any IS300 owners here

T2urtle

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2004
3,432
3
81
I can read all the reviews i want from car magazines but they go thru cars for a week and call it good. They get them brand new and never see them when they age. I can go to clublexus.com or my.is.com and read their reviews but those are lexus lovers that will fight for the name and never look at others.

I rather look for a review of the common man. Even tho i'm more performance oriented with cars. I'm looking to replace my fully loaded 98 maxima with a 01-03 IS300 with about 70k on the clock. Since i can find them within 13-15k. I had the GTO thread not to long ago but i think a IS300 seems to be more practical car for myslef.
 

mwmorph

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2004
8,877
1
81
It's not very quick, think 7second 0-60 range.

Handling is good but nothing special, don't expect Miata or 911 or Corvette, more like a really good Civic Si or maybe a Mazdaspeed 3.

Reliability is top notch, but the 2JZ-GE tends to blow out valve cover gaskets at about 120K miles. Not a big deal, and a easy fix.

Modability is very high, same engine as the Non turbo supra and SC300 so theres a lot of mods out there for this engine.

Interior seemed a little down rent for the price.
 

sniperruff

Lifer
Apr 17, 2002
11,644
2
0
it was one of the first japanese sedans that threatened the top position of the BMW 3-series.
 

Alienwho

Diamond Member
Apr 22, 2001
6,766
0
76
My friend has had one for 2 years now, and I ride in it/drive it all the time.

It's a beautiful car. It's reasonably quick, and never feels slow or like it's dogging it. It feels like it's as fast and handles as well as it should. It's the perfect size for a car IMO, not to small, not to large.

He got it with about 20k miles, and has put on 40k in 2 years, so it's at about 60k now. He hasn't done anything except change the oil and buy new tires. It's a great car and I would take it in a heartbeat.
 

Abel007

Platinum Member
Jun 12, 2001
2,169
0
76
As with any car they have good and bad. I've had my 03 IS300 for 8 months now and I really love it. It has great handling and with the 5-speed it isn't as slow as the automatic. :)

If you like to drive hard the inline-6 will drink gas like its going out of style. It wouldn't be hard to hit 17MPG if driven hard on a daily basis. I average about 23MPG and on a few occasions reached 26MPG on a tank. The premium fuel only thing begins to add up as well. Luckily prices are beginning to drop some for gas. Performance-wise the car isn't exceptional at any one thing. In a straight line it would be hard pressed to hang with the new Civic SI (Probably lose to it actually) and the RSX-S would eventually eat it. The good news is if you are an adult, this shit doesn't really matter to you nor does it me. Going around corners is fun imo and the handling is superb. Of course there are better handling cars, but who cares? Its a fun sports sedan!

Now, if you care about all of this, as mentioned by mwmorph, there are ways to improve the capabilities of the IS300. A great website for the modding community is http://my.is. You can change the suspension, rims, turbo charge, super charge, exhaust, intake, whatever you want to improve the performance. That all sounds good and well but it all costs $$. Especially a turbo. Probably $6-10k depending on what you want.

Now to what I consider the bad. I've already mentioned the premium fuel and weak MPG. Now after I purchased my car I realized that the insurance is super high. Come to find out the IS300 is the most expensive car to insure under $50k or something like that. I have a clean record and good credit and my rate for a 26 yr old single male is around $1600/yr. Also, repairs are expensive as it is a Lexus. I have a Certified Pre-Owned vehicle so nothing has come out of my pocket. I am about to get them to replace my clutch though so its about to pay for itself. :)

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask. I love my car and it would be hard for me to give it up. I keep my car extremely clean and I enjoy taking care of it. That is saying a lot since I've never taken care of any of my previous cars. :)
 

T2urtle

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2004
3,432
3
81
I'm coming from a 98 nissan maxima. Which since i've owned gotten me 20-25mpg city/highway. Always put premuim because of the pinging issues on that motor. i ran that at the track and got a 16.2 all day. I've read and heard that most IS's would be in the 15.1- 15.6 range. So overall that should make me feel happier. And honestly my goal isn't to beat all the cars out there. Or i would of went with a RSX-S or WRX with a fully bolt on selection.

