Wh0pp3r

So my lease is up in a phew months on my Rc f-sport. Kinda has confirmed that i don't want a monthly payment since i am student but i did enjoy having luxury items like ABS, A/C, ohh and air bags, those may come in handy. My car history is early 90's cars, 240x's, mr2's, Rx7's . The RC has been the first car iv had with 0miles (figuratively since it had 10) and I enjoyed it, but don't love it.

But I've always had an interest in the first gen Is300. I like the looks, i like th power plant, i like the fact that parts are abundant for function and form, I'm more of a function kinda guy but its great to have options.

and why the 1st gen (08-13) is350? again, i like the looks of the car, especially in blue. pretty much same power plant as the Rc i have and i think lighter. parts are becoming a bit more abundant and frankly i do have dealer wholesale access which is a plus.

my concerns with the is350 is I'm not a fan of auto transmission. paddle shifters and what not don't do it for me. which is the one thing i currently disliked about the rc i have. and i get it, luxury car not really performance and new age tech. cool beans, but the is300 still has a standard option.

so Lexus community, I ask. what are your thoughts between the 2. I'm not asking about other cars, I'm not asking for comparison between other cars. thoughts and experience between these 2 models.

any insight with these cars is greatly appreciated. happy to answer any questions to this.

mk416

With IS300 you are guaranteed of nearly no carbon buildup problem since it doesn't have DI, and it's a much more fun platform than ISX50 IMO. Factory 5spd is crap, but you can always swap it to R154 in combination with 1JZ or just turbo the GE motor. Again, the possibilities are endless compared to ISX50.

Creature comfort and looks (per your post) wise, yes, this one is a winner.

If I didn't have my ISF, I'd pick IS300 in your situation.

Wh0pp3r

Ive been reading up about the low gains or I should say limited gains on boosting the v6's on the ISx50's which you actually pointed out is one of the big ups for the is300.

tbh i would love the 350 chassis and 2jz combo, but after reading up that theres like 1 street driven vehicle with all the comforts in tact obviously leads to believe that its not an easy feat. not by the mechanical but the electrical leaps between the power train and the chassis being the biggest obstacle. and frankly i don't have the time/money/ or know how to do it, so NEVERMIND! lol

bagwell

Meh no comparison imo, 350 has tons more power and creature comforts along with much better mpg to boot.

mmarshall

I owned a 1Gen 2001 IS300 for almost five years. Superbly-built car in general, but had some faults....mostly automatic transmission-related. You could not shift into first with the lever...you had to use the spoke-buttons on the steering wheel. The up-shift buttons are on the back side of the spokes, out of sight...by feel alone. In some conditions, manual mode was not true manual mode...it upshifted and downshifted automatically up to whatever the gear the buttons were manually pre-set to. There was a big gap in ratios between 4th and 5th (top) gear. And, in winter, the transmission's control unit would not allow some upshifts until the transmission warmed up a little, so you had to creep along at low speeds for a mile or so just to keep the cold-engine RPM down. And, my particular car had a shifting-quirk that (sometimes) caused a minor jerk or flare on the 2-3 upshift...a factory ECU-flash was supposed to cure that, but didn't.

Two non-transmission-related faults:. First, the RWD's winter traction on snow and ice was crap, even with all-season tires, snow-mode for the transmission, and traction-control (I'll probably never own another RWD car again). Second, with the climate-control, the fresh-air/recirculate **** tended to constantly default to the recirc-setting, which meant the windshield would cloud up in defrost mode unless you manually twisted the **** to the fresh-air intake.

Other than these quirks, though, a superbly-well-built car, like a tank in some ways, and, IMO, much more solidly-built, overall than the 2Gen, and especially the disappointing 3Gen. The chronograph-style gauges and chrome-ball shifter were unique touches that you don't seed everyday.

