SilverSport

I kept the stock wheels for my snow tires and got the G-spider wheels for my performance tires. I like the G-spider wheels better than either the stock or the 5-spoke. Brake dust just happens.

If the nav gets lost, especially on the early production 2006's, its a problem with the nav system. Lexus will replace the disk with an updated one that resolves the location problem. Note that one drawback to updating is that the "input location will driving" hack doesn't work with the new disk. I had the same problem a couple of months ago and Lexus replaced the disk and it hasn't happened since. I believe there is a technical service bulletin on this. Changing the region is so you can select destinations in other regions. It has nothing to do with the GPS locating where you are currently at. Your current location should be correct regardless of which region you have selected.

How does it look? How about a picture or two?

I just hit 20,000 miles on my 350 and in mixed highway/city driving I've averaged 24.4 mpg since day one. On pure highway driving I average between 28 and 31. I've never done pure city driving for a full tank, but mileage in the low to mid-teens sounds low. I usually run a tank or two of regular unleaded (87 octane in Colorado) in between a tank of premium unleaded (91 octane in Colorado) and have noticed no difference in mileage or performance (no knocking either). I would expect my mileage to be lower being at a mile high altitude compared to sea level. I think there's something wrong with your engine.

I had my key fob just stop working. It wouldn't even start the car when held by the Start button, yet the push buttons worked to lock/unlock the car. The dealer checked it out and ended up replacing it under warranty. They had to hook it up to some special programming equipment and it took about a half hour to do. I doubt if anyone other than the dealer can program it.

Gorgeous car. Love the wheels and the tint of the glass.

Mine tracks straight and true with little effort as long as the pavement is decent. With 18" wheels and performance tires, they will grip the imperfections in the road, especially the wheel ruts that you find in a lot of Interstates.

I bit the bullet when I got a second set of wheels for my snow tires and got a second set of sensors. I haven't regretted it as it sure makes it easy to swap between the performance and snow tires.

I like the TP for 2 reasons: 1. it hides the dirt well, 2. it's cooler in the summer as it acts like a mirror. Any dark color will absorb the heat. But, when it comes down to it, and IS looks pretty good in any color.

Ditto the "creakiness" on my 06 350 when its cold. It seems to be right up against the glass in front of me so it seems like the clips are a likely candidate. You're right about it driving you nuts. It's been especially bad for me since we've had such a lousy winter here in Denver. We've had nearly 5' of snow which is REALLY unususal for us. We've had at least one storm every week for the last 7 weeks and its been coooold.

One more thought... I have found that a second cell phone in the car sometimes can cause Bluetooth connection problems, especially if the second phone is physically close to the Bluetooth phone. On occasion, I have put my Treo in my pocket with my VX and when I start the car the Bluetooth connection to the VX almost always fails.

I, too, use an LG VX8100 with Verizon as my provider. In general, the Bluetooth works flawlessly. I've had a couple of times when the Bluetooth dropped and I believe that it was external radio interference that caused it. One time in particular I was driving on I-10 in the LA area in heavy traffic and when I passed an 18-wheeler under an underpass I instantly lost the Bluetooth connection and had to pick up the phone. I don't believe it was a coincidence. Something with the truck caused the connection to drop. Actually, there are so many radio waves hitting us all them time its amazing that anything works, especially when you're mobile. One thing that may reduce the broken connections is setting your phone to not advertise itself by making the visibility "Hidden" and opposed to "Show to All" in the Bluetooth settings. If you're not on a call and the Bluetooth connection to the car is lost, turning the phone off and back on will re-establish the connection. Hope this helps.

Gotta do all 4, mainly because the sidewalls on the tires will flex differently and the front and rear of the car will behave differently. I used to put snows on the rear of an old Celica that I had and it was downright scary at times because the tires behaved so differently. Since then, I've always insisted on 4 matched tires, either 4 performance tires, 4 winter tires or 4 all-seasons. I have 2 sets for my IS, the performance tires and a set of Blizzaks for winter.

