Actually, the 3.0L in-line six was so smooth that it really didn't make much noise at all unless you hammered it. It was also built like an anvil. That's two reasons (among several more) why Lexus used it in several of its RWD vehicles. Its only real fault was its high gas consumption for the amount of power it produced.....on 93 octane gas.

Note, BTW, that this was the power plant used in the 90s-vintage Supra, in both turbo and N/A form.


Was yours AWD or RWD? Although there were several things on the 2Gen that I thought were downhill from the first, the addition of AWD was a huge benefit.....and something the 1Gen badly needed. The addition of the small 2.5L V6, which uses less fuel then the 3.0L straight-six, was a good move, unless you were a torque-freak. The 2Gen interior was also more traditionally Lexus than either the 1Gen or 3Gen...though the 1Gen had the best and most solid hardware.

 

2007 IS350 was RWD only.

 

Ah yes my first two Lexus' was a 2001 RX300 and a 2001 IS300. To this day the IS300 was very special to me with the chrono speedo and silver ball shifter. I loved there interior of the car with the only negative being that it didn't have a center console armrest although the later years did.

The IS300 wasn't the safest car though, the RWD of that car for whatever reason was somewhat dangerous in the snow and rain compared to many other RWD cars I had owned before it but it was still special to me even if it wasn't that fast and didn't get great gas mileage.

I also owned all generation IS' with my second being a 2008 IS250 AWD and later a 2016 IS350 AWD F-Sport. While the others were better in many ways, the 2nd gen and 3rd gen were forgettable compared to my 1st gen. That was will remain somewhat special to me and just felt more sporty/nimble to me at the time and less like a normal sedan which I feel the later IS' were which made it a little boring to me.

 

Thanks for your input. I agree with most of your comments...and, yes, this car, while having at least nominal winter traction on a moderately snowy or slushy surface, was almost hopeless on a truly frozen surface. It was the main reason my next vehicle was a Subaru LOL.