Meesha

I have a Matador "HOT" red and it's shining :) But I see in old cars (with dark color like mine) their paint looks fading. I'd like to prevent it. I want my car to look just like it is now for a long long time. Now a simple question. Do you guys wax your car? People around me don't really wax their cars other than going through the car wash and add their liquid "wax". Then some ppl say the car already got a clear coat on it so you don't really need to wax it. Is that true? Should I wax my car still? If so, any suggestion on what kind of wax to use?

I'm sorry but where is the "strip" part? I'll make sure I won't tint the area if I decide to do it. :)

I've noticed that sound from Day 1!! It was winter so I didn't have A/C on. But this sound comes from the fan, I think. If I turn off the fan, it stops. But normally I set the fan to a low setting and I can hear it. I complained to the dealer but they don't hear it. My friend didn't notice it. It's not so loud but if you are the owner of the car, you hear it ;) I came to a conclusion this is the way it is... oh well.

Really? MP3 tag info shows up on the console? Mine doesn't and all I play is mp3's. Is there a setting for this? I can see file name and folder under Audio menu but that's about it. Oh, I have an 08 with Mark Levinson.

I'm just wondering if this camera is designed so you can just look at the LCD monitor to do the backing. My head is going back and forth looking back and looking at the monitor when I'm getting out of the parking or something, and I feel like I should just do one way. :D Do you think I can safely back up just by looking at the LCD monitor? Or is this camera designed just to check it when you have an object so close?

"You can get the less dust pads now on the 08 as a TSB was just released for the 08 IS." ? Does this mean I can replace the brake pads for free? Actually the brake dust isn't bad at all on my car. Or, maybe I just don't see it as much because the new 18" wheels are brushed look (a bit darker than other wheels.)

I was a BMW owner for a few years before owning this car, so I may be being picky but there are two things I'm not happy about and wondering if there are any adjustment I can do. I have 2008 IS250 rear-wheel drive. 1) Brakes It's hard to explain but the brakes feel too sensitive/jerky especially at the parking lot. Say, you are trying to park and stopped at a spot but you noticed you are little off and wanted to move a little bit forward. You let your foot off the brake and let the car move a bit, and then put a foot on the brake to stop. It is often jerky(?), not smooth if you are not careful. It feels as if I pushed on a gas little too hard and stepped on the brake too sudden. Odd thing is when I test drove the 2007 model before I purchased 2008 model, I did not notice this. Could this be just brakes being too new? Is there any adjustment they can do? Or, it's a combination of the moving forward motion after you let your foot off the brake and the actual brake's force? Brakes in general do feel "bouncy"?, "cushy"?, (not sure how to express) but it is more obvious when parking. 2) Steering wheel There is a big difference on how steering wheel feels on 2007 model and 2008 model. 2007 IS250 (rear wheel drive) felt SUPER light and I actually liked it. But on 2008 model, they made it more stiff... it feel much heavier. Now, I am used to the "heavy" steering wheel w/ BMW but what I noticed is it's not just "heavy". It feels the power steering is not powered enough? Hmm.. again, it's hard to explain in a sentence. This is only noticeable at a slow speed like at a parking lot. Say you make a right turn at a parking lot and go straight after the turn. After making the right turn, I always have to turn the steering wheel back to left so I can go straight. I know you'd have to do that a little bit but with this car, I have to give more "help" as if it's a semi powered steering wheel. Does this make sense? I know how the steering wheel feels cannot be changed but can you adjust something so that power steering really works like any other car?? Well, I'm not saying it doesn't work. I'm saying it really feels "heavy" to me as if it's a non-power steering wheel. Did any 08 model owner notice anything like this?

I noticed on IS250 (may be same for 350), that if you have a cashmere interior, the floor is now black. It seems like people have complained that cashmere floor shows the dirt much more. I have the black floor and I like the contract. I also noticed that the steering wheel is heavier on 08. I actually liked the light steering that 07 had :(

I varied the speed for the first 1000 miles or so. My question is... when should I change oil for the first time?

I'm glad you felt that way and not just me. :) Was it a IS250, I assume? On 07, I felt the steering wheels were a bit stiffer on IS350 and IS250AWD. But on IS250, it was SUPER LIGHT. When I got my 08 IS250, I expected it to be light but it was quite stiff. So... this is a "improvement"? I actually liked it lighter :)

Oh, they "improved" the steering wheel?? I actually liked the lighter feel. My previous car was BMW 3 series and I didn't like the heavy steering wheel. Oh well.... Oh so you got the first run or two of the 08, huh? I thought I'd be the first to get it ;) But now I'm glad I was the latter one... 'cause I was worried about the light carpet getting dirty. It actually looks pretty good with black.

