The interior drew criticism for the chronograph-style instrument cluster, which was hard to see and decipher, and for the chromed shifter, which on sunny days got way too hot to touch and on wintry days was way too cold. Overall the interior was just as stylish as the exterior. The seats were comfortable, and the suede inserts clung like Velcro when the driving got sporty. We were also amazed at how well the light tan interior held up after all our hard use. It looked practically brand-new after 40,000 miles.
We had two minor problems with the IS300. The first occurred at 18,747 miles, when an underbody panel came loose and began to drag on the pavement. Pat Bedard had to crawl under the car to remove what was left of it. The dealer fixed it under warranty, and there has since been a recall for this problem. Also fixed under warranty was a loose dead pedal.
|
Lexus recommends service every 7500 miles and pays for the first stop (a change of oil and oil filter, plus a tire rotation). Our next one at 15,000 miles (same service plus inspections) cost us $66. The 22,500-mile service required a new $90 climate-control filter, which brought the price of the pit stop to $200. The big service at 30,000 miles called for replacement of the brake fluid, coolant, and air filter in addition to the items in the previous services. The dealer also saw fit to change the transmission and differential fluids. Even backing out the cost of the unnecessary fluids, we were gouged $326 for this service. Our final oil change and tire rotation set us back $116, bringing the total outlay for scheduled service to a princely $708, way more than the $427 for our 1999 3-series (February 2001). We did manage to wear out the original-equipment tires, so we replaced them with something more sporty (see Baubles and Bolt-Ons). A careless staffer tore the front belly pan off the IS at a shopping mall, and we didn’t total the $110 fix in under unscheduled stops since it was our dumb mistake.
In terms of quality and reliability we can find no fault with this vehicle. We drove it hard, and it’s still as rakishly good-looking inside and out as the day it arrived here. Lexus took aim at a target that’s hard to hit, and its aim came up a little short. But this is a stylish, thoroughly reasonable alternative at a reasonable price for the less “sports enthusiastically” inclined driver.
View Photos
View Photos
Leave a Reply