mr_raider

Get a price from a Toyota dealer.

What do you do when your dealer is a Toyota and Lexus dealer?

But it is way more fuel efficient than the LGT. I test drove a Legacy GT before buying the IS, and while I enjoyed the acceleration, it was for from refined. I also hesitated a lot between the g35 and IS250, but decided to forego acceleration in favor of fuel economy. In light of current gas prices, I stand by my decision.

You are comparing a 5 second car to a high 7 second car. The difference was to be expected.

Suction cup on windshield for now. I'll look into the dash disc later. Not a fan of vent mounts.

Thank God. I also considered the c230 4matic, but the wait was so long I decided to look elsewhere.

Nice choice. I hesitated for a long time between your setup vs. Tungsten Pearl w. black interior. In the end, I went with the latter, since I'm not a fan of the two color treatment that the sterling and cashmere interiors got. For nav, I just picked up a Garmin Nuvi 760 which on special at Costco.ca online. I it is chock full of features including bluetooth, and 3 months of free FM traffic. Alternatively you can wait for the voice activated 800 series Nuvi. If you want a separate bluetooth setup, I suggest looking at Parrot products. They have a simple model that clips on to the visor, but I went with a CK 3000 that mutes the radio and sends audio to a speaker. The voice commands are pretty nifty. Installation is far from simple, and I paid a shop to do it.

Turns it was the Toyota Ipod kit. It goes between the radio and the connector. The plug wasn't pushed all the way in and it was probably getting intermittently loose.

No sense in punishing yourself for not getting nav. It will detract from your enjoyment of the car. Get a Garmin and be done with it. Move on. Life's to short to get an ulcer over this. Enjoy the car, and laugh in everyones face when you get hit with 30cm of snow.

Yes. I have it on my IS250, but I don't have navigation. Works fine. What do you want to know?

There are three other guys with Lexuses at work. I usually try to park in between them!

Probably a full second quicker on dry pavement.

Don't you miss the extra 100hp of the g35?

Still under warranty. Go have it looked at.

Hopefully you are in for a pleasant surprise. I owned GM, Nissan and Toyota and never bought an extended warranty, and so far I've come out ahead. Most Japanese and American cars are miles ahead of Audi in terms of reliability. They build very nice cars, but the extended warranty is almost must unless you lease.

Errr...let me rephrase that? What do you mean the power steering will "protest"? Does it cause any damage to the power steering? I ask because I have to do a full lock turn every time I pull in and out of my garage.

IS250 AWD 6at, 2008, new, first owner, have it for 3 weeks Base stereo, no nav Last week had the Toyota/LExus ipod kit put in (the one that replaces Sat Radio) and a Parrot ck3000 evolution bluetooth kit put in by an independant but reputable installer in the area. Since yesterday, when I start the car, the stereo will turn on but I get no sound. This is for AM/FM/ipod or CD. All the audio controls from the head unit (bass, fader, ASL, positioning) do not work. After a few minutes, everything will work fine and sound comes back. It only happens sometimes when I start the car. Do you think is a glitch with the stock stereo? Or did the installation of the parrot kit screw something up?

Why not?

So I guess we should all strive to make our trannies fail during warranty, so get a free rebuild/fluid change before 6 years.

This should be possible. Canadian IS models have a readout for temp in C, fuel consumption in L/100KM, and average speed in km/h, as well as a two ring speedo in both miles and kms. The setting may not be user accessible, but I doubt Lexus makes a separate computer just for the canadian market. SOmeone just needs to figure how to hack the CPU.

Generally the procedure to follow is to let the engine idle about 30 seconds, then drive gently for a few minutes until engine temp is up. If you live in a cold climate, invest in a block a heater.

Thanks for the write-up. Post some pics when you can, as I am thinking of going with a similar unit. Looks like the smallest units are the best choice here. Did you consider getting one of the compact kits, ie. visor or cup holder type?

How is using the PowerECT setting any different than just stomping on the pedal harder? The tranny seems to figure out that I want to fast and usually does a pretty good job shifting.