My experience has been dealers and sales people generally don't know what they are talking about. It took several calls to Lexus HQ and the District Manager before they would even place my order (ST,NV,ML,PS,PA,HW).
Just for laughs, try a BYO for Texas. Every option is available (but only for the 250AWD for some unknown Lexus reason).
$9,839.00 Navigation System/Mark Levinson® Premium Audio System Package includes Lexus voice-activated DVD Navigation System with backup camera and Bluetooth® technology, Mark Levinson 14-speaker 300-watt Premium Surround Sound Audio System with 7.1 architecture and in-dash, single feed, six-disc CD/DVD auto-changer. Additional Options: - Lexus Pre-Collision System (PCS) and Dynamic Radar Cruise Control - Luxury Package - Intuitive Parking Assist - Headlamp washers - Preferred Accessory Package (includes Cargo net, Trunk mat and Wheel locks)
wow thats interesting, maybe mine will show up sooner that the 3 or 4 months i was quoted, althought i was fine with that time frame because it gave me time to clear up some other bills first. do you suggest staying on top of my dealer to make sure my order was even placed and done correctly? also i would still like to know what some of the going rates in CA are on the 350's.
Has anyone hooked up an ipod yet to the AUX port? If so, has anyone noticed that the sound is unbalanced and it only sends out one channel.. the left? Is there a way to fix this. I've set the sound to the right but that doesn't help.
I bought another set of wheels and tires for track days. I also purchased four new tire pressure sensors for $224 (c6 parts in general are a lot cheaper than Lexus parts). So you would think installing the tire pressure sensors in the new wheels solve the problem. Wrong, the sensors have to be registered with the tire pressure monitor. Each tire pressure sensor has a unique ID that it transmits to the tire pressure monitor so it can track front/rear/left/right. For a while it looked like I would be forced to go to the dealer and pay $70 every time I swapped wheels and tires. After several weeks of digging I found an aftermarket tire pressure activation tool (radio transmitter) that will tell the sensors to register with the tire pressure monitor. So with the $200 tool I can now swap wheels. It takes about 5 minutes to register all 4 sensors using the tool.
So even if you buy the sensors from Lexus you may still have problems. The $845 sounds way expensive. Sort of hard to believe the sensors are $150+ each
I am having a horrible problem. I only have own my IS250 RWD f/4 weeks and the car started to pull to the right at any speed around 2 weeks ago (ODO 960). I haven't hit anything on the road and always keep the right tire pressure. At this moment it is at the dealer in Margate FL. It worries me that they couldn't fix the problem with a simple alignment! They are suppose to call HQ to get advise! I haven't browse all this forum so I wonder if anyone has heard anything about it. Other thing that really scared me is that one of the service guys told me that he has seen "a couple" of similar problems on the same IS!!
Man, that sux. Some say to never get the first batch of anything. And if it's bad enough they may do a recall. In any case, the bugs will need to be worked out. Just like the new XBOX 360, there have been reports of units overheating and then locking up, typical of Microsoft products.
What kind of cable to you have to plug from ipod (or any other mp3 player) to the aux input in car? Make sure you have a stereo connector cable not just the mono cable.
I have heard about that problem on a lot of vehicles on all sorts of brands. Something to do with the tires/wheels I bet. I could be wrong though as I am not an expert with cars.
On my quick research on this same forum i found at least other 2 vehicles (Honda) with this same problem. Well I picked up my car last Tuesday, indeed they replaced front tires and now the car is OK. In any case I am not happy with this situation :mad: . I was expecting something close perfection with the IS, but I think that's something out of this world.
I have owned an IS300 Sportcross since new in April 2003. I had to replace the tires to pass NJ inspection when I moved from New York in May 04 so they lasted about 1 year/12,000 miles, admittedly on NYC's pretty rough pavement. The problem was not treadwear so much as sidewall damage from NYC potholes on the ultra-low profile tires. I switched to Falkens which are about $100 each. They provide some snow traction and a more pliant ride at the expense of some wet-weather traction.
