That's just too cruel to say to an Acura guy! Be nice, 1sicklex!

 

Whooaaa Nelly. Who da heck are you addressing? Surely you are not talking to me.

I drive a '97 SC300 5spd thank you very much.

 

Haha come on guys...so how about that competative pricing plan Lexus has in store in terms of it's BMW competition?

 

flipside - you obviously have the insider info...question -

I do not see a "shark fin" on the roof. Is the Nav/etc. antenna incorporated into the rear window glass?

Can you confirm that the IS will or will not have a shark fin (personally, I do not like them)? Maybe this was in some of the specs, but I missed it.

Just wondering...

 

Yeah the ones we drove didn't have the sharkfin on the other pre-production models. These headunits are sirius/xm ready. Nav antenna is embedded in the glass. Not exactly sure if the sharkfin will be the optional antenna for the satellite radio systems. Alot of the info we have is general. All the little details are being ironed out until the official release.

 

To expand a bit on this, it seems all cars that have satellite radio have an external antenna. Looking at the information my dealer provided, satellite radio (either XM or Sirius) will be a port- or dealer-installed accessory with a delayed introduction (no date is given). If you get satellite radio once it is available, my guess is you'll probably get the trunk-mounted black box antenna like the one used on the GS. To go one step further, XM issued a press release a few months ago stating that XM will be factory-installed in Lexus models beginning in 2006 (again, no date given). I think that once this happens you'll see some type of shark fin antenna (which I personally like).

The satellite radio thing is somewhat disappointing. This has been around for a few years, and is even standard equipment on cars like the Accord EX, yet Lexus has it as a delayed introduction option.

 

flipside and lenscap - thanks for the additional info on the shark fin antenna



By the way, digital FM is coming and maybe that will aleviate the need to sat antenna (and monthly fees). I read somewhere that BMW will be offering digital fm as an option next year - hope Lexus follows quickly.

Cheers