hadalegend

Hi
I'll be graduating college in may and am planning on buying an IS300. I worked for a Lexus dealership in high school and was able to drive the 5-speed is300 - so I know that's what I want to get now.
All I know is that I want to get an IS with 5-speed, navigation, and tan interior.
Can anyone adivse on what else to look out for? Are there any problems that I should look out for?
One last thing, I personally don't like the look of the manual shifter. I think it's way too tall (like an SUV shifter) and I've heard the chrome **** needs an oven mit when its hot. So, is there any mod I can do to make it shorter and look better?

thanks

rominl

iTrader: (4)

hi and welcome to clublexus, hope you can find your car soon.

nothing major about the car tha tyou should worry about, at least not that i know off. when you test drive the car, pay attention to the 2nd and the 3rd gear, i have heard grinding issues and sometimes it pops out of gear. rare though. mine is ok so far.

other than that i think it's just the normal check (leather, buttons, ac, etc...) if you can get a mechanic to check the car in and out that would be great

for the shifter, you can always get a short shifter kit and it will make that thing a lot shorter. but the shifting will be a lot closer too, make sure you dont' mis-shift the car. you can also change the shift **** -- yes it gets stupidly hot in the summer sun

dolesun

I don't think this is a common problem, but when I bought mine, I had to replace the skid control unit because it was defective.

hadalegend

cool. thanks

what's the price range for a lexus dealership certified pre-owned IS300 with 5-speed, Navigation, and leather?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

for example my 03 is300 5 speed nav, leather fully loaded (all options), 10k miles, private party price is about 26k now, so i think cpo would be about 28k?

49GS400

iTrader: (1)

Yeah the height of the stock shifter was really annoying. You can get a PLP short shifter or any other short shifter and it should be fine. The heat thing varies. When I had the PLP on mine I did notice the shift **** to be a little bit warmer than usual but nothing that I couldnt bare. You'll notice an increase in cabin noise because the transmission noise that emanates thru the shifter. If you can with stand that then everything should be gravy. Goodluck with your purchase.