i think there's psychology at play too. lets say both had a 350 mi range, diff between a 22mpg and a 16mpg fillup is 90$ over 65$ which has to be a mental blow no matter how thick your wallet is

 

it's also not entirely a comparison of two cars. Let's say I am also interested in buying a Cayman R or something, which will get in the mid-high 20s...Maybe I'm willing to give away 5 mpg, but not 10. It's also interesting from a percentage perspective...dropping 5 mpg is a hell of a lot more going from 20 to 15 than it is going from 40 to 35.
it is largely psychology, but there is no magical point where suddenly you're buying a car and your brain shuts off and you don't care what it costs to drive, maintain, and take care of. Maybe it happens, but for me, it's not at $60k. Honestly if I was in the market for a 911TT or R8 V10 or something similar, I think I'd still be thinking about running costs (not just mileage)...if you're DD'ing it, running cost helps calculate the true cost of the car, which any buyer should be comfortable with.

 

Great write up, drove one briefly and really liked it a lot. May look at one for the wife soon.

 

Out of curiousity, what mph do 2nd and 3rd top out at?

 

I'm guessing Reckless Driving and, um, Plaid.

 

found it in a lexus forum if anyone is interested:

 

Great 3 year review! I love the IS-F, part of that being my experience with Lexus was outstanding.

 

very good review. my neighbors had one they let me drive fairly often and actually take the track twice as well lol. i thought the transmission was bar none the best non-manual i have ever driven. id love to have a low miles one if i could afford to maintain it!

 

great review!

 

Good write-up, I've had my 2008 IS-F for exactly a year now and agree with most of the points you made. I gave up a little speed coming from a heavily modded 2006 STI / 2004 S2000 combo, but really have been happy with the IS-F.

I've put around 12k miles and have gotten closer to 22-23 MPG in MO, but I have been down to 21 or so since I started doing more short trips (a result from working from home 2 days a week, so less highway miles), so overall I would say I am getting around the same mileage. It was a plus when comparing to a M3 / S4 for me, since to me if I can have around the same fun with the car, why waste the 1k/year extra on gas?

So far I have only had 2 oil changes as far as maintenance, mine were priced the same as you, it was a shock at first, but considering it's only needed every 5k it doesn't bother me that much.