Looking To Buy 04 Or 05 Is 300 Have Questions

[thebossdj]

Hi Gang,

Thanks for having a great forum. I am looking to buy an IS 300. They seem like great cars. One major question I have is how do these drive in the rain. I live on the Wet Coast of Canada and it rains 6 months of the year. I have never owned a rear wheel drive car and would like to know if these cars feel safe driving at 70mph on wet highway. I will be doing a lot of drives on the free way in the rain. My cars have always been VW jettas and they are soild in any conditions including the extreme wet. Will I have any problems going from a front wheel drive car that is planted to one of these? Also is there a spot on the site or web that shows all the options? Did the 04 and 05 models come with xexon lights? Is there anything I should look for when buying an IS? Can the car be serviced at a toyota dealer vs Lexus? Does anyone recomend a good but quite rain/winter tire? Thanks for your help.

cheers & gears.

B.

[flop170]

Hi Gang,

Thanks for having a great forum. I am looking to buy an IS 300. They seem like great cars. One major question I have is how do these drive in the rain. I live on the Wet Coast of Canada and it rains 6 months of the year. I have never owned a rear wheel drive car and would like to know if these cars feel safe driving at 70mph on wet highway. I will be doing a lot of drives on the free way in the rain. My cars have always been VW jettas and they are soild in any conditions including the extreme wet. Will I have any problems going from a front wheel drive car that is planted to one of these? Also is there a spot on the site or web that shows all the options? Did the 04 and 05 models come with xexon lights? Is there anything I should look for when buying an IS? Can the car be serviced at a toyota dealer vs Lexus? Does anyone recomend a good but quite rain/winter tire? Thanks for your help.

cheers & gears.

B.

i don't have any problems driving 70 on a wet road... as far as from a stand still it can be kinda !Removed! happy in the rain! but that's the fun part! my IS was the first rear wheel drive car i ever had as well.... and i had no problems adapting to it... it's a whole lot more fun to me than fwd....

here is a site for the options: http://www.internetautoguide.com/car-prici.../341/index.html

[smooth1]

I would think tires are the more major factor in wet driving conditions. The Lexus has a way better stock suspension than the VW. And with traction control standard on the IS 300, your definately stepping up in performance and capabilities.

I live in Florida, and it rains every afternoon during the summers. ( Hard!!!) I have Michelin Pilot Sports on and I don't slide around at all. I'm sure I could if I tried, but I have very little hesitation in driving a curve and transitioning apexes smoothly even in the rain. The IS 300 has a much wider stance and a lower center of gravity, so body roll is way less, which helps provide alot more traction.

And well, you know,considering the car weights a couple hundred pounds more than an IS 300, and with that amazing 100 (ish) hp at the crank, meaning 80 (ish) hp at the rear, oops, I mean front wheel, I don't know that's it's even possible to spin the tires...... So I would imagine that driver restaint and control will be an issue. LOL!!!!

Yes, Toyota can do the services for you, Flop 170 gave you a list of options, it's also here on the forum someplace. I think I saw it the other day. Yes the car had Xenon HID ( with a self leveling feature) , Good tires are Michelin Pilots, Bridgestone Potenza, Goodyear Eagles, Pirelli P6's.

The Toyota 3.0 L I6, known as the 2 JZE motor is one of the best engines ever produced by Toyota. You will not have any issues there. The Cd players were the only issue I know of, but in the 04-05 they fixed that.