bartkat

1. About the only TRD stuff would be a drop in air filter. 2. You can to the IHE route and with the right stuff, will not hurt the reliablity. Maybe best gains by eliminating the first two cats and put in some O2 sims, along with a SRT intake, a good header and exhaust. 3. The auto trans is stronger than the manual, if you are thinking about going with much more power. People with manuals that are going FI are usually ending up swapping to a stronger trans.

1. These boards ain't all that active in the IS300 area. 2. Two days of no posts ain't exactly a fair shot, since it's the weekend and all. 3. Posting up a bunch of cars and asking a comparison with no specifics, ain't a real easy question. 4. A newb coming in and criticize the entire community ain't exactly and endearing approach. 5. I like my 2002 IS300 just fine. It's all I expected and more at 35,000 miles, but I can't tell you how it's gonna be at 75,000 miles. 6. I don't think I'd buy a car though based on the perceived friendy atmosphere on a message board, especially when there's been no intereaction, until now, on this one. 7. All of your questions are a matter of personal preference, age, driving style, intended use of the car, etc. Nobody can really tell what's right for you. Perhaps refining your questions and narrowing things down a bit would be much better received than your trying to analyze the forum. Now then, if you want to ask some specific questions re the IS300, someone might take the time to answer, but don't expect pages and pages, cause there just ain't that many around here.

How much drop do you want, and why? Daily driver, auto-X, etc? Probably the closest thing to a stock ride with about a 1 inch drop would be the Eibach pro kit springs. Carson Toyota has the closest thing to what used to be L-Tuned parts. Carson Toyota, 1333 E. 223rd Avenue, Carson, CA 90745 http://www.l-tunedparts.com/index.php Eibach http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/tests/e...prings_2001.jsp

If it matches up with any Toyota filter you can get it from them at about half the price.

Battery may be ok, could be a bad cable or connection. The manual should tell how to reset the radio, but you probably have to have a code.

Quckest thing to check would be the radiator pressure cap.

I don't think anyone uses "break in oil" these days. Just go by what the manual says and you'll be ok. The main thing on a new engine is not to drive for prolonged periods at a constant speed. The manual tells you all about that too.

An IS300 with 100,000 miles and that's had all its service done and documented ought to be as good as any other lexus with that kind of miles. The price difference for 100,000 miles as compared to "normal" 48,000 miles would be around $2000. A private party purchase would be about $15,000 for such a car. http://www.edmunds.com/used/2001/lexus/is3...option.1.Lexus*

Try to file a police report anyway, in case things continue to happen and maybe you catch someone, you'll have a documented history.

I don't know how close this is, but I've heard good reports on Luxury Motor Works service. They have the scheduled maintenance and prices on their website. http://luxurymotorworks.com/contact_us.php

Who performed the preventive maintenance? If done by an independent shop instead of a Lexus dealer or Lexus specialty shop then the car could now have aftermarket brake pads, spark plugs, plug wires, water pump and coolant etc. which will degrade the reliability / durability of a Toyota / Lexus. There isn't much advantage of owning a Toyota / Lexus if the car is filled up with Ford and Saturn car quality aftermarket parts and fluids. What do you know about the driver? If you don't know anything because the car is on a used car or dealers lot, that's another bad sign as the car could have alot of suspension and steering linkage wear including bushing wear due to aggressive driving. It could be a real challenge for you to find an enthusiat car like a SC300/400 that has not be driven aggressively. ← It's actually at a used car dealer, but I called the former owner (now a BMW owner) and talked to him personally, he's not young, and he put 30k miles on it from 1998 to 2005. The work was done at an independent shop, but from what he said it was replaced correctly with OEM. It was also driven in an area where the roads are fairly good.......I would not want to buy one in Cleveland, that's what has killed my saturn. The dealer warranties all the vehicles as well for 6 mo/6000 miles. Not a Lexus CPO, but better than nothing. ← Cleveland killed your Saturn? LOL. I think I can understand that. I bought mine in Mentor, but it was only a year old. Anyhow, it sounds as if much of the expensive type service has already been done, so if the car is in good shape otherwise, and the price is right, it's probably as good as any of that model that you'll find. Any car that's over 10 years old is going to have some things deteriorate, but fixing stuff a little bit at a time shouldn't break the bank. A good private mechanic can do the brakes, and other items at much less cost than a dealership, and do just as good a job.

