Lexus IS300 owners and people with opinions

[Cliff]

Aight i am lookin at the is300 and need to know opinions on the car pros and cons and lemme know the quality of it inside and out....


also a p.s. i don't care if they are incredibly slow or how much aftermarket stuff there is for them because it will be staying completely stock except for a system...

thanks everyone

[Julio]

I Tested one out and was not impresed one bit. tacky interior for LEX of course it has some pep to it no doubt. But to be a Lexus I was not impress. Overglorified camry to me a wannabe bolla car. My GF 03 v6 Accord Feels better then that shit and it has leather hahahaha
Is still a good car, But is to much cheese for what it is.

[JC]

I have a Brand New 2005 IS300 and love every bit of it. It is luxery and sporty at the same time. The pros would be that it is a lexus so it is extremely reliable. Lexus was rank the #1 most reliable car according to consumer reports. Also, since they have redesigned the 2006, the older body style will be dropping in price. They are not fast, but they are still pretty quick (215hp). They look of the car over all is beautiful and the options on the car that come stock are very hard to find (performance package, snow package, etc)

The cons would be, there is still not that much room in the back seats. IF you are under 6ft. in the front seats the back seats wont be a problem for anyone, but if you are taller then that, you will have to move your seat up for anyone to fit behind you. Another con is if you get one that is still under warrenty, you have to take it to the Lexus dealership to have them service your vehicle every 5,000 miles to remain under warrenty. Ther service is basically a oil change and tire rotation for $125.

Hope this helps. If you ever one to drive one or check one out, hit me up and we can get togeather and you can check mine out and you can see what you think.

[Cliff]

well me and brady went today and wow those are incredible....we rode with the salesman since i am slightly handicapped at driving currently and he got it up to 100 easily and it was just a beautiful car...but i wanna know what the other black plastic box is coming off the radiator....the salesman thinks it's a radiator coolant filter box or somthing to that effect...and john how hard is it to change the oil in your car?

[Spyder]

there are other cars in the same class that i would personally consider for the money. i drove one and like it alot, then i drove a bimmer... different feeling all together.

[Cliff]

yea but i know lexus service will be miles less than bmw and same with parts....

[Spyder]

yea but i know lexus service will be miles less than bmw and same with parts....

i personally know 2 people with e36 328's with over 250k on the clock that drive the shit out of their cars and have no problems, nothing is guaranteed... if you are convinced the IS is the solution by all means go for it, they are decent cars

[JC]

To be honest I havent really gotten into the engine bay. I basically wanted a car to get me to point a to point B with out dumping money in it to customizing. BMW's are nice but they are EXTREMLY high maintainence. Lexus is a lot less maintence and cheaper in the long run. I havent looked at how hard it is to change the oil but I cant imagine it is very hard at all. Like I said though, if you get a IS300 that is still under warrenty, you will have to take it to the dealership to get the service or else your warrenty is void.

[ISAtlanta300]

Not entirely true. As long as you can document proper maintenance you can take it to toyota for all they care. (proper maintenance = proper oil/ usual changes in filter, fluids, maintenance etc).

To void the warranty they would have to "proof" that a fault is related to poor maintenance. As long as it is up to date and the warranty is related to something else, they will fix it.

With that being said, I did not need one fix on my car, other than some minor things. I had to replace my interior dome light twice (both cases, it was left on overnight, so it burned out), and I had to grease my sunroof "tracks" often, (they will rattle /squeek, due to drying out). Other than that, no mechanical problems. No replacement of anything. Heck, I am at 40K miles and still on my original brake pads.

Clearly there are a lot of cars in this class, but as some one else said, it depends on what you want. Not dogging beemers, but hp for hp, if you want a comparably optioned car, the BWM will be a bit higher in price. You can pick up a used 2002 IS for about 24K or less while a same year bimmer (with similar options) will be closer to 30K.

All in all it is a very nice car with a very nice drive. Try to find one in stick (FUN!!), like mine. And yes, I have the leather /escaine combo which is VERY nice, especially for the summer days with A LOT of sun !! Like right now.

Not many Cons, but for the sake of not being biased, here goes:

Pro's: ENGINE (in-line 6, VERY boostable and upgradable, you can play with a lot of add-ons and squeeze HP out of it), Quality and Reliablility, Body Style (still get props), overall fit and finish. A very nice, and solid car.

Cons: Paint (may drive you crazy. It chips easy on the hood and bumper due to stones and insects. Very soft paint), Gas Mileage (lack of 6th "cruising" gear means you will be in the 3.5 K - 4.0 K RPM range at 70-80MPH), Taillights (you will get a lot of people asking where you "bought" them, and although they ARE original to the car, the trend has been used and abused on rice), HP (215 is quick, but not fast) and Hater factor (like Julio... LOL J/K)

[JC]

Cons: Paint (may drive you crazy. It chips easy on the hood and bumper due to stones and insects. Very soft paint)

I did not relize how true that statement is. The paint is so sensitive to crap. I drove to Charlotte and back and had 3 big ass paint chips where rocks hit. They really need to improve that. I would reccomend a 3m clear bra.

[Cliff]

on the paint could you not take the car and have an extra clear sprayed on?

[GGPIS3]

i love my IS... its actually my second one... had an 01 auto and then traded in for an 02 5speed. in stock form, it has incredible breaks and the handling is outstanding.. it does lack power though... but in higher gears it just wants to keep going and going...

if you have the itch for aftermarket potential... the options are endless...
heres an old pic of mine..

[Cliff]

that's frickin hot

[JC]

Clean ass wheels. I want that exact style in chrome for mine.

[Spyder]

i love my IS... its actually my second one... had an 01 auto and then traded in for an 02 5speed. in stock form, it has incredible breaks and the handling is outstanding.. it does lack power though... but in higher gears it just wants to keep going and going...

if you have the itch for aftermarket potential... the options are endless...
heres an old pic of mine..

Is that one at BG right now?

[Jaimecbr900]

Anything you wanna know about a Lex you can ask here:

www.seloc.net




We're a little biased, but we also know our Lexi's.

[GGPIS3]

yeah... thats the one at bg..

[madhatch]

i love mine My new IS 300 Sport wagon,
faster than a stock civic batter ride than any honda I have ever driven and rwd it nice too,

keep it stock it will run 15's in auto matic form...
So i beat out an LS the other day..... I was impressed....

[Dexterous]

Is the IS350 out?
Anyone test drove it?

[JC]

I have a Lexus owners invite on October 22-23, and at that time Lexus will be feeding us and releasing the following new lexus models for us to test drive and check out:

IS250, IS350, RX400h (Worlds 1st hybrid luxury suv), GS300 and the GS400.

They will have a full drive course with their cars and a few of their competitor cars. After that point, I believe all the cars will be released to the public.

[Cliff]

john i was behind an rx400h about a month ago...shocked me to see one on the road already

[JC]

^^ It must be a dealers car. Could be wrong though. I will def. be interested to see how those look though. The problem with all the hybrid are they are ugly as shit. At least the RX hybrid looks exactly like the origianal RX. We shall see.

[Cliff]

i dunno heck i don't even remember where i was i just remember telling my dad that my friend Morgan had one then i looked at it and saw the 400h and was like wait wtf?