Great little car used mostly for local and short trips, with AWD and winter tires it powers thru the Canadian winters with no problems at all. My other vehicle is an SUV so this car really feels very sporty and is fun to drive. I really love the lines on this car even more every time I wash it, and it just seems to look better the longer I own it.

Could do with a little more power as only the 250 is offered with AWD, but as my wife drives this car more than I do it's okay. We ordered the car for an 09 model and to get the HID head lights we would of needed to order a $9k option package that also had GPS as this would have been a total waste of money. Because of that option pricing we nearly passed on this great little car. So we ordered the cheaper interior package and spent $400 on after market HID lights.

Great well made car that seems it will last for ever as long as you can get the options you are looking for!!

Handling, options, quite cabin, good brakes, flawless 6 speed transmission, looks, adaptive HD headlights are very effective, stable at highway speeds but steering pulls a lot if road dips

Weak metal, paint chiped on hood and wheelwells after only a year and a half, underpowered for its class, AWD comes only with small 2.5L, if you want the 3.5 you have to go with RWD, the AWD is useless in any type of bad weather (light snow or moderate rain, constant pulling in steering on highway speeds, standard tire are garbage, very small for prices range (size of Corolla), had to get towed 3 times for mechanical breakdowns (stability control malfunction caused engine to go into safe mode and limit speed to 35), the wheels have severly rusted underneath the finish and have bubbles on all 4 of them, maintenance prices is outrageous (buy BMW, maint. included) save your $ buy loaded toyota or BMW if you like luxury.

You can get much more car for your money, be aware of maintenance costs not just upfront price, the exterior finish looks nice but any typical highway debree causes scratches and dents, a not so cheap entry level luxury car where they cut many corners and paid little attention to fit and finish.

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Many Camrys, Solara (great car), Nissan Murano, 2 Chevys and one Ford.

Looks, the car is just hot!
Balance just about as equal as you can get. The way the car is put together solid just like most Lexus/Toyota's are

No having one in the drive way

I'm a Lexus fan!
I have always thought they made tight cars. The 300 has distentive styling filled with a lot of bang for the buck. It might not be the greatest on gas but if that's an issue but something else. The IS is made to be driven.
The standard list of options are all geared toward the driver. I love mine I suffered dearly trying to get one. Now that I have one it was everything I thought it would be and more. I noticed that others compared it to cars out of it'z class so what does that tell you? It belongs in a class all to it's self. The Mazda 6 is a great comparison basically the same cars in every aspect but the IS stock is more of a drivers car. With some work I have gotten my Mazda 6 close but think about it, if you have the money you can creat a beast in the IS 300. I have driven the 250 & 350 and they are nice basically geared more toward luxury the IS is my dream come true. It's nothing like driving on a curvy back road to understand what makes this car stand out. It's weight ratio makes it a dream to push to the edge of it's limits. The suspension is tight and you never get a feeling of not being in control, to me it's the perfect car!

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Mazda 6, Mazdaspeed 6, Chevy Malibu
I love my Mazda but my heart will always sway to the Lexus.

Gas mileage is great 30+mpg Hwy. Power sufficient for daily driving. Great options here and there. Very beautiful styling and comfortable ride.

Heavy, Understeer

Fully loaded with Navigation, Bluetooth and Back-Up Camera. Excellent car.

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Lexus IS300

Build Quality, silky smooth and very powerful v6, great auto tranny. Great handling and a stereo that will Knock your socks off !

Tight back seats.

Great car. A little tight for me (6ft2 225lbs) but good comfortable seats but not much rear seat room. Great build quality as expected. Like the steering alot better compared to "heavy" feeling of BMW. Wonderful smooth powerful v-6 and great quick shifting 6 speed auto. Handles great and it will "catch" itself if things get too sqirrelly.

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BMW 540, Ford mustang gt

Interior look, handling. Sports car experience with the convenience of a 4 door sedan. Smooth quiet motor (almost too quiet in my opinion).

Power. Some squeaks and rattles, but generally a cut above normal cars, but below other Luxury cars or models. Display is a bit quirky, but is easy to get used to. 5 speed models can be hard to find. 5 speed models with Navigation are about impossible to find.

I've traditionally loved sports cars or sporty cars. As a graduation gift, I bought my wife a new 2000 Civic SI. After having a baby though, I started to look at a few sports sedans as replacements. I really like Honda's, but I really wanted an all wheel or rear wheel drive car. Since I already have a Subaru, I figured rear wheel drive is a must, and I was looking for a pure 5 speed, no tiptronics for me. The IS300 is a very well balanced car, steering is sharp and handling is crisp. It rides a bit firm for some, for me it could be a bit stiffer, but for a stock application it is great. We test drove a RX-8, which I think is a great car. However, there was not much mid range punch. If the car was for me I might have bought the RX-8. However, my wife never really even enganged the VTEC in the Honda Civic SI, so the IS300 definately has much more low to mid range punch. Styling has as much importance to me as features, and the 4 door Infinity G35 is just ugly to me. The 2 door is a different beast, but we need the 4 doors. The IS300 doesn't get much love in the general public, but that creates a great used market. I bought my IS300 for around 23k and it only had 33k in miles. HID headlights, side airbag curtains, traction control, and ABS (another reason I wanted an upgrade, the Honda had no ABS). People complain about the rear seating room, but I'm of average height, at my seat position, folks have plenty of room in the rear. The only thing lacking is power. Power is decent, but it's nothing an additional 40 horsepower couldn't fix. The engine is rather subdued, and with just bolt on parts, you can get about 40hp increase in power which would put it close to a lot of the current competitors. Since the engine is the same block as the last generation Supra, even more power is possible. Turbo applications would put this car in the BMW M3 class of performance at a fraction of the price.

