Well I did it.... after much debate and mulling, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a new IS250 AWD. While I had a lot of cars in consideration, really it came down to the IS and the BMW 530i/xi. Truthfully, my decision was a bit spontaneous, as I had made it right on the spot at the Lexus dealership earlier today, which was my first and only encounter with the IS. My first impression after seeing it was, wow... beautiful. I fell in love with the Smoky Granite color, but was dissapointed to see that they didn't have it in Blue, which is what I ultimately ordered. The interior design was flawless, and the seats were amazingly comfortable with very high quality leather... a clear advantage over the bmw. However, the rear seating seemed a little cramped (not terribly bad, but not close to 5-series).

I immediately took notice of all the attention put into the tech in this car. The dash had beautiful electroluminescent gauges and the paddle shifters were a nice added feature (didn't expect them to be on the 250), although I would suspect they would become a hardly used novelty. After fooling around with the NAV system, I found it to be far superior to the BMW system with iDrive. It has everything you want including voice command, touch screen, and controls located on the steering wheel. Sound was suprisingly good through the radio on the stock system, although I didn't have a CD to test. The conveniently placed AUX input was a nice added feature, especially since I was disappointed by the fact that the BMW 5 still does not have one.

Now to the test drive.... Power seemed adequate, although as expected, it wasn't as quick as I'd like off the line. With AWD, it handled pretty well, although it didn't have the same steering response as the BMWs I've test drove. While BMW is hands down more fun to drive, the Lexus was definitely no slouch.

So really the Lexus IMO excelled in every area except for the driveability fun-factor... this is a big deal for me, but I really don't think the BMW 5 is worth the price tag. After options, I'm looking at $55k for a 530xi. I'm paying $39k for the IS250, which I understand is less powerful and in another class than the 5, however I still don't think this warrants a $16,000 price difference! So right now I'm in a little quandry, as I still have the 5 in the back of my mind... If ONLY the IS could drive like a BMW!!

Well it's not too late to go back, my deposit IS refundable