So right off the bat your 2 bads are what i'm used to. I'm paying 700$ a year fully covered maxima and i'm 21 single amle, great record and record. Lexus repairs are nothing for me. As i can do 90% of the repairs myslef. The water pump and belt at 90k will be done by a couple of yoda techs who are fimiliar with the 2jz. Generally speaking nothing common really goes wrong with the cars overall. Nothing more prone to breaking then your average car. if the valve cover gasket does blow big freaking deal. i'll replace those all day rather then having to replace a rear main or head gasket on the 7m.

Overall i'm thinking of doing simple bolt-ons, SRT intake, headers. if they have spacers i would get those, if i'm not all that happy i might spring for a turbo kit once i pay the car completely off.

I'm looking for a auto more then a manual but i can drive both. simply because i'm past the racing phase and i want to have the OPTION if i ever wanted someone else to drive it.

A couple of specfic questions would be....

all cars come with 6 cd player in dash?
if replaced does it require a speical harness, i'm asking cause my camry has a 2 plug harness cause of external amps i figure lexus would use the same.
the escade seats or w/e they are called, i hate them, what % of cars have them would you say? I think 65% of IS's have them.
with your rates being at 1600$ what is your deductible.... mines was at 250$
rear seats do they fold down completely?
all cars come with compass in rear view mirror aside from navi equipped ones?
whats up with the 7 spoke wheels that look like 16's? looks nasty what option is what and why.
Sunroofs seem like an option but is it part of a packaged?


those are off the top of my head. but simple small little details that i myself worry about because i trust the lexus name with a 2jz engine. I trust myself being able to tell a bad car from a decent car .


Looks like you got the silver color i want. I personally want a silver and black leather, none of that suede stuff. Non- navi with Eshift, completely bone stock. with the 5 spoke 17's and sunroof.
 

Abel007

Platinum Member
Jun 12, 2001
2,169
0
76
all cars come with 6 cd player in dash?

Yes, all the Lexus IS300s come with the 6 CD in-dash. It is prone to locking up and eating CDs (easy to get out from what I understand, mine functions properly)

if replaced does it require a speical harness, i'm asking cause my camry has a 2 plug harness cause of external amps i figure lexus would use the same.

There is a special harness needed and I believe it is called the "Metra harness." I'll find out more info for you tomorrow about that.

he escade seats or w/e they are called, i hate them, what % of cars have them would you say? I think 65% of IS's have them.

Escaine I believe is what you mean. A large percentage of the cars have them, but leather was an option and with silver it should be black leather. Mine has the escaine and I love it.

with your rates being at 1600$ what is your deductible.... mines was at 250$

$1000/$1000. I am currently with Progressive. If you know of any cheaper place let me know! :)

rear seats do they fold down completely?

No, there is a ski pass between the seats but the seats themselves do not fold down.

all cars come with compass in rear view mirror aside from navi equipped ones?

Correct. If no navi then you'll have a compass in the rear view mirror.

whats up with the 7 spoke wheels that look like 16's? looks nasty what option is what and why.

I believe these were a winter tire option for the Northern folks. I live in the South so it never came up when I was looking for an IS.

Sunroofs seem like an option but is it part of a packaged?

I don't believe they made any IS w/o a sunroof. I've never seen one anyways.

Also, depending on what year, there will be different options.

Year differences in the Lexus IS300

Hope this helped you out. As always if you have any other questions feel free to ask. :)

 

T2urtle

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2004
3,432
3
81
it helped very much so.

i'm very disappointed in the rear seats not folding down. Its one of the things i hated my maxima for, the 4 cases i needed to use it, i was boiling...

1600$ with 1000 deduct scares me..

I did a quick quote for me its 2100$ a year 500/500... guess you gotta pay to play right..
 

thomsbrain

Lifer
Dec 4, 2001
18,148
1
0
I looked at these when I was car shopping. The Accord had 20% more power, a few more features, better gas mileage, and significantly cheaper insurance ($800/year, 25 y.o male). For a daily driver, the choice was obvious.