spork

So I test drove 3 cars this weekend. My lease is up in August and I figured I'll see what's out there...

G35 (MT Coupe): I personally love the way it looks. I love the sound of the engine too. The car feels heavy and large though and I was disappointed in the power. It was defintely more powerful than the RX-8 but it wasn't to the level I was expecting it to be. I thought it would be more like driving the STi, but it was more like driving the RX-8. I guess I was expecting too much but I was disappointed in the power. I didn't get a chance to take the corners quickly. But driving this car makes me realize what they mean by saying that the RX-8 connects the driver more to the car/road. But the G35 sounds awesome. It's still quite expensive for what you get IMO.

After the G35, a friend I went with tried out the Yaris. I can't see why anyone would buy that car to be honest. It's super ghetto (like seriously there's nothing in it; doors and windows are manual). The interior looked crappy. But the reason I don't really know why people would want it is the guy mentioned that to get power windows/locks and a stereo it'll be up to like 16K? And the Scion xA and xB are 14-15K with a nicer interior AND power doors/windows and it has the same engine.

IS350: The Lexus dealer didn't have ANY car there but the 350. I wanted to try the 250 too but oh well. The interior is very nice. Powerwise, again I was disappointed. It was fast, but not shockingly fast. It drove nicely but I don't know. I definitely scratched it off my list since it didn't wow me (aside from the nice interior) and it was quite pricey. It definitely felt more luxury than sport. But for 40K+, the car has to be impress me a lot more than this one did.

TL: I didn't really expect to drive this car, but when I was leaving I thought I might as well try it out since I was passing by the Acura dealer. I tried the TL (MT). Now this car impressed me. First off the clutch was ABSURDLY light. Much much lighter than the RX-8. Second off the ride was very quiet and comfortable. Finally power wise, it was very adequate. But it IS FWD. It was kind of funny because the salesman tried to impress me by telling me to drive it fast around corners. But I wasn't quite sure so I slowed down on the corner (still took it slightly fast) and I could hear the tires squealing. The salesman looked at me expectantly and said "see, it takes corners well!" And I was thinking "er, I take turns much faster and my tires still grip the road..."

But yeah, surprisingly to me, out of the 3 cars I test drove, the TL was the one I liked the most. And the funny thing was, I went with two people who rode in the back of each of the cars. They agreed that the TL was the nicest. I asked two different people which car they thought I would like best out of those 3 and both of them correctly picked the TL.

Rhawb

Aye, I'm not a fan of the Acura clutches, but they do build a nice car. I was trying to teach a friend of mine to drive his new RSX and I kept telling him to feel where the car starts to engage so he could give it some gas and take off. Well, he kept stalling and every time he stalled he told me he was trying to feel it engage but couldn't figure it out. I thought he was just having trouble since he was new to it. Nope. Got in and stalled it myself once or twice. I mean, it's nice that it's light and all, but I couldn't feel ANY feedback. I think I'd have a hard time owning a car with such an excessively lightweight clutch.

Anyway, good luck with the hunt. I'll be doing the same about this time next year.

dillsrotary

which interior did you like the best, i personal LOVE the inside of the TL, it just feels more inviting and acura doesn't skip out on decent materials.

dos

I had a similar discussion at work today. I had Burger King for lunch, my friend had McDonalds. He swears that McDonalds is better that Burger King, I said no fricken way. After 3 hours of discussion we came to a truce and decided McDonalds fries are better than BK's, and BK's burgers are better than McDonalds.

Oh yea, the TL is nice!!

dillsrotary

and wendy's nuggets hands down. (gotta get the ranch dippin sauce)

spork

Personally I think the IS had the nicest interior but the TL was very nice too. I can easily do with any of those interiors to be honest. I know some people really don't like the G35 interior but personally I like it.

The lightweight clutch is kind of trippy. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing but it's... interesting. The greatest thing about the TL though is it's cheaper than both the G35C and the IS350 by quite a bit. The models I tried were like 33.8 for the TL, 36.8 for the G35C, 40 for the IS350. If I had to buy one of those, I'd probably go the TL.

And, McD fries are the best fries. (Esp fresh out of the deep fryer with BBQ sauce).

Rhawb

Perfect fast food meal: Rodeo burger (BK cheeseburger w/ bbq sauce and onion rings on it), Wendy's nugs w/ buffalo or ranch sauce, McD's fries dipped in buffalo sauce.