Everything has a tolerance. Problem with tires is that they are all black and round. You can't find a bad one until you've driven on it. I wouldn't let that bother me much. I've bought more than a couple of bad tires. It's really no big deal.
Can anyone with the nav option on the new IS answer this question, please? When you're receiving call with the bluetooth feature, what is displayed on your dash? Just phone number or the caller's name if the name is listed in your phonebook? Thanks.
I been looking for an IS350/navi with either the sports package or the luxuary package and it has been a labor of love. For one, every dealership I have either called or talked to in person says that they are back ordered until at least Jan or Feb (with some saying 3 to 6 month wait). Longo Lexus told me that and they are suppoes to be the largest dealership in the U.S...what gives? Since it is such a hot commodity, no body wants to sell it under sticker price around Los Angeles and I mean NO ONE which is pretty lame if you are trying to get competitive pricing. Lexus of Cerritos quoted me an IS350/navi with a Sports trim @ 46,395 with a Luxury trim @ 46,935 (both out of the door price). I put down a deposit for either and was told that I have to at least wait for 3 to 4 weeks until they even know what allocation will be for Southern California from Lexus. If anyone else has been quoted a different price in the greater Los Angeles area, please post and let me know how you were able to lower the sticker price tag that everyone is quoting me, I tried carsdirect but they weren't even able to find me a dealership that was welling to go below MSRP...ugh...happy hunting in Cali. :mad: :mad: :mad:
That's because they've over-estimated the demand for the 250, which very few Lexus customers seem to want, and underestimated the 350. Locally, I visited the lot to find three 350s left in stock last week with one of them "sold" (in big red letters), and nine 250s languishing.
Has anyone determined whether the IS sport package suspension lowers the ride height? I still haven't seen a sport equipped IS here in So Cal to measure it myself. No one from Lexus seems to know and I can't tell from pics or literature. It's frustrating deciding whether or not to wait for a sport equipped IS when you can't check one out first!
That the dealers/salespeople don't know about things like ride height variation between the standard and sports version speaks to why Lexus still has something to learn from BMW.
Granted, many of the BMW sales staff may also be only a paycheque away from dumpster diving, but at least the BMW literature addresses things of this nature -- it can be looked up. I've examined the IS literature pretty carefully, but don't remember that it defines things like the F/R weight distribution of the car, for example -- it's all there in the BMW book.
Besides which, in my case, the IS250 (the only one with the manual) has no fold-down rear seat. Therefore I cannot put my bicycle inside the car. The BMWs, G35, C230 & CTS can all do this thing, which I consider important.
Anyway, Lexus has an audience & the others have theirs. Option packages make manufacturing & distribution simpler, but may not be the best idea when it comes to satisfying every customer. The bulk of them . . . maybe. Perhaps some of us don't fit so well into . . . the bulk of them.
I feel sorry for all you Cali folks...The IS350 I test drove w/ Nav & Sports Pkg was $43,500 in Albany, NY. That was sticker & the sales lady said she would give me $500 credit in their service dept. Myself I'm in the market for the IS350 w/ sports pkg w/o the Nav @~$38,000. I do agree that Lexus overestimated sales of IS250 & underestimated sales of IS350. I have a Toyota Tundra for winter so A rear-wheel drive IS350 is fine...no snow will hit this baby. IS250AWD @204HP @ $35,000=not good
I have to agree that $35K for 204HP in an IS250 is a lot of coin...it was entirely underpowered...I would have expected at least 240-255HP. The car is nice...I live in the snowbelt, so the AWD is a great feature (not available on the IS350, which with RWD would be a nightmare)but I'm not sure about the rear seats...they are just too small in comparison to some of the competition, G35 in particular...and a whole lot more power and arguably the best V6 on the planet.
Lot of thinking to do here...checked out the A4...the RS4 is cool, lots of power, but they're all too small in the rear. I like the A4 Cab, afterall if I'm going to give up the functionality of the back seat I might as well do a two door convertible...but Audi's have the most confusing instrumentation until you're owned it for a year.