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RX-8, Honda Accord, Legacy GT

Good Power, SMOOTH velvety engine, Styling, Always turns heads, Handling, Price, Build Quality, Reliability, Service Quality, Interior Comfort, Suede/Leather seat combo is sexy haha.

Premium Fuel only! $1.90/gallon here in Los Angeles. Gas mileage could be improved.

Hello everyone. Currently, we own TWO IS300s. We have a Yellow 2002 Manual with 25,000 miles on it. The ONLY "problem" with this car is a mild rattle from dash when going over 75. With no other problems, we purchased a Bluestone Metallic 2004 in October which now has 900 miles on it. The main reason to buy an IS300 over a BMW or Audi is simply the reliablility record. Check out consumer reports. Audi and BMW both have HORRIBLE reliability. A friend of mine has a 6 month old 330Ci which has already broken down in the middle of traffic TWICE. The IS300 may not have the same power found in the 330 (but its close), nor the same handling, but it does have a much better reliability record and in my opinion, looks better. Lexus also offers much better service quality over BMW. Now, the best part is that the IS300 uses the SAME engine that was in the last generation Supra (minus the Turbo) That being said, there are uncountable custom options available. You can easily tune this engine to smoke any BMW. There are a lot of aftermarket parts. By the way, the IS uses a I-6 engine, not the same one found in the Camry, RX300, ES300, GS300 etc... which is a V6, as some people have said. The only downside I have noticed with these vehicles is relatively poor fuel economy. The Blue IS only sees Los Angeles traffic and gets 14.5 miles per gallon (not good at all) BOTH are 5-Speed Manuals. The Yellow one sees an even mix of highway and city driving and averages 20mpg both on Premium fuel. But most people like me who buy this car arent looking for just fuel economy, its about restoring the passion of driving. I test drove everything else out there. Every time I get back into my Lexus, I know I made the right choice, no doubt. Hopefully the IS430 will be out next year (so far its looking good) and this will knock away most audi and bmw sales. 0-60 in 6.7 seconds with the stick and 7.2 with automatic is far from slow. Some people are complaining about a lack of power? I havent experienced this but more power is always more fun. This is where the IS430 will steal everyones' heart. Overall for 30 grand there is not a better all around vehicle out there. The IS has Japanese build quality but does NOT have the typical Japanese conservative design (camry, es300, etc..) In additing to all these, there are also many IS300 "clubs" which allow owners to communicate with one another and locate parts that you may want. Anyway down to my final words. In the performance sedan category, the IS beats the pants off of the Acura TSX and Audi A4 in terms of power and I would take it over any 3-series just for the fact that its cheaper, looks better and is more reliable. Just think, with the extra 5 grand you save not buying a 330, you can get a supercharger for the IS pushing it into M3 territory. Couldn't be happier with my IS300s. If anyone has any questions about them/ thinking about getting one contact me and maybe I can help a little more. Xenons work great at not and arent blinding to other drivers like the courteous BMW designers who believe part of driving is blinding other drivers with your headlights. Solid THUNK when doors shut (good build quality) The handling is incredible My only gripes are very minor: I do wish the dashboard was slightly re-made. It looks a little cheap for a 30 grand car but thats very minor Stick shift needs a 6th gear As someone else has said, the deistinct figure of the car allows you to spot it from blocks away. Gotta love that (I hate blending into the other cars out there)

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My two IS300s are my first sport sedans and they will NOT be my last. I plan to only buy IS-series from now on. Going to replace the 2002 IS300 in a couple years with the V8- IS430

The Engine, the manual tranny, the seats, and the headlights and foglamps, The front end of this car is very distint, especially at night.

I love speed and power, so more torque and horsepower would be better, but I have an unsatifiable craving for power. The more the beter( and the more dangerous).

My Family has always bought from Toyota because they are dependable. I love our cars ( we have had 8 toyotas, The IS is our 9th toyota product) but i have always looked foward to moving up to a Lexus. We finally purchased an IS and love it. It totaly blew away my father and I's expectations. The suspension is smooth yet firm, the clutch stiff but not overly heavy, and the gearbox(5spd) is nice and tight. I love the inline 6, not a very common engine( same 6 as the Mark 4 supras). It is a great sports sedan.

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95 Mustang GT, Celica GTS, 3 series BMW,.

Great sound system, quiet, handles extremely well on all road surfaces and in all weather conditions.

If any, apparently too tempting for my 18 year old not to roadrace. Despite being properly rotated, he had to replace all four tires within first 25,000 miles; and, they were not performance tires

After having my IS 300 for 18 months and 28,000 miles I got the urge to test drive a new car. So Saturady I test drove a 2004 Mazda RX8. When I got back into my Lexus I again realized why I bought the Lexus in the first place. It's a superior car. Although the body styling of the RX8 is more attractive, the interior is inferior, less spacious and noisier. I hate to disagree with the other reviewers but I got to say that I have not experienced any of the problems they refer too. My black leather interior still looks like new. There are no scratches on the interior surfaces and I still find the layout of the dash and instrument cluster aethestically appealing and easy to navigate. I should also add that I share this car with my 18 year old son, which is in itself a testament to the car's durabilty.

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2004 Mazda RX 8

Fast, corners great...nice design...

Can't change center arm rest for newer version...no conversion kit yet... Noise levels, less space than ES300 (It needs to be a little bit wider-3-4 inches.), and the cheap dashboard.

I love my IS300. My hubby owns an ES300, which we bought preowned with 16K miles. Their service was GREAT! They loan you a car for even the slightest noises or problems. He is approaching 100K miles on his car. My car has 41K and it is still running great! I love driving it. I wish that the interior was not so cheap looking and also the noise level is high on the highway. I have to turn up the radio to hear. There are also some noises in the dash, which can't be identified.

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ES300