The First Luxury Convertible Priced UNDER $39k And It's A Lexus. ANOTHER Reason For the Competiton To Get Nervous!

The "Competitive Comparison" should compare the IS350, BMW 335Ci together, the CLK350 (E Class Coupe) is defunct and no longer a direct comparison to the IS and 3-series. IS250, 328Ci should be compared together, respectively.

— david969isAFool (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 2:26:10 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

...of course Lexus didn't include the 335Ci since they know that it's a much faster car....marketing people can be so lame.

— david969isAFool (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 2:28:44 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

Oh my goodness i am so tired of these bimmer fanboys. No matter what you say about your immature testosterone driven insecure manliness 0-60 times, your beloved 3 series is UGLY. Seriously. A 335 could rape a porsche boxter or an audi a5, but I'd take those 2 any day, and so would anyone else. Not for grown men, but little boys who just got their license and want to race and be king of the road. Hey, a 335 will definitely get the guys hard, but I am personally intro driving a much more stylish car, that maybe might attract women and not 16 year olds who want to always race at stoplights.

Sidenote: The lexus looks ass ugly, but still not as bad as the 4 door 3 series. I can't tell which looks more japanese anymore.

— mytoyotaisslow (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 5:14:11 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

You guys do realize that it is stupid anyways to compare the 0-60 times? Lol
C'mon, how old are you?

— uall (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 7:14:44 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

Not sure what it is but the convertible version of the IS looks more plain and boring than the four door version. The IS convertible just looks boring and boring.

P.S. Does Agent001 work for lexus or something. He seem to post a lot of non-objective evaluations of Lexus products. Maybe it is all about that Lexus advertisement I see on the left hand side of my screen. I am starting to wonder about autospies' impartiality to auto manufacturers?

— kpaxx (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 7:19:34 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -2   

I don't think the competition is too worried. The 3 and G convertibles will greatly outsell this frumpy looking car.

— HSCenterconsole (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 7:53:34 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

Isn't the G Convertable the first one under 40k. It's price range is between 32 and 38.

— montyz81 (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 9:24:53 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

The ISC should be worried once the A5 Cabriolet and new E Class Cabriolet come out...

— AlexTx (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 10:53:58 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

define luxury convertible? The 128 convertible starts at $34,000.
I would have to see this in person. The front end is so identical to the corolla, it may start to cheapen the lexus. I am sure a lot of laides will drive this vehicle. Its good that there is a lot of competition out there. It is only good for the consumer!

— 2ndbimmer (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 11:04:41 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

You know part of the reason I went with my C70 was the price point. The 328i was too expensive, and the next hardtop below mine was a Pontiac G6 (bleh). The C70 was in the sweet spot. I can see the IS also bringing in sales at that price point.

— jeffy210 (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 11:06:31 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

People who want the cheapest will get the Lexus. People who want the best will get something else. That's the way its always been with Lexus.

— LexSucks (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 11:15:23 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

I drove the non-F fitted 350 on Saturday. It drives pretty nice and holds the road well. The comfort level is high and the fit and finish are perfect. Nice execution, Lexus. Overall an impressive ride. However, I'm still waiting for a manual with the 350??? By the way, the black 350C with F-mods looks pretty darn good in person.

I have not driven a BMW 335 conv, but the coupe drives a tad sportier than the 350C. If I had to buy one of the two, base on performance, I'd go BMW; based on everything else, I'd go Lex (styling between the two in my opinion is close...at least in person..with F-mods). Value wins in my book.

— lock (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 11:40:31 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

The Lexus screams it's a chick car or one of those San Francisco bois would drive it.

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 12:01:39 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 5   

Its ass whippin time again!!!!!!!!!!

— truthpursuit (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 12:02:00 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

No, its ugly. Give me the new A5 Cabriolet any day over this. Add the S5 to it.

— VISO (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 12:20:58 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -5   

SL buyers flocking to this? 001, you must admit that's quite a stretch. It's like saying S-Class buyers switching to an IS350. Are you really that smitten over it after having driven some of the best cars in the world? Just look at the panel gaps and the Solara-esque hump above the rear wheels! Just because it's under $39k won't make it successful as convertibles are a discretionary buy. Am I alone to say I'd rather pay more for the new A5 cab, 3 series, or the Infiniti G? Oh, and no way in hell will there be a 50/50 split between male and female just because Lexus says so.

— Dustbuster (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 1:44:10 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 6   

This thing looks like a Toyota Solara with a hard top. Terrible.

Plus, who buys a convertible with 0-60 times in mind?

— DogLb (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 2:21:29 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

I was going to jump in and say no way, the Z4 is cheaper and then I went to bmwusa.com to price one out. Holy crap, they are so much more money than when I bought mine!!! At this pace, they will probably be 150 grand a piece when the Mesiah is done with all the change.
In the light of this, hell yes, the Lexus is very decent value.

Side-note to 001:
Please throw some of that stimulus money to your code monkeys; the site's been having some Javascript issues lately that result in page freezes with high CPU utilization (likely very long-running loops or recursion).

— SP2Hybrid (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 2:54:37 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

I have mixed feelings on this car. I love the price at 39k but at only 200hp, there would be a few family sedans leaving you in the dust also the looks are from the early 2000's I think Lexus needs a new design theme. All in all it should sale.

— 1UAW (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 4:24:05 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

I'm not sure what is the bigger crock of sh*t:

The BMW fanboys v. Lexus fanboys swearing their lives on this

OR

001 saying it won't surprise them if SL buyers will flock to this...

— ThierryHenry14 (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 5:48:12 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

The slide are great, the slides point out the difference between BMW and Lexus; preformance would never be the second on BMW Goals.

— theoptimisticpessimist (View Profile)

Posted on 5/18/2009 7:15:24 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

this single quote discredited the entire thread: "It won't surprise us if traditional Mercedes SL customers flock to this car because the pricing and package is more 'responsible' in these uncertain economic times."

so buyers of $100,000+ SLs (one of the world's foremost convertibles) are going to run to a $39,000 ugly little convertible? NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. NONE. NOT ONE. in fact, most SL buyers don't even know lexus EXISTS.

— enthusiastx11 (View Profile)

Posted on 5/20/2009 11:00:30 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Very nice car, I like it but its not from Germany soo I cant give it an A.maybe a C.

— vwrules (View Profile)

Posted on 5/21/2009 8:13:18 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1