I test drove a 330i 6-speed with sport package. It had a few other options as well but certainly wasn't fully loaded. Sticker price was $42k. :eek3: A comparably equipped G35 sedan clocked in at $35k. I will admit, I didn't really like the style of the sedan when it first came out but Infiniti made it less frumpy looking and upgraded the interior materials for the '05 refresh.

Of the two, the Bimmer had a way nicer chassis and was much more flingable out in the twisties. Oddly enough both dealers without me even asking just kinda directed me out into the back roads. The Bimmer motor likes to rev a lot and is much more comfortable doing so than the Infiniti, but it's kind of nervous below 2500 rpm whereas you can lug the Infiniti at 1500 rpm all day long and it won't care. Either car struck me as quite nice and were I to choose between them it would really be up to whether or not I wanted to spring the extra 7 grand for the Bimmer.

As for the Lexus IS, I haven't driven one. But it's got a bunch more torque than the 325i. Downsides are you're buying into a car that's about to be obsolete, the interior is more Corolla than Lexus in character, and the back seat is pretty worthless. The new IS personally looks quite nice to me, but if you want a stick shift you'd be stuck with the IS250 (201 hp) for now as the IS350 is not getting a manual transmission option at time of introduction.

What sort of price range you lookin at here? The options list for the Bimmer means it could vary all over the place.