btbad

Agree with Hustler on this one. Take the car to a Lexus dealer, find out what's wrong and use it to negotiate. Brakes gone at the mileage stated would raise some questions on how the car was driven and who's to say there aren't other mechanicals that may be suffering due to the current owner's use. $20k+ is a lot of money - protect yourself by spending a little bit and finding out what's really going on with this one.

Whatever you do don't buy the Continental Contiextreme Contacts. I just had some taken off my '02 IS because they thumped like crazy. Since you're in DC, I can recommend Quality Discount Tire in Kensington. Steve is great at taking care of customers and his prices are super. He replaced the Continentals with some Pirellis, which ride very well.

I purchased them through Lextasy. The bulbs that come with don't have adequate tint on the tip, which casts more of a light red color than the stock red.

How did you contact the factory rep? I have tried with the dealer and with the online customer service staff, with nothing more than "It's because the hood slopes so much". I want to press on.

Unless you want to end up like the rest of us, highly recommend you see if your dealer has a clear film kit available to protect the hood. Get it installed as soon as you take delivery. Otherwise, you'll likely end up irritated at the pock marks that result from every little stone, and I have a silver IS, not a black one.

Just installed clear trunk lights on my silver '02 IS 300. A few problems with bulbs though. The 7443s that came with them have weak, faded color. Bought some red LEDs and those look better, but they only light when the brake is applied and don't operate with the regular headlights and make the "bulb out" indicator on the dash come on. Anyone know how to fix this or where I can get some bulbs that have real color that looks like stock and don't look like some cheap boy-racer junk?

If you don't go with the all-season tires, think about getting a set of snow tires/rims from a place like Tire Rack (www.tirerack.com). They may not be stock, but TR can have some pretty good deals that will get you through a snowy winter with less headaches.

The IS 300 is a nice driver. It feels real nice at about 80 on the DC Beltway. Adequate power for most. No major problems on my '02, other than some paint dings on the hood. If I were to do it again, I'd buy a clear protective film to circumvent this issue.

I agree with most in this string - the paint durability on my '02 IS 300 is terrible. I've had mine just over a year and it has far more paint chips than any other car that I've owned. I have a VW Golf as well, with five times as many miles on it, and it has just a few paint chips on its front end. I have also asked the dealership and Lexus about this, but got the runaround from both. The same "because the front end is slanted" excuse was given. Logic says to me that a flatter, more square front end would get more chips, as it creates an opportunity to create a more direct hit that would cause damage. It's embarrassing to spend $30k plus on a brand with a reputation for quality and get this. Makes me want to consider a G35 or S4 next time around.