Marty

Katarina... the white spots are most likely from water with a high mineral content. I had this happen to my car in college (years ago!) and it took me a while to get it all scraped off. There was no permanent damage and I don't remember exactly what I used to dissolve the white residue, but no visible harm was done to the paint. You might check with a chemist to see how to dissolve hard water residues. Hope this helps! :D

In November '05 I placed an order with my Lexus dealer for an IS250RWD. It took 5 months to get here from Japan but it was worth the wait. Why order it? Well, I wanted the Mark Levinson stereo WITHOUT the Nav system and the RWD was not offered in the icy-cold climate here in the Buffalo area. So... customize and wait. The Nav system is a big waste of money. I got a TomTom 910 instead. It's sweet and I get to keep it at the end of my lease! The 2006 IS250 is a delight to drive. The RWD handles fantastically, just like I remember my first car waaay back in High School handling. I like that 'seat-of-the-pants' feel you get from the RWD. And at 70 mph on the highway this car gets 36mpg! I'm not kidding... I've clocked it on a dozen or more trips. The overall fuel economy is around 32mpg. And the performance for a 2.5L V6 is superb, especially with the ECT switch engaged. Mountain roads ara a blast. I drive it like you say you'll be driving yours -- barely 7000 miles to date. Watch out for the front tires wearing out early as that goes with the territory for that style rubber. Mine are showing some slight wear from hard cornering! So far no glitches with maintenance. I will note, though, if you want to use an MP3 player through the car speakers AND power it off the car's power, you'll need a noise filter. It took me a while to explain to the dealer what the issue was. When he understood and agreed it was a 'design fault' with the car, he sprang for the filter. Here's a link to the one I got: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-MwSjhp8iMQE/c...d+loop+isolator It works great. One last note: I leased my IS250 for 4 years. Given your situation, I'd highly recommend you look into leasing yours. It makes good financial sense if you can get the 'right' deal. Do some research on the web and you'll find how to negotiate a great lease -- and save your cash for med school!

I have an IS 250 RWD on order with the ML and PT options only -- that's the Mark Levinson alone and the Premium Package. I too didn't want the Nav package. This was ordered from a dealer in the Northeast and should arrive sometime in February.

Dallas, eh? OK... since I used to live in the Metroplex and we both like the IS... here's a link to a great web site which should answer all your leasing questions. Check out the free spreadsheet ! Just load it up on your laptop, walk into the dealer and calculate your best deal -- that's what I've been doing. :D http://www.carbuyingtips.com/lease.htm Click on Part 3: Lease Examples at the bottom of the page. Happy Financing.