Is an F Sport good value

djkenn · February 7, 2016

OK gurus,

My journey for my used IS 250 continues. I drove for an hour and a half to visit an independent dealer nearMaidenhead on Saturday, got there and they 'couldn't find' the car which is beyond annoying. Particularly since I called before I left home.

Anyway have seen a FSport in my price range. Aside from the cosmetics, does the larger wheel size and sports suspension have any practical value?

johnatg · February 7, 2016

Big wheels look better. They don't actually do anything to help performance, but 17" wheels have wider tyres than the old bog standard 16" - that may (or may not) help handling. Bigger wheels give harder ride as the tyre sidewalls are less accommodating. Plenty of people here won't agree with me!

(Big wheels were introduced on race and rally cars to enable bigger brakes to be fitted - but on most road cars you just get the bigger wheels and not bigger brakes. But people thought 'Wow! That looks cool! So manufacturers obliged!)

Stiffer ("Sports" ?) suspension gives a harder ride and may give slightly better handling at the cost of comfort - not enough to justify having it unless you really want to go ear'oling around and that doesn't suit the IS250 anyway. The ride of IS250s is not 'best in class' at the best of times (but don't let that put you off - it's not at all bad in absolute terms).

IMHO

Cracksta · February 8, 2016

Practical value is subjective

Mine is a F sport, i got this version because i usually go for sports cars however the wife was pregnant so a less sportier car was needed. I wanted something luxury and comfortable as I don't do silly speeds or drive like an idiot on the road so the IS250 F sport was bought.

Yes its a saloon but it is a sportier version, lowered by an inch all round, 18" wheels, F sport suspension (it doesn't feel that firm, my last car was a civic type r 2004 and that was firmer) and slight differences in appearance compared to the SE-L.

The main thing to look out for is the trims, SE-L or F sport and also if it has sat nav and the Mark Levinson as alot of IS250 seem to go for similar money so you might as well go for the sat nav with ML (i have this).

djkenn · February 8, 2016

By the way, the FSport I am looking at on the web appears to have black cloth and not leather. Does that make sense?

Cracksta · February 8, 2016

Yes it does, all is250 f sport have alcantara seats which is half leather half cloth type. It's the nice suede cloth. The SE-L come in all leather and others in cloths.

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J Henderson · February 9, 2016

I wasn't particularly fussed whether to go for an F-Sport or the SE-L when I was looking for an IS250, but the one slight issue I had when deciding between the two was the fact that full leather wasn't available in the F-Sport model.

My previous car had leather and I was keen for my next car to have it as well, but I can honestly say now that it's something I shouldn't have worried about.

I really like the interior of the F-Sport and the seats are great. Besides the leather/alcantara combo, they're also a different shape from the rest of the range and are more supportive. The black headlining is also a nice touch and helps make the cabin feel a bit more special IMO.

Linas.P · February 11, 2016

On 07/02/2016 at 5:58 PM, djkenn said:

Anyway have seen a FSport in my price range.

Hey. Just following other threads you made I am curious - Are you saying you found an F-Sport which was only made after 2010 in the price range of 6k?

My feeling is that you refering to SR? Unless it is F-Sport 220d, but as you looking for 250 AT, I wouldn't assume that.

P.S. I used to have F-Sport which had all leather interior, but I guess UK f-sports were limited to half-leather combo (mine was EU).