OK.......I WENT TO THIS EVENT TONIGHT THE 14TH AND HERE'S MY REVIEW:
I drove there in my Lex with my girl and immediately saw the crowd of people enjoying what I'm guessing was Tai Food and different cocktails and drinks, specialty coffees, and cookies. The dealership also provided valet parking which was pretty cool.......however, I gave the guy $10 and told him to park it in the front instead of the back.
Anyway.... finally the time came around for the unvelling........as I expected there was NO IS350.....there was just a base model IS250 and 2 AWD IS250.....one of them, the one in the center of the showroom was that Matador Red color, and they threw some upgraded rims on there (spoked ones) which made the car look better then the stock one, with the stock wheels.
So back to the actual Lex IS250........all in all......it was what I expected, after the hype died down and people started to leave, I got a chance to sit in it, and check out out throughly! The car seems to be built well.....it seems strong and safe, and the interior is much improved from the 1st Generation. I would have to say that I felt kinda "crammed" in it though.......eventhough I am 6 1" I think the IS300 is roomier up front for a guy like me. They did a nice job with the rear seats though.....I think it's slightly roomier then the rear of the IS300, and the leather in it seemed to be top notch.
What I was disappointed with was the back of the car!!! A lot of the car enthusiasts there with me were all saying the same thing.....which is basically that this NEW IS, lacks the character that the previous generation had.
The NEW IS250 and IS350 does not stand out among the rest, like the previous generation did, it's not as Sporty, or Edgy as the IS300 and to me, Not as appealing to the Eye.
People there were saying that the rear end is very "Accordish", or better yet more like a "Honda" or "Scion" then a Lexus !!!
The most attractive thing about the car to me was its WIDTH..the car looks MEAN...and AGGRESSIVE, with great fenders!!!.....It appears bulkier with higher doors and chunky mirrors!!! The mirrors are HUGE in real life.....they are a real eye sore and I think Lexus could have done a much better job on them.
I ended up talking to the Sales Manager who is a friend of the family and he basically told me that the MSRP price for a base IS250 is $36,000.......while the IS350 will start at between $49,500 to $51,000. I though the pricing wasn't too bad, except you don't really get a proper idea of what the are will actually cost you until you had the package, taxes, freight, PDI and all the other crap.
In conclusion all I could say is that if I was in the market for a new car again, I probably would not buy the new IS250 or IS350, just because it doesn't appeal to me as much as the previous generation did. I think Lexus did a great job on this new car.....eventhough it lost a lot of the character from the IS300. I think this new IS will do well in a different age demographic, however I don't think it will be able to compete with the new BMW 3 series in terms of sales because it just doesn't have that "appeal" or "gotta have it" factor.
The dealership threw a nice party tonight, and the turnout was much much better in comparison to the new GS Unvelling I went to 6 months ago. I'm sure they were very pleased!
If anyone was there on this night........please give me your opinion of the car and what you thought.
Thanks.
I drove there in my Lex with my girl and immediately saw the crowd of people enjoying what I'm guessing was Tai Food and different cocktails and drinks, specialty coffees, and cookies. The dealership also provided valet parking which was pretty cool.......however, I gave the guy $10 and told him to park it in the front instead of the back.
Anyway.... finally the time came around for the unvelling........as I expected there was NO IS350.....there was just a base model IS250 and 2 AWD IS250.....one of them, the one in the center of the showroom was that Matador Red color, and they threw some upgraded rims on there (spoked ones) which made the car look better then the stock one, with the stock wheels.
So back to the actual Lex IS250........all in all......it was what I expected, after the hype died down and people started to leave, I got a chance to sit in it, and check out out throughly! The car seems to be built well.....it seems strong and safe, and the interior is much improved from the 1st Generation. I would have to say that I felt kinda "crammed" in it though.......eventhough I am 6 1" I think the IS300 is roomier up front for a guy like me. They did a nice job with the rear seats though.....I think it's slightly roomier then the rear of the IS300, and the leather in it seemed to be top notch.
What I was disappointed with was the back of the car!!! A lot of the car enthusiasts there with me were all saying the same thing.....which is basically that this NEW IS, lacks the character that the previous generation had.
The NEW IS250 and IS350 does not stand out among the rest, like the previous generation did, it's not as Sporty, or Edgy as the IS300 and to me, Not as appealing to the Eye.
People there were saying that the rear end is very "Accordish", or better yet more like a "Honda" or "Scion" then a Lexus !!!
The most attractive thing about the car to me was its WIDTH..the car looks MEAN...and AGGRESSIVE, with great fenders!!!.....It appears bulkier with higher doors and chunky mirrors!!! The mirrors are HUGE in real life.....they are a real eye sore and I think Lexus could have done a much better job on them.
I ended up talking to the Sales Manager who is a friend of the family and he basically told me that the MSRP price for a base IS250 is $36,000.......while the IS350 will start at between $49,500 to $51,000. I though the pricing wasn't too bad, except you don't really get a proper idea of what the are will actually cost you until you had the package, taxes, freight, PDI and all the other crap.
In conclusion all I could say is that if I was in the market for a new car again, I probably would not buy the new IS250 or IS350, just because it doesn't appeal to me as much as the previous generation did. I think Lexus did a great job on this new car.....eventhough it lost a lot of the character from the IS300. I think this new IS will do well in a different age demographic, however I don't think it will be able to compete with the new BMW 3 series in terms of sales because it just doesn't have that "appeal" or "gotta have it" factor.
The dealership threw a nice party tonight, and the turnout was much much better in comparison to the new GS Unvelling I went to 6 months ago. I'm sure they were very pleased!
If anyone was there on this night........please give me your opinion of the car and what you thought.
Thanks.
