HSK

Yes, the 350 is awsome when it comes to acceleration and passing power. But ever since I test drove an IS-F, i feel as though my 350 is underpowered and lacking that extra-special something...lol! The grass is always greener on the other side I guess.

Black is nice but very hard to keep looking nice over the long run. If I had to do over, I might get another color like the dark gray, silver, or white. I just took my 350 on a road trip to LV from the Bay Area and back. My 350 got beat up real good from all the trucks, rocks and debris on the freeway. Windshield got cracked again, and front end of car is all scratched, chipped and pitted up from trucks throwing rocks and debris directly at me. These days, it seems like CA roads are gettting dirtier and dirtier.

I think the car looks nice, but I wasn't too fond of the color they chose for the picture set.

I just got an email newsletter from one of my local dealers regarding the new convertible IS. Here are the pictures from the Lexus site and a link to the page from the Lexus Future Vehicles site: http://www.lexus.com/fcv/is_convertible.ht...:IS_convertible

Welcome to the LOC. I am also from the Bay Area, actually the same city as you. If you live in NorCal especially Bay area, there is probably little use for AWD since weather doesn't get too extreme here. As for the difference between the the 250 and 350, if you test drive both you will see that there is a notable difference in power and acceleration. In the end I chose the 350 as I did not want to buy the 250 and then end up wanting to upgrade to a 350 later on down the road (which I know I would have wanted). Blue tooth has worked well for me so far and I am glad I bought the car with that feature as I did not like using bluetooth headsets. I am sure all dealers in the Bay Area are willing to negotiate especially with the way things are with the economy, the tightening credit markets, the downturn in the housing market, and the plummeting stock market. I shopped at three different dealers: Serramonte Lexus, Stevens Creek Lexus, & Magnussen Lexus of Fremont. They all wanted my business and were willing to deal, but in the end I went with Magnussen as they were the only one that had my prefered color combo. You should be able to pick up a car at invoice price or below right now as sales are down and good qualified customers are hard to find. So far I am loving my car and have had no regrets. I bought my car recently at the end of July of this year. If you have any more questions or want to know anything specific about my experience with the purchase, feel free to PM me. Good luck with the purchase and I am sure that no matter which model you get, you will love the car.

IS350 hands down! :) The new TL is fugly from any and all angles. I used to love Honda/Acura cars but as of late, I have given up on them. With the recent designs most likely to be around for the next 5-7 years, I won't be looking in that direction anytime soon.

I believe the ISF only comes in an 8 speed automatic transmission with manual paddle shifters. Driving the car in auto mode was better for straight line acceleration, but the paddle shifters were responsive as well. I can see the paddle shifters being more useful in situations where there are more turns/cornering involved(mainly for holding a specific gear). Overall the auto mode was faster and almost intuitive if you will, and it seemed ready for anything you could throw at it. Smooth and seemless really is the best way to describe the shifting. Sharing is caring...lol! Plus I couldn't keep down the excitement after the test drive so I figured I would share it here with my fellow IS owners. If anyone has the opportunity to test drive one, I definitely recommend doing it cuz the car is Bad-!Removed!!!!

Just thought I would share this with my fellow IS owners. So I dropped by the dealership today for my first 1k service. I had about an hour to kill, so I looked around the showroom and the lot and saw some IS 250/350 09's. Very minal changes and all seemed to be cosmetic. Then I went to take a closer look at the ISF. I ended up running into the manager that sold me my car and after chatting briefly, I asked him if it would be possible to test drive an IS-F just for comparison. He gladly got the keys and off we went. I must say that the difference between the 350 and the ISF is night and day. When you start the car, the car rumbles and growls. Very masculine. We took it onto a long strip (1/2-3/4 miles) and then the manager told me to floor it as hard as I could. I gladly complied with his instructions. The torque was incredible and the car was very responsive. It felt like I was being thrust forward. The transmission shifts were seemless and very smooth. When the car opens up at the higher end of the RPM range, it really opens up and growls. The notes from the engine and the exhaust were very deep, throaty, pronounced yet very pleasant, non-overbearing, and very masculine sounding. We took a few corners and handling was quite crisp and responsive. The suspension was definitely stiffer than the 250/350. The recaro seats grip the driver much tighter and it definitely helps considering how much power is under the hood. The best part of the car is that when you drive normally, the car drives and behaves exactly like what you would expect from any Lexus vehicle, but when you need to be aggressive, the attitude of the car completly changes and shows you that this is no ordinary Lexus. The best anology I can think of to describe it would be Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At the end of the drive I asked the manager if he had sold many of these and he said that they have basically been selling as soon as they come on the lot. He also mentioned that they don't let just anyone test drive the ISF and that they screen for serious customers before letting the ISF off the lot. He said it wasn't a problem for me though since I just bought a car from him not too long ago (my sis also bought her 400H from their dealership too). He then asked if I was thinking about upgrading and then we both looked at each other and laughed! All in all, the ISF is an awesome kick-!Removed! machine and the experience of driving one was quite thrilling and memorable. I am sure whoever buys/owns one will love it, however I am happy that I do not own one as the potential for tickets is limitless...lol!