My 08 special ordered IS250 finally came. Most of the stuff are the same as 07 I test drove but there were some differences I noticed. 1. 18" wheels now have the blushed look. They look much better than 07. 2. The side mirrors look kinda like fish eye mirror. I don't remember 07's were like this. 3. If you have a cashmere interior, you'll notice that the bottom part is now black. Therefore, the floor mats are black also. This is a good thing. The dirt won't show!! They changed it to black because they had a lot of complains that the bottom (and lower part of side) get dirty easily. 4. This may depend on cars but the steering wheel on 08 feels stiffer than 07. It feels a bit heavy. Has anyone noticed? I kinda liked the lighter one. :( All are good but for me, I wish the steering wheel was lighter. Has anyone notice anything else?

No, the seat heater/air is not on. What I noticed is that the noise is more noticable after driving for a while. If you start the car after sitting for a while, it's almost not noticable. The noise is a very low buffeting sound. It's kinda similar to the helicoptor sound... but not that loud. :D Kinda like hearing a helicoptor flying from a far.

Thanks! I will tell the dealer to check ;) It should not be dirty there as this car is brand new!! I talked to the dealer I bought the car from and he said there should not be any sound. He checked w/ other IS and said it is SILENT! So, I guess I'd have to make an appointment for the service. Doh... I just bought my car on Saturday and am already making a service appointment :(

I have a 2007 IS250 and don't recall any fan noise or squeak. However I hear (feel) a pressure buffeting effect sometime with the fan is on. This happens for any of the HVAC settings that I have used. I have also heard or felt the same thing is a loner IS250 so I think it is just inherent in the design. What is your noise like? Regards, I'd love to imitate the sound for you but I can't. But like you said, it sounds like "a pressure buffeting effect" and it's a rapid sound. I don't recall hearing the sound when I test drove the other IS. I also had a ES as a loaner car and that didn't have it either. So, I was just wondering...

Hi, I just bought 2008 IS250 over the weekend. I'm excited about my purchase but there's one thing I noticed that bothered me. The fan noise. I think it's a fan noise because if I turn off the fan by "OFF" button (the one with the fan icon right below the LCD screen), the noise stops. The noise is constant and rather rapid and low sound. (hard to explain by writing.) It's not so obvious when driving because of other noise, but when you stop, it is noticeable. I wonder if this is normal. This maybe normal for used cars or for ppl who are used to used cars (my boyfriend didn't even notice that!) but it bugs me. I'm thinking about taking my car to the dealer to look at but I was wondering if any of you had this problem. It's good to have some knowledge before taking it in so they won't just say "oh, it's normal" just to turn me away. Meesha

I got to see the color in person. Nope... I did not like the color. In cloudy days (most of the time here in Oregon ;) it looks brown/yellowish. If you like white, I'd go with just white. No funky shade. On the other hand, I decided to go with Matador Red, a completely different color :) and after waiting for 3 months, my car is finally arrived and ready to pick up this Saturday!!!

Thanks for the information. It sounds like a good product then. I'll have to order it. So... how does it work when it comes to waxing your car? Do you avoid the film area or do you wax over it?

No, actually dealer is selling me Ventureshield. I was wondering because I had it on my previous car and thought it was a good protection from the sun. But after talking to people, those chemicals are not good. They lean towards films like Ventureshield's than chemical long lasting wax.

The dealer suggested me to get this with my new car purchase: http://www.ventureshield.com/ It covers more areas; Bumper, Fender, Hood, Back of the mirrors, Door handles, Door edges, etc... and it's $890. It's spendy but I called the local shop and the price is about the same. So, the dealer isn't really junking up the price. Has anyone got this product on your new car? What do you think?

Hi, My car is arriving within a week and I am wondering if I should apply some sealant on the body before I take my car home. I hear dealers can put 3M's sealant (not sure of the name) before delivering the car to you. Does that work well? Good idea? If so, I wonder if I should have the dealer do it, or take the car to somewhere else to have a local shop do it? Any suggestions? Is it better to do it before taking the car outside or can I do that later (like in a month or two?) Meesh

My car is finally arriving in 2 weeks!! I ordered IS250 with 18" wheels. Unfortunately now we are getting into rainy season here in Oregon and I'm thinking of changing the summer tires with something that have more grip. Any recommendation? Also, I've never swap tires by season before. How does it work? You'd have to bring your tires, all 4 of them in your car and have the shop replace them for you? Then, you bring back the other ones? Where do those 4 tires fit in your IS350/250?

I decided on a completely different color, Matador Red :) Towards the end, it was between Sapphire Pearl and Matador Red. Once I saw Glacier Frost in person, I didn't like it right away. My friend thought it was an odd color too.

I ordered my IS250 with ML system. It's not something you can easily add it after you purchased the car. So, I decided to wait 3-4 months now to get the best sound I can get with the car. I'd rather not regret.

Sounds like you could have had a better deal originally, but ended up with it anyway by upgrading. Nice! How did you get IS250 with Mark Levinson? I had to special order the configuration. Yes, that is a very nice dealership. They like to keep returning customers. Good business.