Also, that clutch wore my leg out a bit more than a heavier clutch because it felt like I needed to control everything more carefully, so it strained my leg more as I tried to move my ankle precisely. Plus, the motion didn't require much use of my full leg like just about every other clutch I've ever used - I could get around by just tilting my foot forward and back on my heel. A new clutch would probably be one of my only mods since that would end up being a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I could see it being nice for the casual driver since it does end up being effortless once you get used to it - I just need to feel that feedback.

edblor

Thank you very much for the nice write-up

Straight to then point, non-biased, and honest!

I'll keep my 8 though

Edblor

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

TL is a great family sedan

Brandon

They must tune those Nissan VQ engines to sound good inside the cabin. Whenever I've heard one from the outside, they sound silly. "bruggida-bruggida-bruggida." They and Pontiac, I think, both make the same mistake. They say to themselves, "everyone likes how a V8 sounds, so lets try to make our V6 sound like a V8," but a V6 just doesn't have the low end tone, so they end up accentuating weird tones that sound like a cross between water gurgling and someone rattling a drumstick in a plastic pail. Maybe inside the car, some of the weird harmonics disappear, but I think they sound horrible from the outside. Then again, the only person paying to hear it is the one sitting in the driver's seat, so maybe that's the way to do it.

Does anyone else agree straight sixes sound much better? BMW straight sixes sound really good when opened up a little to my ears.

Arby's Curly Fries.

Winning 8

well all of them are nice family cars, but personally I will buy a euro car if I have to pay 40G for it.

map

chic-fil-a nuggets with Polynesian sauce

Ajax

I really like the new IS series from lexus (except the rear ends). I just dont care for the price.. It may come down to it one day where I just end up with a Lexus.. but I guess I'm just not old enough yet..

oh.. and..

taco bell baja chalupas....

dillsrotary

AH MAN, i completely forget about chic-fila, yeah the 8 piece nuggets with the waffle fries.
god i'm hungry.

as for the subject at hand i love the sound of the g35 exhaust.

Rootski

iTrader: (1)

I don't think Lexuses (lexi?) are cool cars because I can't imagine a cool guy driving one. They're stockbroker cars to me. The kind of car for a man who plays a lot of golf.

Rx-A-Ho

All three are great cars. The biggest problem with the IS350 is no MT. But it sounds to me like you have already made up your mind, so go with it.

BTW: In-n-Out burgers are by far the best ever follow by Carl's Jr. Western Double Bacon Cheese burger.

JinbaIttai

I have to agree with the opinion that the G35 (and the 350Z for that matter) has a great sounding exhaust. It sounds sort of like a more peppy Boxster exhaust (one of the greatest stock exhausts I've ever heard). It also sounds like a really loud percolating coffee maker at idle. Coming from someone who enjoys the leaf-blower sound of the rotary, this is intended as a complement.

The TL definitely has a top notch interior, and rides great on the highway with enough power to pass easily. I don't have experience with the other two cars, but have to say I'm disappointed by the styling of the new IS. I know Lexus is trying to take on the 3-Series, but I didn't think they were going to try and make the car look like the 3-Series. In my opinion, the new version is sadly missing the distinctive look of the old generation. The new version, while cleaner and more "grown-up" looking, has an anonymous corporate look that says "I am definitely a Japanese car" without really addressing the "fast" and "luxurious" traits that justify the pricetag. Honestly, although I'm sure there are far less threads stating "How can I can rid of these stupid ricer tail-lights" on the IS boards these days, how can you design a new Altezza without Altezza tail-lights?

Anyway, as others have stated, thanks for the well-written and unbiased reviews.

billy19usa

Sporky I erased my previous message because I didn't want you to think I was being disrespectful. But the bottom line is that we all couldve bought the G35, IS , the Z, WRX , S2000 but we didn't. I think we are ORIGINAL and we dont want to be like everybody else. When you drive tomorrow look around and all you will see are those cars.
Yeah, the 8 is a bit slow but the STYLE and ORIGINALITY will make up for it. I have a black rx8 on black Volks SF challenges and boy my car turns heads...

Rootski just to let you know I am a stockbroker and I own an 8.

Mistersql

Like many before me in this thread, I really dig the exaust note in the G35 coupé; I wish that the sedan souned the same. I'd love to trade in the 8 for the G35 coupé or even a 350Z but bottom line is the practicality of the 8 with it's back seats/doors. I wouldn't even consider the Tl due to the fact that it's FWD.