Welcome and congrats on the purchase. You chose a great color combo! ;)

Just wanted to thank everyone for the replies reagding this thread. They got in the new molding and replaced it for me last week. Aside from the gap at the top of the windshield, everything seems good. On a side note, they billed my insurance for another set of moldings even though they already billed them the first time.

So I just took it for a drive after letting the adhesive dry. It appears the installer tried to reuse the old moldings for the windshield, when he was supposed to put on new ones. So the molding on the driver side popped up and I could see that some of the blue clips that hold the molding in place were not gripping the rivets on the car, and some of the teeth on the molding that are supposed to grip the blue clips were broken off and not gripping the blue clips at all. I remember when I peaked down at the job while it was in progress, I could see that he was having a hard time with the driver side molding and kept trying to get it to go down and stay in place and he used a lot of force in the process. Anyhow, I called him up to tell him the problem and he came back to meet me and said it was strange that it would pop up considering he had glued it down and he also kept saying that he should have taped it down. This raised a red flag imnmediately as factory moldings do not need to be glued down. Then he said he would glue it down for me again. I insisted on a new molding and clips as it looked like the one on the car was recycled/reused. I even mentioned that gluing it would not help if the teeth on the moldings are broken and can't grip the blue clips that hold it down. He looked upset and said it would take a few days for him to order a new molding and clips. Seems like I caught him in a lie. I should have asked to see the old moldings before he left the first time. When I looked on the work order, my insurance approved new moldings at $45.95 and $46.95 for left and right side. I guess by trying to reuse both he could potentially make an extra $90-100 bucks by returning the new unused part(s), and then keep the money that my insurance company paid them for those parts. WTF!!! <_<

Thanks for the reply. I got all OEM parts approved which included OEM Dealer Glass as well as new OEM Moldings for both sides of the windshield. I wil defnitely pay attention to the windshield over the next week to see if there are any leaks or wind noise coming through. The guy who did the job was really nice and I think he did a good job with the exception of the gap on the top of the windshield. I won't know for sure if that gap is supposed to be there until I see another IS up close to compare. I truly hope that I am mistaken. As for safelite, it is a big company and I am sure that overall, they do a good job. However, I think in the end it comes down to the branch location used as well as the installer. The location that I used to have the crack filled had horrible reviews and lots of complaints of bad installations for replacement windshields, and unfortunately I did not check reviews before I chose that location. Luckily, I was able to choose another location, one with very good reviews, when doing the windshield replacement.

Thanks for the answers SW03ES. Kind of puts my mind at ease a bit, but not by much. I ended up going with safelite as all the other independent insurance affiliates would not take the job because they did not want to wait to be paid by the insurance company for the cost of the OEM Lexus glass. They came this morning and did the job in about an hour. They did an ok job, but I won't be sure until I test for leaks. I do notice that now there is a bit of a gap now where the top of the windshield meets the roof of the car. I don't know if I remember correctly or not but doesn't the factory windshield meet the roof completly and inbetween there is a rubber molding/trimming inbetween to seal the gap. If anyone can check for me on the original windshield of their vehicle and reply, that would be great as I would like to know. I love the car but this windshield thing was really annoying and I can't believe how easily the oem windshield cracked to begin with. The guy that did my replacement even said that this was the third Lexus IS he has done this week. He told me he sees a lot of these cars having to replace their windshields and that they crack very easily.

Hi everyone, My car is about 3 weeks old, no plates yet, and only has about 600 or so miles on it so far. As you may have read in the other thread, my windshield was cracked by a small rock while driving on the freeway in the Bay Area. Originally it was a small 2-3cm crack. I was sent by my insurance company AAA to a company they use for all their glass work called Safelite. I was sent to the SF location and when they tried to fill the crack, during the curing process the crack was widened much more and is now 2-3 inches in size. The glass guy said that the crack will likely continue to grow in the future and recommended I come back and have the windshield replaced asap. This was logged as a failed repair and I am now authorized to get a new OEM windshield by my insurance. I have talked to 2 dealers who both told me to insist on using OEM lexus windshield as it has an additional laminate layer added to the glass that reduces cabin noise. I am worried about the replacement windshield not being sealed completely and correctly so these are some questions I have: 1. Should I have it done at a Lexus dealer to make sure it is done properly? (Insurance my not pay for this option if dealer does not agree to the install fee the insurance is willing to pay) 2. My insurance would prefer I use Safelite, but I was wondering if I could get any opinions from others who have had their OEM Lexus windshield replaced? 3. Does anyone have any recommendations for places in the San Francisco, Daly City, South San Francisco areas in the Bay Area that are good with OEM Lexus windshield replacement? 4. I was wondering if there are any specific electonics, or wires that are built into the IS350 windshield glass that I should be aware of, or is it just glass? I have an IS350 with the premium package, but I don't know if that comes with the rain sensor in the windshield or not? 5. What else should I be aware of before I go ahead and have the windshield replaced? Thanks everyone and any help/suggestions would be much appreciated.

Just got back from filling the windshield. During the curing process, the crack widened much more. It went from a small 2-2.5 cm crack to a 3-4 inch cack. Now it is really noticable and the guy said there is a really good chance that it will become worse over time. So it looks like I'm gonna have to claim a new windshield. The worst part is I don't even have plates yet.