it's not like you're going to have engine problems or ANY problems with that car... A used one on eBay goes for like $40k with 15k miles... And we actually bought it on eBay too, LOL

I raced a few put them to shame and in a Saturn sky redline to boot at 18 lbs of boost the F was neck and neck at 24 lbs I put a hurt on them bad. Switch to E85 tune and I could smoke one like it was standing still. I kinda miss the car now.

Thread necro'ing...

I recently bought a 2011 ISF and here's my comparison with my the 370Z touring sport:

Handling/Suspension: ISF
Comfort: ISF
Practicality: ISF
Acceleration: Same
Fun: Z

Overall the cars feel totally different so it's hard to compare. I use the ISF for daily driving, running errands, etc. and the Z for driving around for fun, the ISF handles better than the Z but I feel less connected with the road

Used IS-F's are still going for $30-40k with 80k on them.

If they were cheaper, Id probably give up the 370z for one of them. I think they are sexy/fast/luxurious and I like 4 doors!

If you get one try to get a 2011+, the suspension feels a lot better. I test drove a 2008 and didn't like it at all

REALLY?!?!?! I don't think so... The torque in the ISF feel retarded

Right...

idk about buying a car with that many miles on em. Also I can't find any is-fs that have that many miles to begin with. around 50,000 is the max I usually see.

I did an autotrader search the other day and put "ANY DISTANCE"

Thats how i saw some with 80k on them

If Lexus had made the ISF with a 6sp manual, I'd have bought it instead of the Z. I'm a fan of everything about the car other than the auto and the retarded exhaust tips.

Is an understatement... I HAVE an ISF, and I HATE those goddamn things, LOL!!!

Iirc, they're not even attached to the exhaust so you can't get rid of them by going with an aftermarket exhaust.

Yessir, they are on the goddamn bumper... A company, (maybe more than one now) makes a replacement tip set/exhaust but it's still hideous because it's a quad tip dual stack... Such an ugly design

I like the stacked exhaust. *shrug*

I guess I'm the minority.

But I disagree about the acceleration feeling like the Z. The ISF definitely rips off the line quicker than the Z, the torque difference is quite notable.

I like the ISF a lot, I just don't like the dated interior.

Really? You think it's dated? I don't think it's as dated as BMW
(Half a funny story... Back in TX, me and my brother had 3 cars, 370Z, ISF, leased 335i. One day I drove the 335 from Dallas to Houston to see my gf and she said "why are we in this car?" And I asked her why and she said "the inside looks like it's made for old people. It's such an oil plain design and layout" I thought she was a bit crazy at first (I don't really care for BMWs much) but I thought about it and thought, shít, yeah, my aunt's BMW from 2001 looked exactly the same on the inside... Wow, BMW really hasn't changed the interior of their cars in years