This has been posted a bunch of times, but here it is again: Press Menu Press Volume Press the Top Left Corner of the Screen Press the Bottom Left Corner of the Screen Press the Top Left Corner of the Screen Press the Bottom Left Corner of the Screen A Menu will come up. Press and Hold Override for 5 seconds or until you hear a beep Hit back and you are done, you should be able to enter destinations while driving.

I had a very dark green car that, like black, looked great right after I washed it, but then it always looked dirty after that and any swirl marks showed up. I got the silver IS350 and have been very happy with it for two reasons. First, it looks great even afer a week or more of dry weather and, even with a few spits of rain, it will still look good. You'll be more likely to wash it to clean the brake dust off the front wheels than because the body looks dirty. Second, it reflects heat better so it's cooler in the summer. I also agree, it shows off the lines better too. This particular shade of silver almost glows in the bright sun.

I live in Denver and got my 350 last November. I bought a set of dedicated wheels and Bridgestone Blizzaks around December 1st. Except for the heaviest snow days (two), I drove the car every day last winter and had no problems. Even the days that I drove my Durango I could have driven the IS. I was just chicken with the new car. I was also just learning the capabilities of the car. I'll be more confident this year. Blizzaks are great tires for snow and ice. Just be aware that they are made from a very soft rubber compound. They are not performance tires! The car will handle differently and I avoided the zero to 100 accellerations and pushing it hard through curves while I had them on. If you push it at all you will notice little bits of rubber in the rear wheel wells and on the rear quarter panels. Not a big deal, but if you want to use them for a few winters, you'll want to take it easy on them. Besides, it's something to look forward to when you get to put the performance tires back on and can let 'er rip! FYI, I drove on the snow tires from December 1st until late March and am planning the same this year.

Just got back from our first long trip in our 350. The particulars: Route: Denver to Palm Springs (attended a conference there) via I25, I40, I17 and I10; Palm Springs to Yosemite (vacation) via I10, I5, CA99, CA41, Yosemite to Denver via CA41, CA99, CA58, I15 and I70. Miles: approx 3,150 Mileage: low tank average of 25.4 to a high tank average of 31.3 (got 28.7 from Grand Junction to Denver over the mountains!). (How does a 300HP vehicle get 31MPG while driving 80MPH??) Speed: ran most of the time on cruise control between 80 and 85 on the Interstates Driving low point: the 18-wheeler traffic on I40 between Albuquerque and Flagstaff was almost unbearable. Driving high point: the winding road into/out of Yosemite from Fish Camp. The car was glued to the road going through well-banked curves like a roller coaster car. It was a hoot to drive. Very cool with the nav set to the 700 foot scale as I could anticipate the curves, knowing beforehand whether they were left, right, sharp, wide, etc. - was a lot like the course-wide window in a car racing video game. If you ever get a chance to drive that road in your IS, do it! Problems; none, other than I got a low tire pressure warning on a 34 degree morning in Yosemite. Added air and the warning cleared. Comfort: I usually have problems with my tailbone bothering me and with the stiffness of the suspension in the car (sport package) I bought a couple of Tush Cushes at a back store before we left. They were a tremendous help. The car was comfortable for long hours of driving (two days of 12 hours, three of 7 hours) Handling: the car is so stable on the highway that it was really effortless at highway speeds. Easiest long drive I've ever made. Again, drive that Yosemite highway to really see what the car is like! Gotta talk about the nav system. I had pre-programmed the hotels in so all I had to do was pull them up from the "previous" list. What a great tool. We always knew how far we had to go, where the rest stops were, which exits had gas stations/food. When in unfamiliar areas, we just put addresses in for resturants, etc. and drove right there. Pulled the hotel off the "previous" list to return. Never had to watch road signs in the dark - could pay attention to driving. We wanted to find a post office, so I pulled that up easily too. On the way back home I even searched for a hotel to stay at in various towns along the way and called ahead to make sure that I could get a room (hands-free Bluetooth is great too). After having done a long trip with nav, I would never do another one without it. It's a tremendous tool! Oh, yeah, gotta use the "hack" to be able to use the system while driving. This was one of the best car trips we've ever done. Stayed at the Westin Rancho Mirage for the conference. Visited Joshua Tree National Park one afternoon. Spent 2 days in Yosemite - stayed at the Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp. Very nice place - highly recommend it! It was our first time in Yosemite and we only got to see part of the park due to bad weather closing roads. Now we need to go back - and do it in the IS! Anyone else driven long distances in your IS?