Now onto the real business. Popeye's crawfish in Louisiana.

Chrisbert

Beware Acura transmissions mated with a 6 cylinder engine.

RevTo9K

That's definitely true of the automatics, but he was driving the 6 speed manual, which they've been using since the '03 CL-S. I had one for almost 4 years (bought in 8/02). The 6 speeds are solid.

Agree with the original poster about the clutch. Same deal on the '03 CL-S. Rookies will either stall the car or smoke the tires the first couple times. Once you're used to it though, it's very easy to move the clutch pedal through the entire engagement range with your heel on the floor, bending just your ankle.

If the new TL is running the same tires as the previous gen TL/CL (Michelin MXM H4 maybe?) it's not nearly enough tire for a car that does 14s in the quarter. With decent tires, the LSD on the CL would allow you to rotate the car a little bit using the throttle. With stock tires there just wasn't enough grip.

spork

There's not many S2Ks out there so I can hardly say we're "original". But the G35 is definitely everywhere. I think there's like 3 G35Cs parking in my garage alone. But I mean if you want to go more unique, EVOs and STis are technically more rare.

Anyways, my choices at this time look like either the TL or keeping the 8. And if I keep the 8 I'm very tempted to pick up a used MX-5 to use as a daily driver (and that'd be cheaper than getting a new TL). The things keeping me from the 8 are

*Gas Mileage. I get 18 mpg, mixed driving and driving slowish. This could be offset by getting the MX-5. Though I'll feel kinda weird having two manual transmission cars.
*Reliability concerns. Not a real issue since I haven't had any problems, but all the rattles worry me. And I am getting lots of rattles.
*Dealership(s). This is one of the biggest issues I have. I HATE the dealership near me. I guess I could always hit up the next other closest one but that's like 18 miles away which is kind of annoying. And there's no guarantee that it's better. I've been doing my oil changes at the dealership where I got my car at and it's like 40 miles away (I go down to the OC alot to visit friends and family). They're ok, but not great IMO. In general I've heard many horror stories about various Mazda dealers.

The G35 and the IS350 are VERY nice cars. They're fast and are pretty luxurious. But the question is "is the luxury, torque, horsepower, and dealership service worth an extra 8K-12K?" (Well actually that's prehaggled price; I got my 8 at a price of slightly below 30K with premium package plus navigation). My personal answer to those questions is no. I don't think it is. On the other hand if the G35 was like 3K more than a comparably equipped RX-8 and the IS was like 4K more, I'd have to give those cars a definite consideration. The TL was 5K more which was more reasonable (since I would probably be able to haggle them down quite a bit). So the question about the TL is whether I take the loss in money and handling and gain comfort, bluetooth, and iPod integration.

Ajax... I really wanted to like the Lexus actually. I like their cars, though they really aren't much on the connected, very sporty feel. I like them more in the comfortable, luxury ride sense. I guess they do feel a bit "old", but I think their new generation of cars is shaking that a bit? The salesman kinda gave me the cold shoulder though. I'm pretty sure he thought I couldn't afford the car. He acted like he didn't really care to be there no did he expect to hear from me again.

My family had two Lexuses (dad has a 2000 LS, brother has a '94 ES) and they're great cars (not in a drivers sense, but for the passenger). My brother's ES has been having a lot of problems recently though. But knowing how he treats his car, I can't say I'm surprised. But if I just sit down and think "is this car nice enough to justify paying an extra 12K (before haggling)?" The answer to me is a resounding "no" (unless of course somehow I end up winning the lottery... but then I'd probably consider other cars).

Chrisbert

Right, beware Acura "Auto Stick" trannys.

billy19usa

Sporky I live in OC (Irvine) like I said before everybody and their mother drive those cars even
the S2000 and WRX.
If your car has rattles it's probably coming from your sunroof. 8's have a problem with that. Your warranty covers that and the dealership will fix it for free.

spork

I used to live in Irvine (my car's from Tustin Mazda). I haven't seen nearly as many S2Ks and WRX as I have G35s. I used to see a fair amount of 8s down there when I was living in Irvine. The 8 is a lot more rare in the LA area than it is in Irvine (from what I've seen).

And the rattles come from everywhere. My dash area, my door... well, everywhere but my moon roof. That's been fine. Haha.