Fizzboy7

The newer you go, the less hassles you will have. But I get the impression you are a techy, hands-on guy. If that's the case, an older car that is more worn out will probably not bother you while it keeps you busy. Personally, that is not my thing. I don't like aging or things breaking. But if you are okay with that and like the DYI, go for the IS300. Maybe try to find one that hasn't been abused or owned by a young person.

blacksc400

iTrader: (4)

I had both IS300 auto and IS300 manual, while it's agile and fun to drive, the power isn't enough, and the 2JZ drink gas like a V8, in fact it's the same gas mileage as my GS400, but much slower.

i would say at least get a IS350, much faster and better tech, the newer you can buy the better.

EZZ

Honestly, both will seem disappointing after you RC. The 1st gen was good back then, now it's about as fast as my minivan. Also, it's a super old car and my friends with 100k miles is breaking down every month and he takes really good care of it. The RC can also out handle it and the 2nd gen IS350. If you like manual, go for the Infiniti G37 with 6-speed. It's about as cheap, handles well, and fast.

TsunamiF

Get the 2nd gen IS350. It's hands down one of the best Lexus sleepers out there.

Here's a drag race comparison of the RC350 vs the 2nd Gen IS350 to put things in perspective:

Wh0pp3r

yes and a valve cover job is about 800.00 (trust me its not an exaggeration, whole sale cost on each cover is about 290, about 360 with minimum 25% counter cost) dollars since Nissan decided to integrate the spark plug seals to the cover and can't buy them separately on those VQ's, no I'm good. they're also known for burning oil and valve tick on the rear passenger cylinder from oil starvation. even comparing it to the 350/370 which just feel small and uncomfortable to drive.

i'm not saying lexus isn't without its own faults, but I'm fortunate to have the ability and know how to work on em and whole sale supply of parts.

gs400998

IS350. 13 (IS350) vs 15 (IS300) quarter mile performance without any mods.
http://www.zeroto60times.com/vehicle...-60-mph-times/

mk416

2JZ in the XE20 chassis is not only difficult, but extremely redundant IMO. As you have pointed out, the electrical part of this endeavor is already a nightmare considering the wire looms and soldering and making things work inter-platform...you'd be better off buying a XE20 350.

Per your budget/situation as described, IS350 might be better IF engine and transmission don't fail, and that is a big *** if. Get ready for walnut blasting and oil catch can and new transmission solenoids, because you will see those error codes popping up, and they are not cheap to deal with.

TsunamiF

^^
#fakenews

The 2GR-FSE engine in the IS350 is near bulletproof. You're confusing the IS350 (which has both direct injection and port injection) with the IS250 (only has direct injection). The transmissions on the IS350 are also very reliable. Any transmission failures in the 2IS350 community have been the extreme minority. The only common issues that most 2IS350 owners face is replacing the alternator and water pump which tends to happen only once every 100,000 miles.

mmarshall

Good point. I had forgotten to note that in my earlier IS300 ownership comments, the 3.0L in-line six I had also drank gas like a V8. I rarely got over 18 MPG, even with a light foot, unless I was on a level interstate with little traffic.

Aron9000

Finding a nice IS300 that isn't ragged/been wrecked out is the tough part. Finding one with a manual trans is even harder. I looked NATIONALLY for months and months and months for the right manual IS300 5 years ago and just about gave up until I ended up with my 1992 SC300 with the 5 speed(same engine/trans as the IS). I can imagine there are even fewer nice IS300's on the ground now days. Plus at least back then, nice IS300's weren't cheap, like 10-15k. I'm sure the prices might have gone down some since then though.

Personally, given the choice between the IS350 and the IS300, IS300 all day long. I never did like the styling on the IS350, both inside and out. Plus the IS350 is now one of those annoying cars with a 10 year old touch screen display with very dated Atari graphics. Up until about 4-5 years ago, touch screen displays sucked in luxury cars IMO, just give me a regular radio with buttons and ***** like the IS300. If you want to upgrade to the latest tech, its pretty easy to put an aftermarket double din radio or touch screen in the dash of the IS300 and make it look great. Updating the tech on an IS350 is going to be a lot tougher.

Oh and as for my choice of Lexus of that 2000's vintage, it would be 2nd gen GS430. V8 power, same gas mileage as the IS300, owned by an older crowd so finding a nice, well kept, not crashed one is a lot easier. The interior is several orders nicer and bigger as well.