I like the idea of the IS250 being overprojected in demand, but do you really think they will blow them out. Our dealer didn't even have one (IS250 or IS350) that I could drive, they were all sold or going to other dealers...they're trying to get more in early this week. Would love to drive one and see if the 204HP will suffice before jumping ship on the car completely.
Yeah I could live with the 204 HP if the pricing was better. And don't mind since the gas mileage is better than say for instance the Acura TSX, which also has a 200 HP 4-cylinder but gets slightly lower mileage than the IS250.
Wonder which one is faster?
Basically, you're paying for the amenities in the Lexus over the Acura. However, you get a lot of amenities like HID (which still isn't available in CA for the IS) for free and the total price is $5-10k less.
If Acura put a small V-6 in that TSX, it would eat away the sales potential of the IS. Lexus will probably increase the HP of the IS250, maybe call it the IS300, by two model years. Didn't they do something similar with the ES300 and the ES330?
I drove the IS 250 today & fell in love! Didn't drive on the highway, though. Will it get m on the freeway easily? I don't have a "heavy foot", nor do I use the highway often, but when i do, I want to get on easily. I'm in no hurry to buy at all. My budget will let me get a 250 with luxury package (I LOVE xenon lights) or a base 350 - what do you think? Or, I could just go get a TSX & pocket the change! Help me please - I'm so confused!!
A dang truck? ..It's a Toyota Tundra w/ a Lexus 4.7L V8. OH....my other ride during the summer...1999 Suzuki Katana 750 :shades: Gets ~45 mpg. I ride that from April 1st - Dec 1st mostly. I had it out for 2 days last week. So I basically ride the truck for 4 months...can't tow the Artic Cats with the Katana As for the Is250 vs. IS350 vs. TSX....Like the sales lady said at Lexus..."no 4 cyl's here". Also are you guys sure the IS250 comes with the Lux pkg? I believe it only comes w/ the premium pkg...i.e. no 18"wheels, no nav, no telescoping steering wheel. I checked out Lexus.com and talked to a salesman. The brochure I received from Lexus said that both RWD IS's come with the sports pkg but the salesman didn't think the IS250 did...to keep the price down. I haven't read any threads saying the IS250 absolutly comes w/ Lux or Sports pkg.
I also have a winter tire pressure problem with my GS 300 AWD, I changed tires and rims was fine for a month, then the warning lights etc. Lexus did not share the 70 mile/reset insight. Thank you very much! Where can I purchase the C6 sensors and the Activation tool?
Katana sounds good. Can't get behind the truck thing myself; sounds like you're situated nicely, though. Me, I'll take RWD, compact and SF Bay weather year-round instead!
Salespeople are routinely poor sources for info, even at a Lexus shop. I'm pretty sure ordering a 250 with lux, prem or sport is a possibility. Finding the config desired by region may be more problematic.
Yes, it is possible to order a 250 the you want it, as long as you are willing to wait about 3 months. I have on order a 250 RWD with the LL luxury package and the ML audio without Navigation. It is supposed to be delivered by the end of February. The color is Tungsten with Sterling interior.
Got 2000 mi on mine. Live in So Jersey area and just put Dunlop Winter Sport M3 to prep for winter (set up w/ TPMS on new tires/rims-provided by TireRak).
Put deposit in Sept., took delivery in Dec. Paid sticker on Sport Package w/NAV (Blue Onyx). ML stereo not available in No East or so I was told by dealer. Paid $43,089, no discount.
Car is FAST and steering is certain. Ave +/-20mpg round town and +/-25 Hwy. Note: turning radius is 33.5ft, impressive.
Really, like the backup camera, especially since rear deck is high.
VDIM not a problem, I have hit the pedal hard and had the tires spin and even kicked the tail out a few times, then the VDIM kicks in at a point where it is comforting to know that the car will not let me make a complete fool of myself.
Before I put snow tires on, I had a chance to take car in parking lot after 4 inch snow. With the 18" summer Dunlop SP 5000s the VDIM did kick in often, but I could not significantly throw the tail (VDIM did limit my speed). I was surprised that it handled so well w/o snow tires. However, I will not risk the mixed winter we typically get in So Jersey.
Getting use to keyless entry/start, will take some time.
Dude...you got my car...did you pick the Black, Cahmere, or Sterling interior? I thought the Nav incl ML? The one I drove in Albany,NY had it. I might not wait until next year if there are more Kudos for this machine.
Per the Lexus web page, ML is only available in the NAV/ML option for $3990 (http://www.lexus.com/models/is/price_options.html). NAV can be purchased separately, but not ML. The ML in the GS is packaged with NAV, too.
This question applies mainly to current owners of the new IS. Is the NAV really worth the extra $$$? I know there's a backup camera to go with it too and other features. Do you control the climate and other features through the touch screen? I just want to know how the system flows to see if it's worth forking out the extra $$$.
Does anyone know for sure if a T-Mobile phone will work with the IS? The Lexus web site had T-mobile and Cingular listed as compatible Bluetooth systems until yesterday when the T-Mobile was removed. Thanks.
The nav is really nice to have especially if you would otherwise be fumbling around with paper maps on regular basis due to frequent travel to new addresses.
However, most of the added cost does not carry over into higher resale value, so it isn't worth it unless you are really going to get your money's worth out of it before you trade to the next car.
Comments
Just for laughs, try a BYO for Texas. Every option is available (but only for the 250AWD for some unknown Lexus reason).
$9,839.00
Navigation System/Mark Levinson® Premium Audio System Package includes Lexus voice-activated DVD Navigation System with backup camera and Bluetooth® technology, Mark Levinson 14-speaker 300-watt Premium Surround Sound Audio System with 7.1 architecture and in-dash, single feed, six-disc CD/DVD auto-changer.
Additional Options:
- Lexus Pre-Collision System (PCS) and Dynamic Radar Cruise Control
- Luxury Package
- Intuitive Parking Assist
- Headlamp washers
- Preferred Accessory Package (includes Cargo net, Trunk mat and Wheel locks)
I bought another set of wheels and tires for track days. I also purchased four new tire pressure sensors for $224 (c6 parts in general are a lot cheaper than Lexus parts). So you would think installing the tire pressure sensors in the new wheels solve the problem. Wrong, the sensors have to be registered with the tire pressure monitor. Each tire pressure sensor has a unique ID that it transmits to the tire pressure monitor so it can track front/rear/left/right. For a while it looked like I would be forced to go to the dealer and pay $70 every time I swapped wheels and tires. After several weeks of digging I found an aftermarket tire pressure activation tool (radio transmitter) that will tell the sensors to register with the tire pressure monitor. So with the $200 tool I can now swap wheels. It takes about 5 minutes to register all 4 sensors using the tool.
So even if you buy the sensors from Lexus you may still have problems. The $845 sounds way expensive. Sort of hard to believe the sensors are $150+ each
So it goes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2005/12/10/mflex10.- xml&sSheet=/motoring/2005/12/10/ixmot.html
Or a manual, which is the next best thing?
The Luxury packages listed at Edmunds won't even come up at Lexus.com if you input a local zip code.
Probably after the new year?
People need to start posting what kind of deals they've gotten.
Don't think there's a Prices Paid thread yet.
Lexus IS 250/IS 350: Prices Paid & Buying Experience
regards,
kyfdx
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That may solve your problem.
Driving, or at the office?
Hmmmmm....
Hang up and drive, America. And get the heck out of the fast lane...
:P
Granted, many of the BMW sales staff may also be only a paycheque away from dumpster diving, but at least the BMW literature addresses things of this nature -- it can be looked up. I've examined the IS literature pretty carefully, but don't remember that it defines things like the F/R weight distribution of the car, for example -- it's all there in the BMW book.
Besides which, in my case, the IS250 (the only one with the manual) has no fold-down rear seat. Therefore I cannot put my bicycle inside the car. The BMWs, G35, C230 & CTS can all do this thing, which I consider important.
Anyway, Lexus has an audience & the others have theirs. Option packages make manufacturing & distribution simpler, but may not be the best idea when it comes to satisfying every customer. The bulk of them . . . maybe. Perhaps some of us don't fit so well into . . . the bulk of them.
:P
Lot of thinking to do here...checked out the A4...the RS4 is cool, lots of power, but they're all too small in the rear. I like the A4 Cab, afterall if I'm going to give up the functionality of the back seat I might as well do a two door convertible...but Audi's have the most confusing instrumentation until you're owned it for a year.
I like the idea of the IS250 being overprojected in demand, but do you really think they will blow them out. Our dealer didn't even have one (IS250 or IS350) that I could drive, they were all sold or going to other dealers...they're trying to get more in early this week. Would love to drive one and see if the 204HP will suffice before jumping ship on the car completely.
Wonder which one is faster?
Basically, you're paying for the amenities in the Lexus over the Acura. However, you get a lot of amenities like HID (which still isn't available in CA for the IS) for free and the total price is $5-10k less.
If Acura put a small V-6 in that TSX, it would eat away the sales potential of the IS. Lexus will probably increase the HP of the IS250, maybe call it the IS300, by two model years. Didn't they do something similar with the ES300 and the ES330?
OH....my other ride during the summer...1999 Suzuki Katana 750 :shades: Gets ~45 mpg. I ride that from April 1st - Dec 1st mostly. I had it out for 2 days last week. So I basically ride the truck for 4 months...can't tow the Artic Cats with the Katana
As for the Is250 vs. IS350 vs. TSX....Like the sales lady said at Lexus..."no 4 cyl's here". Also are you guys sure the IS250 comes with the Lux pkg? I believe it only comes w/ the premium pkg...i.e. no 18"wheels, no nav, no telescoping steering wheel. I checked out Lexus.com and talked to a salesman. The brochure I received from Lexus said that both RWD IS's come with the sports pkg but the salesman didn't think the IS250 did...to keep the price down. I haven't read any threads saying the IS250 absolutly comes w/ Lux or Sports pkg.
Salespeople are routinely poor sources for info, even at a Lexus shop. I'm pretty sure ordering a 250 with lux, prem or sport is a possibility. Finding the config desired by region may be more problematic.
I was quoted ten weeks when I proposed to order my SportCross back in '03. Twelve weeks doesn't seem unreasonable.
Back then, I didn't think it was worth waiting. Three years later I'm older and a good deal wiser, in certain respects.
Put deposit in Sept., took delivery in Dec. Paid sticker on Sport Package w/NAV (Blue Onyx). ML stereo not available in No East or so I was told by dealer. Paid $43,089, no discount.
Car is FAST and steering is certain. Ave +/-20mpg round town and +/-25 Hwy. Note: turning radius is 33.5ft, impressive.
Really, like the backup camera, especially since rear deck is high.
VDIM not a problem, I have hit the pedal hard and had the tires spin and even kicked the tail out a few times, then the VDIM kicks in at a point where it is comforting to know that the car will not let me make a complete fool of myself.
Before I put snow tires on, I had a chance to take car in parking lot after 4 inch snow. With the 18" summer Dunlop SP 5000s the VDIM did kick in often, but I could not significantly throw the tail (VDIM did limit my speed). I was surprised that it handled so well w/o snow tires. However, I will not risk the mixed winter we typically get in So Jersey.
Getting use to keyless entry/start, will take some time.
This question applies mainly to current owners of the new IS. Is the NAV really worth the extra $$$? I know there's a backup camera to go with it too and other features. Do you control the climate and other features through the touch screen? I just want to know how the system flows to see if it's worth forking out the extra $$$.
Thanks.
However, most of the added cost does not carry over into higher resale value, so it isn't worth it unless you are really going to get your money's worth out of it before you trade to the next car.