rjm

I agree with you. You can't change the Memory Seats while in motion either, that is,you can't go from Preset #1 to Preset #2 while in motion (although you can electrically change the position of the seat). I could change my pre-sets while in motion on my Mercedes and I miss that feature on the Lexus.

Flash Gordon

If you give the GS a new face similar to the 211, I would trade mine for it this instant! Lexus should fire the whole design team like Nissan did to Infiniti a few years ago. Look at Infiniti now! By the way, my daily drive is a G35X.

CE750

lol! Good one Joe! mmmm... love that cherry flavored Koolaid!

krispykrme

BTW, i did give GS a very good review. I actually liked GS more than W211.

I really don't have a brand loyalty. I just don't like the IS (because it failed as a competitor to 330i, in fact it failed against pretty much every single car in the segment).

The GS on the other hand is not bad. Even though it lacks power, the driving dynamic as well as feedback is actually better than the E. Put it this way, the GS is more like a better designed E.

Guest0001

I recently had a chance to drive the IS350 as well. Its definitely not 3-series competetion, but its an excellent Lexus. I would say it felt more like my C320, more luxury than sport.

TREZ63

hmmm, interesting, one more note at this juncture.

I would pay 20% more for my E if it came with all the awesome options as the Lexus. So I don't really care the MB is higher priced. It should be. Brand recongnition goes a long way in this country as it should. So go ahead MB raise the price, just give me what I want damn it. I'll buy the AMG if I have to but make it feature rich. And honestly who really needs a 65AMG?(I WOULD LOVE ONE Do we really need more horse power in these cars? I hate how little power my car has but come on every article I read is like oooh MB came out with a car that has 700HP and the Brabus adds another 120HP to that just so they can say they have the worst possible fuel economy in their class? Anyway, stop the horse power wars, charge me more for the damn features but include things like the phone ($25 bluetooth adapter -> $1000 bluetooth "option") lllalaaaaaaaaaame

CE750

For God's sake, Leather seats, and NAV are an option on the $53K CDI!

ATS

In the Mercedes you get an great engine, transmission, and suspension.

Take them on the highway and I am sure you will notice a difference.

Jakpro1

I have never seen such an aggresive push to unseat Mercedes....whatever Lexus is doing in the marketing dept....it's working.

Not a day goes by that someone isn't talking about a Lexus.

The only thing that seems weird lately is that people are beginning to "threaten us" with buying a Lexus.

Crowd of cops and onlookers surrounding a persons house.
Cop with bullhorn, "We just wanna know what you want?"
Screaming reply, "F you all....I'm gonna do it....I'm gonna buy a Lexus, then you and the whole world will be sorry....one more step, and I'll do it, I swear!! You stay back"
Cop, "Look noone hear wants you to buy a Lexus, we just wanna talk....we've got your mother here"
Screams back, "Get er outta here!! Look, I've got the contract here for the IS350 and I swear I got the pen right on the dotted line....you stay back, or I'll blow my credit all over this new car"

Not that you did it in this thread, but there have been several others that keep telling us how they are gonna "do it".
You want a Lexus, go buy one....some will come back to Benz, some won't.

TREZ63

Oh I know but the Nav might as well be missing it sucks so much. You show me nav in any other car worst that MB.

And dudes, calm down, I am not really gonna switch. I'd just like to gut the nav out of my mom's lex and duct tape it in to my MB.

Okay, I am driving my mom's lex to Reno (from Socal today) that's a good 8 hour drive which includes all kinds of driving.

I will tell you how much it sucks or rocks compare to the few MBs I have owned.

yayyyy 8 hours yayyy

I have to say that I did a 9.5 hour drive in my E and when I got out of the car didn't feel tired at all, we'll see how the lex does on that front which is very important to my 29yr old aging frame

TREZ63

8 hours 20 minutes.
The comparison between the Lexus and MB if anyone is interested:

As I said before I made the same drive in my E last year. The E was far more comfortable. The Lexus wasn't bad but I did get some lower back ache after about 5 hours.

Handling was great and speed was okay, I really like the way the breaks feel and one thing I liked was that turns are very fluid. There is no roughness at all.