I don't think it has any effect when parked. :D However if you continue a somewhat "get on it" driving style, or just hit it once in awhile, the car will still stay adjusted to that. Of course, if you go to a grann style, it will adjust to that too. Also, if a car fails emissions tests, resetting the ECU to default can often adjust enough to pass the test.

Yes, on a new 2005, that's an excellent price. www.edumunds.com says the True Market Value, price people are paying so equipped is $29,906. Retail would be $32,590. http://www.edmunds.com/new/2005/lexus/is30...ntmv.1.1.Lexus*

← It's going to depend on how much inventory there is of 2005 models when the 2006 is released for sale. They probably control that pretty well, but you might be able to find a better deal on one if you aren't real particular about options and color, and look around at several dealers. Most of the time your trade-in will be at wholesale book for average condition. You also can consider that when the 2006 models come out, your trade will also have depreciated another year as well.

Toyota hasn't done hardly any merger / joint venture stuff, but the American car companies have. Like I'd be willing to bet the engine of ArmyofOne's 375,000 mile Ford Coutour is either Japanese (Ford owns 25% of Mazda) or European, not American which could explain why the engine held up well. ← http://company.monster.com/motor/ http://www.autointell-news.com/news-2000/J...ry-04-99-p9.htm

Based on the stories and pics of your old tires, I'd suggest that putting on almost any half decent new rubber would give you a super boost in handling, road feel, and ride. (New shocks would be even better). IMHO.

Looking good dude. Nice pics. At least now it's protected from the crummy weather.

These days with all the mergers, partnerships, and joint ventures, you'd have take each car apart one piece at a time to even start to say what's domestic, what's imported, manufactured, assembled, designed, etc. It's been going in that direction a few parts at a time for over 25 years.

ummm...the fact that my tire looks liek its flat if i dont?:whistles: come on people, what is so strange about it? i have a Specialized Hard Rock Pro in the garage thats reccomended at 65 psi. 40 isnt that high. the car is tracking fine, it rides great...if i drop the pressure down to >30, the damned tire looks flat. ← Suit yourself man. I don't know crap about tires.

Unless there's something wrong with your pressure guage or you're hauling maximum load all the time, I just can't imagine running those high tire pressures. Just can't see a postive reason for it.

Tires get noisier as they wear down, and hanling etc also deteriorates. The guy with the 17"s is fibbing. They won't get better gas mileage, nor tire mileage, and they will likely be noisey. Take the other guys' advice here, stick with the 16" wheels, and get a trusted brand and quality level in a nice touring tire.

Can you tell me why this would be? I had a broken evaporator before could this be the reason too? ← Not running the A/C for long periods allows seals to dry out. Running the A/C lubricates the compressor and seals. Considering the hot, dry summer, it's probably a good idea to put some dressing on all the door and window seals. That's a good practice to do once or twice a year anyway.

The Toyotas and Nissans were never crap from a reliability and durability standpoint. From '66-'74 nearly all were capable of about 300,000 miles of powertrain durability vs. only 50,000 miles for the Chevy Vega and 150,000 - 200,000 miles for the Ford Pinto. It's true, however the late 60's Toyotas were lousy in certain characteristics such as ride, handling and braking. Then from 1975 onwards virtually all Toyotas were built to run 500,000 miles or more whereas Ameican car drivetrains were going downhill in durability. Some libraries carry old issues of Consumer Reports. In there you will see from 1975 onwards Toyota / Nissan / Honda had excellent ratings for reliability whereas nearly all American cars were either poor or just average. ← That's not totally true., The Hondas, Datsuns (what you call Nissan), and some Toyota's that first came to the states were cheap crappy little cars. I don't need to read Consumer Reports. I was there. PS: 1975 and on is not early seventies.