Test drove a 2016 and 2019 IS 350 FSport yesterday. Interesting car. Interior finish/solidity is great, good seat feel. Can accelerate well in S+ mode although I couldn't really go nuts with it. Turns out I do not like tiptronic shifters that much, nor the even worse experience of shifting with the stick in manual mode, which is ergonomically uncomfortable given my limb length. Did not like having the tiptronic not easily available while turning the wheel, and miss the ability to skip shifts, although realistically the transmission is smooth enough to probably just click through a few times.
Getting back into the WRX was like "ah, this is driving with mechanical linkage". The 2019 has 4hp more and a few more ft-lbs of torque but it was hard to notice with the driving style I was using while testing. Otherwise the delta is mostly quality of life--larger LCD for entertainment system, some better lane assist including a mild rumble through steering wheel vs the basic visual/audio in our Tacoma. Very amusing to see how slow the 2016 was to scroll through the entertainment system vs the much snappier 2019. Interesting that they don't do firmware upgrades to try to address that.
Space in the back for kids and adults seemed reasonable. Electrostatic mirrors are weird to me--yellow metallic tint on them out in the cold sun. Auto-dimming headlights, all these fancy things that don't exist on my barebones WRX and that I'd worry would break if it wasn't a Lexus.
In the final analysis... I dunno, hard to tell if I could get used to the automatic/tiptronic, maybe I wouldn't notice eventually. It's tough as there aren't many AWD manuals with a good combination of performance and finish--the WRX STI still looks pretty cheap on the inside. All the M series are RWD. Can't find an Audi RS3 Sportback around here. Same with Focus RS. The 911 scares me as a maintenance nightmare, although maybe I should just bite the bullet anyway. What else am I missing out on test-driving? If only the STI didn't have that spoiler, maybe I could live with the interior finish jank.
Also, since someone requested it, a picture of one of our goats in the back of our Tacoma: