ahb900 Posted January 4, 2006 Posted January 4, 2006 Hey guys im new to the forums i signed up because im thinking of buying a 2002 is300 but i just wanted to know what do you guys think of a 17 year old guy driving a is300 you guys think its to dangerous is it easy to loose control of? should i stick to geting a audi A4? I really like the is300 but i dont want it to be to much for me to handle. THanks
Rx330driver Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 (edited) Hey guys im new to the forums i signed up because im thinking of buying a 2002 is300 but i just wanted to know what do you guys think of a 17 year old guy driving a is300 you guys think its to dangerous is it easy to loose control of? should i stick to geting a audi A4? I really like the is300 but i dont want it to be to much for me to handle. THanks my son who is 17 drives the is300. well its meant for teenagers, i just look silly in it. I had it all checked out. Problems include it being the car with the highest insurance pricing as well as how bad it looks in the inside...plastic dials everywhere...more like a honda or toyota. Dont get intimidated by the clear lights and the big exhaust in the back, they do nothing. Its a little hard to get hte acceleration right because its very sensative. Test drive one and see Edited January 5, 2006 by Rx330driver
bartkat Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 Plenty of teenagers drive IS300's. In stock form the car is very forgiving and handles pretty well and isn't edgy. It's fast enough, but not super fast, so driven properly it should do just fine. It's got plenty of safety features such as brake assist, traction control, and skid control. In normal driving those features will never even come into play. The speedo/tach dial is now classic, as are the tail lights and the entire body style. Get one in really good shape and you can hardly go wrong. PS: I bought my 02 when it was a year old, drove it for another two and a half years and never had a minute's trouble with it.
ahb900 Posted January 5, 2006 Author Posted January 5, 2006 Oh thats good happy to hear good replys i actually expected people to complain about it and tell me that i should get another escort or something but Rx330driver when u said highest insurence how much do u mean is it really high would it be much more than the 2000 a4? would it be alot higher than a ford zx2. I really dont wanna end up with extreamly high insurence. and how much do you guys think i can find a salvaged is300 for around year 2002 stickshift with under 100k miles
bartkat Posted January 6, 2006 Posted January 6, 2006 My insurance wasn't anything unusual. Don't know how it is in California.
ahb900 Posted January 6, 2006 Author Posted January 6, 2006 oh ok.. can i ask how much the car was if you dont mind me asking
bartkat Posted January 6, 2006 Posted January 6, 2006 oh ok.. can i ask how much the car was if you dont mind me asking I bought the car in 03 for $24,000 and traded it in on a IS350 in October and got $17,500 trade in. I had 36000 miles. Prices drop pretty fast with higher mileage. I was paying about $430 per six months for insurance.
ahb900 Posted January 6, 2006 Author Posted January 6, 2006 oh ok.. can i ask how much the car was if you dont mind me asking I bought the car in 03 for $24,000 and traded it in on a IS350 in October and got $17,500 trade in. I had 36000 miles. Prices drop pretty fast with higher mileage. I was paying about $430 per six months for insurance. price does not drop actually the price on the is300 is pretty sad i found a few with over 100k miles year 2001 for 15k :-\ thats pretty sad but im hopeing for salvaged and yeh i just checked insurence for alabama its 300 dollars cheaper a year than in CA :-\ but iono well see from the online quotes its not that much more than my zx2.
Rx330driver Posted January 6, 2006 Posted January 6, 2006 (edited) sorry for the late reply, i dont usually check the is forum. I paid, in 2002, 28K for a new IS. Also, just to say, if you get it, the tire are performance Z rated and to be honest i have no idea what that means. All i know is that my tires continually slip in rain and all i get is the warning light on the dash. lol oh. and the stock brakes really bother me. When you get them wet, rain or just a car wash, dont even dare pushing the brake. The whole car vibrate and you get this ear scratching sound. Very freaky. I dont regret buying it persay...but its not the best. This is one lexus i didnt enjoy fully. Oh and the ride comfort is very low, seats and suspension are hard. THe high price insurance didnt happen to me i think...but i remember reading some other guy on this forum saying that. maybe im spreading rumors. Edited January 6, 2006 by Rx330driver
bartkat Posted January 6, 2006 Posted January 6, 2006 That's the point. Insurance cost compared to other cars. The one guy implied that IS300 insurance was way higher than other cars. I don't think that's true. As for prices they really are holding up pretty well. When you figure a car that sold new for around $30,000 will bring half of that 5 model years later, that's pretty good. Might not be good for the buyer, but it's holding value better than most other cars. It will continue to hold up too.
ahb900 Posted January 6, 2006 Author Posted January 6, 2006 sorry for the late reply, i dont usually check the is forum. I paid, in 2002, 28K for a new IS. Also, just to say, if you get it, the tire are performance Z rated and to be honest i have no idea what that means. All i know is that my tires continually slip in rain and all i get is the warning light on the dash. lol oh. and the stock brakes really bother me. When you get them wet, rain or just a car wash, dont even dare pushing the brake. The whole car vibrate and you get this ear scratching sound. Very freaky. I dont regret buying it persay...but its not the best. This is one lexus i didnt enjoy fully. Oh and the ride comfort is very low, seats and suspension are hard. THe high price insurance didnt happen to me i think...but i remember reading some other guy on this forum saying that. maybe im spreading rumors. wow thats not good to hear hmm the sliping thing yeh that just made me have doubts the reason why i wanna switch my escort is because of that reason its so hard to drive in rain and its raining here in CA alot i mean i cant drive without spining the tires :-\ and im tired of that cause its not safe.
bartkat Posted January 6, 2006 Posted January 6, 2006 Wet traction depends mostly on the tires. Some are great and some are lousy. The last set I had were Fuzions and they did fine. Of course the driver has to back off a little when roads are slick. The Z rating is the sustained speed rating that the tires are rated for. The tire rating should match the capabilities of the car.
ahb900 Posted January 6, 2006 Author Posted January 6, 2006 Wet traction depends mostly on the tires. Some are great and some are lousy. The last set I had were Fuzions and they did fine. Of course the driver has to back off a little when roads are slick. The Z rating is the sustained speed rating that the tires are rated for. The tire rating should match the capabilities of the car. oh ic well iono like the insurence i GUESS wouldnt be to bad now let me see if i can find a salvaged one for a low price at the COPART auction they really have some nice deals sometimes. But the question is will there be alot of is300s that come in. Thanks guys
Rx330driver Posted January 6, 2006 Posted January 6, 2006 (edited) Well my driveway is on a hill, so reversing causes slippage. Hope you find the car your looking for! The tires on my car are stock...so i think they are duncans or something like that...starts with a D Edited January 6, 2006 by Rx330driver
ahb900 Posted January 6, 2006 Author Posted January 6, 2006 Well my driveway is on a hill, so reversing causes slippage. Hope you find the car your looking for! The tires on my car are stock...so i think they are duncans or something like that...starts with a D oh yeh i dont live on a hill and i dont really know many places that have steep hills so i guess im ok Thanks
Aija Posted January 7, 2006 Posted January 7, 2006 well i am 20. The Lexus IS300 almost made me buy it when i was 16 (i went for the Mitsu Eclipse GTS instead). The lexus IS300 is "average" car. Id acutally recommend the Audi A4 or the BMW 330 if u can maintain it. As for insurance goes, yes it was me who was saying the insurance rate is the highest for IS300. We are both under 25 so this would effect us drastically as compared to people who are over 25 (wont make much difference). Heres the Kelly Blue Book site: http://www.kbb.com/kb/ki.dll/ke.kb.sp?kbb....uranceA;article look at it, and youll see Lexus IS300 #1 on highest vehical to insure. For my dad, a Corvette Z06 is CHEAPER to insure than a Lexus IS300/350.
ahb900 Posted January 7, 2006 Author Posted January 7, 2006 well i am 20. The Lexus IS300 almost made me buy it when i was 16 (i went for the Mitsu Eclipse GTS instead). The lexus IS300 is "average" car. Id acutally recommend the Audi A4 or the BMW 330 if u can maintain it. As for insurance goes, yes it was me who was saying the insurance rate is the highest for IS300. We are both under 25 so this would effect us drastically as compared to people who are over 25 (wont make much difference). Heres the Kelly Blue Book site: http://www.kbb.com/kb/ki.dll/ke.kb.sp?kbb....uranceA;article look at it, and youll see Lexus IS300 #1 on highest vehical to insure. For my dad, a Corvette Z06 is CHEAPER to insure than a Lexus IS300/350. ^wow :-\ i think i will end up going with the a4 i kinda like the idea of having a turbo under the hood.. but like the reason i wanted the is300 is cause it shares its engine with the toyota supra and thats honestly my dream car and really expensive and stuff so i thought it would be nice to have the supra engine under the hood but eh w/e :-\ maybe some other time in life when im older.
Aija Posted January 7, 2006 Posted January 7, 2006 Personally id look into a BMW 325/330 :) unless it is a Audi TT! (Sweet car) I think audi has more reliability problems.
Rx330driver Posted January 7, 2006 Posted January 7, 2006 The audi cars looks nice! espeically the A6 and A8. Anyways, the problem with audi is that to me, they have bad interiors-as in the way they look. But in this case...the is300 isnt so great either. ever thought of a C230 merc? that woulda been my choice, and it is a Kompressed egine...meaning supercharger, hehe...though they arent that reliable, contrary to what most people think of mercedes. :whistles: the look of it still wins me over.
bartkat Posted January 7, 2006 Posted January 7, 2006 Audis are even less reliable than the other German brands. The situation reminds me of the old days in motorcycle riding. There were lots of Triumph fans, but even they admitted that it was "ride a while and tinker a while". The riding was fine when they were running, and that had to be good enough to offset the downtime. The Japanese bikes at the time weren't as sporting, but the owner got lots more seat time.
Aija Posted January 8, 2006 Posted January 8, 2006 Audi has improved their interior but still has ways to go. Lexus in my opinion in general have a better interrior then their competitors. The IS300 was the only exception i made to this. The IS350 (to me) has a better interior design then the BMW 330.
Rx330driver Posted January 8, 2006 Posted January 8, 2006 forget the IS300!!! Save up for the new LS460! what a car
Rx330driver Posted January 9, 2006 Posted January 9, 2006 Man, i was saving up for an S500 when it started coming out. I was so siked. love those big fenders. lol. And now, im in a pickle about the LS. Both are great looking cars and ive always loved both brands. I would say the S class has more class when you drive it out though. Alot of people still think of lexus as a toyota. lol and sometimes, its true.
Aija Posted January 9, 2006 Posted January 9, 2006 my friends call my Lexus ES330 the Toyota ES330... :cries:
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