Plastic panel on the underside of the car came loose & was dragging on the ground.
If I'm not mistaken, the IS300 delivered stock here in the US is essentially trimmed out the same as is the IS200 Sport, but with the larger engine and different transmission.
Can't get my hands on it enough. My wife is very selfish! Some unhappiness though. The car is very slow to respond to emergency starts from a dead stop. I think it has more to do though with the fact that the throttle is not mechanically linked to the accelerator pedal than it does to the transmission. However; the transmission shift points are rougher than I expected (my 93 Camry shifts more smoothly) and we got better mileage out of our 97 Avalon with a 3.0L 6cyl that we traded in (a much heavier car) than we do from the IS300.
The IS300 is not to be compared to an Avalon.
This is a 20-30 year old's car that is nimble and quick while delivering luxury and comfort.
The problem with the plastic under-tray falling off is a known fault with the IS300. It should be a warranty repair. Also the hesitation on acceleration may be cured by an ECU update. Check out the forums on www.is300.net for more info.
I own a IS200 in the UK, looking forward to getting my hands on the 3.0 litre version when it comes to the UK.
Fuel economy - what do expect when you have a car delivering 215hp from a 3 litre? My hat goes off to them for producing a non-turbo car with that horse power.
If you are after fuel economy, buy a small 4 cylinder.
A common problem appears to be the hesitation in acceleration from a dead or worse a rolling stop. I have almost been hit while rolling into an intersection to make a left hand turn and then stepping on the accelerator and getting a delayed response.
I have complained each time I take it into the dealership only to get the response that Lexus designed it that way. Sure - they purposely designed in a delay that can you killed!
It appears to me to be a fuel injection mapping issue. Any one else with this problem? Anyone get it resolved?
John.
215 from a 3 liter? Wow. Maybe that was technically impressive ten years ago, but not these days. Honda has a 2 liter I4 making 220 and BMW has a 3.2 V6 making 333. Both are naturally aspirated.
215 from a 3 litre! Yes, Honda has 240 from a 2 litre with a uninspiring 153 pound feet at 7500rpm!
Go for the hard top, it that amounts of revs required! and the BMW M3.. impressive engine, nice MSRP too, not to include the waiting line and dealer markups... The BMW 330 is just as nice as the IS300. Until you include that cost and insurance.. IS all the way babe.
I'm afraid I have to agree - 215 isn't particularly impressive for a 3-liter. Even the BMW 330 makes more than that (though admittedly not much). And the Supra definitely makes more than that, which makes you wonder as they're both 3.0L in-line-6s, made by the same company... Lexus can definitely do better than 215. I'm sure if they tried, they could approach or even exceed 300 BHP from this engine, as they didn't seem to have any trouble exceeding 100 hp/liter with the Celica.
Its not just horsepower. The car has 218 lbs of torque. Those other cars don't have nearly that much, certainly at such low rpm.
Yes, considering 215hp @ 5800 rpm and 218 lbs torque @ 3800 rpm means incredible thrust at low speeds. When you read car stats, there is a reason why dealers include max hp with the rpm of the engine. 999hp @ 1000000 rpm means your foot will be on that pedal for a long time before your car generates that much hp. If you look at Hondas and Toyotas, some of them do have higher max hp, but at 7,000 or 8,000 rpms meaning the IS would dust them off the line, no contest.
I have a 97 Avalon that just started hesitating on takeoffs only.. Otherwise runs great at any speed. I took it to my mechanic and to the dealer. Neither one could solve the problem. I had a tune up and replaced the fuel filter to no avail. The car only has 55000 miles. Any advice would be helpful...
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