LexuScott

Hello everyone! Well I finally saw my therapist and got the idea out of my head that I was going to buy an un-reliable american muscle car (Challenger) and decided to pick up a certified pre-owned 2014 IS 350 AWD with 10k miles on it, navigation and the luxury and weather package.

The dealership even took $4000 off the price of the car (end of the year) and added a 6 year bumper to bumper 125,000 mile warranty for only $500!

So to start off, I have a few questions about my "new" car:

1. All-Weather Mats: What are the best all-weather mats to get for the car? I really would like to purchase mats made to fit my car specifically. I was looking at Husky and WeatherTech and was curious to know if anyone either of these and likes them a lot. I'm really looking for a set that has a tall "lip" on the edges of it so that any water from snowy shoes and such will not run off the mat and onto the carpet. I'm looking to buy the front mats, back mats and the trunk mat.

2. Sound system: I've done a fair bit of research in the past two days and I can just about tell that I am not going to be satisfied with the sound system in my car. Please understand that I am not looking to blow my doors off and make everyone stare at me I am simply looking to get a good thump from my sound system (a decent amount better than the stock system.) I'm pretty sure I have the 8 speaker system and not the Mark Levinson setup. I see that a lot of you on the forums here are adding an amp and sub to the stock system and this sounds like a good idea, however I fix computers for living and need a decent amount of trunk space. I'd be interested to know a cost effective way to maybe get a small (not tiny) sub in the trunk maybe mounted on the side to regain some of the bass that the stock system lacks. I find it kind of sad that my 2012 Accord EX-L coupe came with a sub and the sound system sounds much better than my Lexus'.

3. Oil changes: I asked the dealership service department how often oil changes needed to be done and how much they are. One of the service managers told me every 10,000 miles and it costs $100. I found this kind of exciting because not having to come in every 3-5000 miles sounded great and even though it was $100, only coming in every 10k miles would average the cost out. However, I have talked to a few of my mechanic friends and they have told me that they would NEVER (even if the dealership said so) would wait 10,000 miles between each oil change. What is the deal with this? I would like to find out what most people do here with their IS-350s and how it has worked out for you.

I'm sure I will have additional questions within a few days, but I'm not trying to make everyone read an essay, so I will stop here for now!

Thank you very much in advance for your input and I am extremely looking forward to being part of the ClubLexus community!

Swacer

Not sure how one cross shops a Challenger with an IS350. Unless you just wanted to throw an anti-american car pun out there? There doesn't need to be a therapist, because lets be honest, you probably walked in a dealership, looked at a Challenger, and nothing more. Thats not cross shopping.

Stretching an oil change out to 10,000 miles is concerning. Our Lexus dealer tried to make the same claim, saying "its because we use synthetic!". Yeah...bull #(%* Countless studies have shown that while synthetic oil has a longer life than conventional dino oil, both lose their lubrication properties around 7,000 miles. Anything beyond that is guess work on your engine life. Also, lets keep in mind, that is their recommendation, nothing says you HAVE to follow it. I have always believed in a 1,500 mile initial change, and then 5,000 afterwards until about 150,000 miles, in which you go down to 3,000.

Does your dealer care? No. Its your money, and you spend it as you see fit. $100 is nothing in the wide outlook on things.

LexuScott

Essentially I was shopping by what I could afford and not for a specific type of car. Two door vs. 4 door really doesn't make a huge difference to me considering that I rarely have people in my back seats. I used to drive a V6 2006 Charger and loved it other than the fact that it went through $8,000 in warranty-covered work over the course of me driving it to 100k miles, including countless tie rods and even a replacement gas tank due to the hoses/tubes rubbing against it and making a pin sized hole in it. I was so thankful that I bought a 100k mile bumper to bumper warranty! While you might say "Who cares as long as it's covered by the warranty?" there were no loaner cars and I felt like it was in the shop more than it was in my driveway. Not a great feeling. Anyways, Lexus it is! Looking forward to a long run with my IS 350!

Swacer

When the tie rods go, you use it an excuse to upgrade the part.

or at least thats how I roll. I look for things to break so I can buy better parts.

LexuScott

With the amount of problems I had, I wasn't changing anything so that they could blame anything else on something I modified. The car was completely stock, and therefore especially shouldn't have had so many issues.

LexuScott

Anyone have any of the answers to my questions above?

Swacer

Don't mod much...huh?

Magnuson-Moss act....says that they can't deny you warranty unless they can prove the mod caused the issue.

AKA...my wheel bearing didn't fail because I bought a cold air intake.

LexuScott

Yeah I knew that. I can completely disassemble and reassemble a desktop or laptop computer within a few minutes, but when it comes to a car? Totally different story

That's why I'm afraid to mod anything other than simple things like bulbs. With anything in regards to the stereo system, I'd get a quote from a local car audio shop.

JDR76

Welcome to CL.

As for the all weather mats, I do not use them, so I don't have a specific recommendation. However, make sure you order mats that are made for the AWD model. The RWD model mats will not fit an AWD model.

I have the base audio in mine and am fine with it, but it's nothing special. I have no recommendations there either.

Up to you on the oil change. I follow the manufacturer's recommendation and use the 10k mile service routine on both my RX and my IS. If you want more opinions on it, just Google "10,000 mile oil change interval" and you will find lots to read. It just took a little while to break the habit of the more frequent changes but I'm used to it now.

Enjoy your ride!

LexuScott

I noticed the AWD vs. RWD were different on the WeatherTech site, but thanks for making sure I knew that! I don't understand how anyone could not use all weather mats.... you just have the cloth mats? Don't they get crazy filthy from snow/rain/dirt? I like the idea of being able to take out the all weather mats, wash them, then put them right back in the car and they look brand new again!

NVMarkus

iTrader: (2)

I have weather tech and love them

dizlex

Every 10,000 with synthetic is fine. The old 3,000 miles BS is obsolete nonsense. On my BMW, I let the computer tell me, and it was well over 10,000 miles.

Wearing the engine out is not a reasonable concern, with these cars.

JDR76

Meh, just a little rain water. No big deal.

If I lived in a snowy climate or muddy conditions then yes, I would definitely get them.

LexuScott

Thank you for your answers and opinions everyone. I picked up the IS350 and I'm loving it so far! I decided to purchase WeatherTech mats. After taking the car home I had some time to mess with the sound system settings and realized it was only FM (and AM but I rarely use that). As soon as I changed the settings and used Bluetooth Pandora and my iPod the sound because 1000x better! Awesome news that I don't have to spend another $700+ for a sub!

HanaleiISF

We use weather tech mats on all our vehicles. The carpet underneath still looks brand new on my 2008 Tacoma through years of mud and snow.