I have a set of the winter mats in addition to the normal carpet mats. I use them during the winter to catch the snow melt, salt, sand, etc. They are a completely different look for the interior of the car. I kind of like the look next to the metal pedals. My wife hates them - she thinks they look like something that goes in a truck. I'll tell you one thing, though. You'd be hard-pressed to wear a hole through them and they definitely won't turn yellow. I have no idea what a set costs as I made my dealer throw them in since it was raining/snowing the day I picked the car up last November. I'm guessing a couple hundred bucks.

Anyone ever seen one of that hideous green color? I saw one at my dealer the first week they came out back in October. I've never seen one on the road or at the dealer since. I'm guessing that may have been the only one ever built. Any bets on how soon they drop that color? BTW, now that it's summer and hot out, silver rules. It's like a mirror reflecting the heat.

I've averaged 22.5 over 6,600 miles. Mostly highway, but some city and stop 'n go on the way home. I do a couple of those zero to 100 runs a week too - just cuz I can. I alternate between premium and regular and honestly can't tell the difference. At Denver's altitude, premium is 91 and regular is 85 octane. Regular is about $2.74 here with premium .20 higher. BTW, I was on vacation last week and drove an '06 Charger for the week. It didn't have the Hemi, which it sorely missed. I loved it when I hit the gas. It downshifted, made lots of engine noise and then slowly accelerated. Nothing like the IS. 6 Cylinder engines are not created equally. I would guess the Hemi performs more like the IS but at half the mpg's you'd die at the pump. It was just another big car. Definitely nothing special.

Interesting - it appears that the IS really doesn't want to spin the wheels, it just wants to run. Almost looks like 306 isn't enough. :(

I see you have the 350 in CO, how does that work in the winter for ya? We had a pretty mild winter this year so no problems. I have a set of Blizzaks for the winter and it handled reasonable amounts of ice and snow better than my old Camry. For the heavy snow days (2) I drove my Durango. Note that the VDIM and Traction Control work well when the car is moving, but getting started on a slick surface is painful. They limit the RPMs to about 1000 and will not let you spin the wheels even a little to get moving. It's like the car is possessed and under someone else's control. The first time it happened to me I thought the engine had died. But, no, it was clamped at 1000 RPM. I never really played with it enought to really understand how it "helps". So, there's a tradeoff - use VDIM and Trac Control for stability when moving on snow and ice but suffer when getting rolling, or turn the VDIM off and get no "assistance" from the car. I'm not sure which is better and which is worse.

Pushed it to 100. LOL Shoulda got a 350. 100 is what you do by accident when you're not paying attention on an open highway.

I don't remember where I got it but you can get them at just about any electronics store - Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, etc. I got a short one to minimize the wires in the console. It probably also helps to reduce engine noise/interference as any wire in there will act as an antenna.

I have the same exact hook up but it has a lot of engine noise like that. If I connect it from reg' it doesnt have any engine noise. Do you have this problem? Nope - mine's crystal clear. I don't know if it makes any difference but I have the Nav system. Maybe something is filtered better to not interfere with the Nav. I also found that the sound out of the dock connector is better than out of the headphone connector. I think it bypasses the amp in the iPod and that little amp doesn't have the umph to reproduce heavy bass lines without distortion, even through headphones.