Now about the Nav and the Phone. Very nice. The bluetooth feature worked VERY well and no one could tell that I was talking to them via handsfree connection.

BUT the one thing that really really sucks is that the Nav functionality goes from 10 to a 3 once your start driving. Lexus for some reason doesn't trust you at all with messing around with the Nav once the car is moving. Pretty lame as. You can't even use the phone number pad unless you have speeddials setup.

The wipers work much better than my E (It rained about 3 hours of the drive)

If I were to compare to MB I would say this is a car that would fit somewhere between the C-class and the E/CLk class. Its far better than a C class and not anywhere close to the ride quality of my E. The E just really feels like its driving itself for the most part.

Oh and fuel economy was great (around 26mpg) but it only has a 17gallon tank so ...

So all the hype I made about the Nav is only good if you're stopped

AsianML

Nice review.

vraa

Lexus nav sucks when it's in motion.
I know for some of the line up, you can cut a wire, but tracking will be through dead reckoning.

I might install a switch, so every now and then I can flip it to recover where I cam (in the LS430)

benzmodz

Did you ever consider that maybe you are adopted !

starrman

Well said......if you want a Camry with a few more features (like the rear view TV when you backup) and some speical mouldings, by all means, buy the Lexus.

When I went to the local dealership for some fun, they gave me all kinds of Japanese propaganda on why Lexus was better than Mercedes. I think they feel like they have to prove something. This was not the case at the Mercedes dealership. Our only decision was which model were we going to buy!

If you want a motorcar with over 100 years of history that is the most electronically advanced production vehicle in existence, go with the three pointed star. There is a reason the logo for Lexus is a big old "L".

But of course I am biased - Mercedes owner since 1980.

CE750

To add to this.. it's closer to 120 years now, and besides being the inventor of the internal combustion (Gas) automobile itself, and diesel automobile, they hold more patents for automotive technology than most manufacturors combined.


-Crumple zone
-Fuel Injection
-Antilock Brake System (ABS)
-Pre-tensioners
-Electronic Stability Program / ESP (R. Bosch/MB)
-Brake Assist
-Nano paint
-Central Locking System

but just to name a few off the top of my head!

What has Toyota invented?

Barry45RPM

Ah, but Grasshopper... Excellence is not doing one thing spectacularly (engineering), but by doing every thing just a little better than everyone else.

But so far, MB is still getting away with it. A lexus is STILL not an MB in anybody's book. But Lexus is young.

delphipro

I got sick and tired of all the issues with the E (I had an 2003 E500), and made a switch to the new Infiniti M35, I've had the car since April, and I have not had a single issue. The car is really amazing, but the ride quality is not a Mercedes. But in exchange I have so many features that just work.

I've had four different Mercedes' and each was its own nightmare.

JWS3

To be fair, Toyota may not have invented as much as MB, but what they have sure as hell works. That is worth quite a bit to most people. MB would be wise to pay attention lest their sales continue to slip.
Detroit underestimated them with disasterous and worsening results. MB would again be wise to learn from its mistake.

paulhu

I drove my housekeeper's Kia Amanti, fully loaded. It's got AM/FM/CD, AC, cloth seats, power windows, and power doors. I am REALLY impressed, and having second thoughts about my E500, because my next car will be the 2007 S500 (MB that is...) . I don't care how luxurious the Lexus, Infiniti, and KIA are, they will never have the two letter M-B written on them!!!!

krispykrme

To be honest here, I don't think this is the case anymore.

The IS350 has more punch than the E350's V6. The transmission on both are quiet good.

Suspension wise, both are not so great. But IS with VDIM and calibration is really horrible.

The IS 3.5 V6 is quieter and delivery is ultra smooth. The MB V6 sounds quiet loud and has much less punch.

monstaloc

so the IS went from a sooped up corolla to a sooped a camry? awesome.

vraa

"If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant."

monstaloc

hm...let's see..since people are so tough on the internet hahaha..you tell me




vs this




and uh..being 17 is quite an age to wise.

monstaloc

and now..



against this




against this



shall i declare a winner?