2020 BMW 3 Series vs Lexus IS

What's the difference?

Is the 330e the best of both worlds?

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), it’s a part-time electric car for the city and a full-time sports sedan for everywhere else.

Sound familiar? BMW’s been down this path before, back with 2012’s ‘ActiveHybrid 3’ and then its first 330e-badged successor four years after.

Both were based on the previous F30 3 Series shape. However, this year’s all-new G20 iteration improves the breed with a bigger boot, up to 50 per cent better range and brawnier performance.  

The thing is, it shares showrooms with the 330i and M340i xDrive, which represent a powerful return-to-form for the 3 Series.

So, the question isn’t so much ‘Is the 330e a good enough PHEV?’ more so than ‘Is the PHEV worthy of the BMW badge?’ Let’s find out.

Lexus is the great survivor in Australia. Where other luxury brands have arrived and then departed Toyota’s prestige division has cemented itself to the Aussie car landscape and while three-quarters of Lexus’ now sold are SUVs the IS model remains the most popular sedan.

The IS model punches up, taking on BMW’s 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz’s C-Class. The 350 F Sport is the most powerful and angriest-looking member of the IS family, but is it as sharp as its looks suggest?

You should also know that a new-generation IS will arrive in 2020, but there are a few reasons why you may prefer this ‘old school’ sports sedan more.