It has been about 14 months since the first 328XIs came out now, right? To those of you that bought '07 XIs, what are you impressions? Have you had any issues so far?

I'm debating between an '07 328XI and an '06-'08 IS250 with AWD. I was very close to going with the IS250, but I'm disappointed in the colors they offer. If you don't want a Black, Red or White car - sucks to be you.

With the IS250:
There's 3 shades of white, 2 shades of black, a nice shade of red and then gold/greenish/this color blue, and gray.

I love the Montego Blue color. If they offered that on the '06 XIs, I'd have one already instead of what I'm currently driving. I'm not really a big fan of driving first year models, so that's a little cause for concern with the 328XI.


The things I like the most about the Lexus IS250:
--Heated/Ventilated seats (Black leather wouldn't suck as much in the summer if the seats could be cooled too)
--Shiftable automatic transmission (Sport mode)
--Reliability, Comfort, Luxury
--6 CD Changer, Better audio system (I don't have an iPod, no need for an iPod connection)
--The dealership would come to my house with a Lexus loaner and pick up my car whenever it needed service/maintenance... With how hectic my schedule can get that's a major plus.


The things I like the most about the 328XI:
--Better color choice, Montego Blue is my favorite color on any active cars
--More fun to drive
--Better fuel economy

I'm pretty sure the ventilated seats weren't available on '06 3'ers... Is it available for the '07s?

I get the feeling that I would've done a trade in already on an IS250 if the color selections didn't disappoint me so much. They don't offer a real shade of blue at all this year, you'd think I was looking for an lime green car or something with how difficult it has been to find a decent shade of blue..

I was also considering getting a black IS250 and then eventually custom painting it to the shade of blue that I want, but I just can't rationalize spending $6k+ on a paint job at the moment.

Also - I'm adding a poll to see how satisfied people have been with their '07 XIs to date.

Opinions/Thoughts?

Christos - why did you rate your experience a 3/10? You got a setup similar to what I'd want... (Only difference would've been the color)

I had an IS250AWD loaner for 2 days. During day 1, when I thought I'd only have it the one day, I beat the snot out of it. It was fun, fast and handled like it was on rails. During day 2, I was getting more familiar with the car and really started pushing it on long sweeping exit ramps. The car got more and more twitchy the more I tried to drive it hard and SMOOTH.

And now that I've owned (wife's) a Lexus for 6 months (RX), I really think that's how they design them. WAY too sensitive steering that I wind up over compensating with, and a drive by wire throttle that's got a mind of it's own! HATE IT!

Looking forward to buying my first Bimmer.