Things I Noticed Diff Between 07 And 08

[Meesha]

My 08 special ordered IS250 finally came. Most of the stuff are the same as 07 I test drove but there were some differences I noticed.

1. 18" wheels now have the blushed look. They look much better than 07.

2. The side mirrors look kinda like fish eye mirror. I don't remember 07's were like this.

3. If you have a cashmere interior, you'll notice that the bottom part is now black. Therefore, the floor mats are black also. This is a good thing. The dirt won't show!! They changed it to black because they had a lot of complains that the bottom (and lower part of side) get dirty easily.

4. This may depend on cars but the steering wheel on 08 feels stiffer than 07. It feels a bit heavy. Has anyone noticed? I kinda liked the lighter one. :(

All are good but for me, I wish the steering wheel was lighter. Has anyone notice anything else?

[Knightshade]

Improved steering feel was one of the changes mentioned early on for 08 to better compete with the 3 series BMWs

BTW, only 08s with cashmere produced after the first run or two get black carpet... mine still has cashmere (which I'm pretty happy about, but a lot of folks seem to like the black carpet too)

[Meesha]

Improved steering feel was one of the changes mentioned early on for 08 to better compete with the 3 series BMWs

BTW, only 08s with cashmere produced after the first run or two get black carpet... mine still has cashmere (which I'm pretty happy about, but a lot of folks seem to like the black carpet too)

Oh, they "improved" the steering wheel?? I actually liked the lighter feel. My previous car was BMW 3 series and I didn't like the heavy steering wheel. Oh well....

Oh so you got the first run or two of the 08, huh? I thought I'd be the first to get it ;) But now I'm glad I was the latter one... 'cause I was worried about the light carpet getting dirty. It actually looks pretty good with black.

[Knightshade]

Yup, I got mine on Oct 3rd... sport package, XM, Mark Levinson -without- Nav... was a special order, and the first sport pkg car the dealership had ever seen. I've had it a month now and the cashmere carpet remains perfectly clean, I just insure I don't have any gunk on my shoes before I get in, and I don't eat in the car either. I could see folks who live where it rains a lot or something wanting to avoid the light colored carpet though.

And yeah on the steering thing most car mags are comparing the IS350 to the G35 and BMW 3 series, and in 06 the big complaint was no way to disable VDIM, so in 07 they added the button to do so... in 07 the big complaint was the IS350 had "numb" steering and lack of road feedback in steering compared to the other two, so for 08 they supposedly tried to address that too.

[SW03ES]

I have an 08 as a loaner and immediately noticed how much stiffer the steering is over the 07s I've driven.

[Meesha]

I have an 08 as a loaner and immediately noticed how much stiffer the steering is over the 07s I've driven.

I'm glad you felt that way and not just me. :)

Was it a IS250, I assume?

On 07, I felt the steering wheels were a bit stiffer on IS350 and IS250AWD. But on IS250, it was SUPER LIGHT.

When I got my 08 IS250, I expected it to be light but it was quite stiff.

So... this is a "improvement"? I actually liked it lighter :)

[SW03ES]

Yep, its an IS250. Not sure if its AWD or not, I'll check tomorrow.

At low speeds its heavy, but at speed it really makes the car feel more solid. I really like the IS, I'd get one as a second car.

[SW03ES]

It was an AWD BTW.