My 4-year lease is up, and I'm turning my baby in. Despite it's low mileage (26K), and near immaculate condition, it made little financial sense for me to buy the lease out for more than the car would be worth. The poor mileage and marginal handling in snow were contributing factors.

I test drove several AWD cars, including the two finalists: the Infinity EX 35 and the Lexus IS. I chose the latter. It's not the most powerful car out there, but it has a good balance of power, handling, fuel economy, and creature comforts.

I'll miss the riding-on-rails feeling, the 9000 rpm redline, and the smooth-sounding rotary. I'll also miss what I think is probably the best automotive forum anywhere. Everything here is well organized, well moderated, and informative, without being overloaded with advertisements.

I'll drop in from time to time to see what's happening here, so keep up the good work.

 

Gl!

 

what modle IS?

 

 

Pics of your new ride.

 

The only IS in AWD is the IS 250 AWD AT.

I like the IS, but the 250 AWD with AT is a bit slow. Do you feel it?

 

i think hes gone already, having fun in his IS lol, i would love to get my hands on an IS F

 

the F is a different beast altogether. 8 speeds? wouldn't that be fun in a stick... if they had it.

 

IS F is like 80 grand thought

 

good Luck....haha and we do have some of the most informative ppl on here....especially u JEDI (i know u never get recognition and u will post shortly after me hahah)

 

haha, thanks again 04RX8man. How's my timing?

fredw1: bummer to lose another member here but as long as you enjoyed your 8 over the past 4 years, you can look back on your RX-8 experience fondly.
good luck with the Lexus, I hear it's a great car. (plus we lose quite a few members to it)

 

haha was i right or what???? right on time!!!!

 

grats man. the IS series is a sweet. enjoy your new ride. also make sure to post pics

 

I kinda like that 8 owners are dropping like flies, then their cars get sold to old women during midlife crisis which die of carbon lock within 10K miles.

My car is getting rarer and rarer by the day muahaha

 

out of curiosity, how much did the dealer want for the lease buy out?

 

mu ha HA!

 

Just not the IS 250 AWD with an automatic and a 0-60 time of 8.3 seconds according to Lexus. I think my brother's 05 Odyssey is about that quick.

 

Been over this before, but almost any car is fine in snow with the right tires, and ANY car is useless in snow with the wrong tires. When I lived in the Midwest, I knew people who drove Miatas year round without any problems, and I also knew Subaru owners who couldn't get up their own driveways if they left their summer tires on too late in the season.

 

Buy out was $16, 100 plus tax. I'll post pics of the IS soon. It is the AWD AT (only way to get AWD). It's not as fast off the line as the 8, but it's fast enough for me now. The manumatic allows downshifting for faster get aways.

I drove in 1-2" snow last weekend, and straight-line stopping as well as response to full throttle was unbelievable. Other people were sliding all over.

 

^ having own various AWD cars, I know your experience above is placebo. AWD do not help you to stop. It only helps the car to gain traction therefore acceleration. In fact with the AWD equipment will result in a heavier car than the non AWD variant. Simple physics would then dictate that the larger mass vehicle will not stop as well as a lighter one. Sorry to burst your bubble.

AWD marketing at Lexus has pwnd you.

 

no it would be horrible to shift so often ... like 18 wheeler...

Lexus is so overpriced ... especially IS-F ($56k ???) the car should not cost more then 35k .... G8 GT is better car all around and cost only 30k -35k

 

^^^
You miss the point entirely. And who decides 6 is the right number of speeds? I bet some old guys that used to own 4 speeds think the same about 6. You dont have to use every gear.
And the IS-F competes with the M3. The G8 has power, but thats about it. It doesn't compete with the M3.

 

+1

when you're sliding around the road on packed and frozen snow and freezing rain is coming down, tho, it becomes that much easier to succumb to anyone preaching awd

i do agree that any car with the right snow tires should be ok in the snow...provided that the person behind the wheel is a decent driver. for your average joe driver, especially w/ a stick and rwd, it can still get treacherous, even w/ snow tires. which is why i think awd on minivans is a pretty good idea

 

Truth. Even if someday I do let the car go, I will always hang out here. Not a day goes by without something cool to read.

 

AWD marketing at Lexus has pwnd you.[/QUOTE]


Call it what you want. The only person who has to be happy with my choice is me.