Lexus Is 300

[argon_nsx]

LEXUS IS 300

I'm trying to buy one for my wife... It'll be used as our daily driver...

Any NSXers own them/have owned them...

What do I need to look for when shopping...

I'm looking for an 02-04... manual... color mileage less important...

I looked at one 02 and there was oil spills in the trunk under the trunk mat on the body of the car... makes me wonder if they were carrying around quarts of oil... These burn oil with age? I doubt it...

Are there any AC related issues... snap ring issues? LOL. Things like snap ring range to think about I mean...

I hear the stereos go out pretty fast in them... use to that

Any info on how to buy a used one would be greatly appreciated!

TIA!

 

[da3dalus]

My buddy has a 5-speed... apparently the only real big "snap-ring" like issue is that the '02's 6-disk cd changer goes bad quite often and is hard to get warrantied by dealers. Other than that, they are pretty much bulletproof. Its still a 2jz more or less, which means its got some engineering in it and a pretty good rep.

 

[NSXrunner]

Good luck on the purchase man. I have always liked the look of the Lexus IS's. If I wasn't so cheap I would have bought one to replace my 17yr old Integra. Instead I got a Honda Fit to replace it. :smile:

 

[Da Hapa]

We had a 2002 IS300 e-shift for my wife for about 3 years. We gave that to my sister and she's still driving it. My sister just got the 75,000 mile service completed and to the best of my knowledge the only problem that we had was a cracked suspension bushing at about 30,000 miles (when we owned it) that was replaced under warranty.

Other than the transmission (my wife can't/won't drive stick shift) I loved that car. The size was perfect for us, it was great to look at, relatively luxurious, relatively sporty, cheap to buy and cheap to insure. We bought ours with the leather/alcantra package and nearly every other factory option but for the nav. system.

I honestly don't think they're as good a driver's car as the comparable 3 series BMW is/was but to be honest, we got ours for what I recall being nearly $8,000 less than the best deal I could get on a similarily equipped 330i automatic.

And that straight 6 is about as bullet proof as you're going to get. We have two friends with 2nd generations GS300's (essentially the same drivetrain) with more than 200,000 miles on their cars and they're still as smooth as when they were brand new.
I do have some caveats:
1) They eat tires. We drive hard and we only got about 15,000 miles out of the tires no matter how often we rotated them because of the aggressive alignment (sound familiar?). We tried playing with the alignment once to improve the tire wear but that screwed up the great handling.
2) The back seats don't fold. Once we brought a dog into our family this became a bigger nuisance than I would have imagined.
3) The gas mileage isn't horrible, but it aint great either. While that big, heavy straight 6 is smooth as hell and will run forever, it's thirsty. My recollection is that we got 21 - 22 mpg in mixed driving. My friends with BMW 3 series routinely get several mpg better and when you consider I get that in our older, heavier, less effiicient (4 speed auto anyone?) LS400 you see my point. Not to mention we avg'd 19-20 mpg in our AWD RX300. Again, the mileage isn't horrendous but I don't think it's as good as it should be.

 

[akira3d]

Other than the transmission (my wife can't/won't drive stick shift) I loved that car. The size was perfect for us, it was great to look at, relatively luxurious, relatively sporty, cheap to buy and cheap to insure...we got ours for what I recall being nearly $8,000 less than the best deal I could get on a similarily equipped 330i automatic.

Sounds exactly like why my wife chose the IS300 and never looked back. We bought it new, have had no problems, and she is still as happy with her car now as she was the day she first test drove it. She also is in no rush to replace it because she doesn't really see anything out there as compelling...other than perhaps the IS350.

We got quickly turned off at the BMW dealership...too many options to make the car what you'd really want...and not cheap either. The Lexus only had a couple of configurations (sounds like we picked the same options) and we liked the dealership better.

 

[Ben]

Had an '02. My CD Changer died once, but it was fixed under warranty. Other than the slow shifting of the automatic transmission (the manual wasn't available in my market), I didn't really have any complaints with it.

 

[Nsex1991]

have one sence new 2001 auto 110k miles with no problems just need a custom stereo

 

[SOURCE 1]

Thats so funny this thread came up. I just passed on buying my fourth one this morning when I was at the auction.

Like I said I have owned 3 of them thus far and haveabsolutely loved everyone of them! Its just one of those cars that I keep having to go back to kinda like an nsx. The cd player is the only issue I have ever heard of with the cars. Even the E-shift ones are fun to drive. My last one was an 05 sport 5spd and it was by far the best one I had.

If you want one do not hesitate you will not be dissapointed with anything on the car.


Brian

 

[DRIFTER]

just seen one 02 25k miles and mint for $15k I think they book around $20k

car just sold at Albany NY Auto Auction I was going to get the car for the girlfriend but they are RWD = not good in the snow (NY) sweet car BTW
Good Luck:smile:

 

[jbum]

Good luck on the purchase man. I have always liked the look of the Lexus IS's. If I wasn't so cheap I would have bought one to replace my 17yr old Integra. Instead I got a Honda Fit to replace it. :smile:

Did you have one of those first generation Integras? I used to have a '89 Integra RS.

 

[argon_nsx]

Thanks for all the input guys! I appreciate it! We're looking at several and hopefully we'll have one at home sooner than later

 

[SilverStone05]

I had an 03. I sold it after 5 months. Looked great, fit and finish was good. Handling wasn't bad. Stereo system was amazing.

However, I hated the transmission. That was the most rubbery 5 speed I had ever driven. Also, the flywheel is so heavy that you have to wait to engage the clutch between shifts or you will jerk the car. I hated that. I also thought it was pretty slow. But if its for your wife, i'm sure that isn't one of her main criteria.

Good luck.

 

[Synthesis]

eventually, i'd love to have one. great car, great looks, great potential.:biggrin: