I just sold my 96 Maxima, it's time to move up to a real car! Atuually the Maxima was an awesome car, it served me well for 11 years. It was very sad to see some stranger driving it away from my house today.

But as sson as I get my hands on a new IS 350 I'll forget all about that old Maxima.


I was all set on buying a G35 Sedan until I read a review comparing a few $35,000 sport sedans. I had never noticed the IS before, but the 5.1 0-60 they pulled off caught my interest! I don't how they did that, but even the worst review I read was 6.1, which isn't bad for a car that holds 4 people and gets 21+ MPG.

I took it for a test drive and was blown away by how fast it is. I'm no stranger to fast cars, my Toy car, which is serving as a daily driver now, is a '68 Big Block Corvette with 500hp and 540TQ.

What amazes me about the IS350 is how well it's 6 speed auto makes use of it's 300hp. It really feels like a big torqey American V8. The G35 wan't bad, but compared to the IS, it's weak.

The configuration I want is this:
Smokey Granite Mica with Black interior
Luxury package
standard radio, the ML sounded kind of artificial to me. I tried it with the surround off and on, but either way it sounded wrong. The standard radio sounded awesome, by far the best stock radio I have ever heard. My Maxima had a really nice McIntosh/JL/Diamond stereo, so I have have expectations for car audio.

I think I would prefer the Garmin Nuvi over the Lexus nav for it's portability. In fact Navigation doesn't really excite me, but I have been told that once you have you can't live without it.

Enough preaching to the choir, here's my question:

The only thing I don't like about the IS is the 18" rims. If I wanted a pure sports car I would get one, but I think 17" would be ideal. If I did my math and estimations right, 18" rim would cost about $411 per year more than 17" rims. Here's how I figured it-

Lexus says that with 18" rims you can only expect 15,000 miles, that equals one year for me. They say the 17"s are good for 20,000 miles

255/40 18 PS2 $282 each, or $564 pair
225/40 18 PS2 $212 each, or $424 pair
TOTAL $988 per 15,000 (year)

With 17" rims
245/45 17 PS2 $206 each, or $412 pair
225/45 17 PS2 $179 each, or $358 pair
TOTAL $770 per 20,000
or $577 per 15,000 miles (year)

So for me comfort and cost makes the 17" wheels VERY attractive.
But in Southern CA, no dealer orders the IS350 with 17" rims.
To special order 17" rims through Lexus parts will be several thousand dollars!!
Plus they still expect me to pay the $700 premium for the 18s that I don't even want.

What do you guys suggest? My thought is that I might find someone selling their 17" IS wheels here or on ebay. Do you guys have any other ideas?

thanks for tolerating this long winded first post!

~Jay

 

i could be wrong (never really cared about the tires / wheels on the car), but i think on the 18s they have more aggressive tires? thats why it's only 15k per yr, whereas if the tires on the 17s are not as aggressive then you get more miles

in your math you are comparing the same tires, and close to the same tires setup (except one is 17 and one is 18). so i dont' think you need to worry about the mileage, meaning the oveall different is only about 200 bucks.

only 200 bucks.... on a 30k car? that should be nothing man

btw, welcome to clublexus!

 

I, like you, was very interested in the G35 as my next car even though at the time, the IS350 just came out. I liked the G35 Coupe however and was dead set on getting it once I get rid of my 2002 Mercedes C230K. I researched it, compared it and even test drove the G35C with the options I want and everything was as expected. Then, a few months into 2006 I started looking into the IS350 to compare it to the G35. My initial thoughts were it was too expensive with the options I wanted (Nav, Premium package) but I also saw on this board people are getting $2000-3000 off MSRP in California. So I went back to the drawing board but at that time I decided to stick with the G35C.

However, the more I look into the IS350, the more I like it. Touchscreen NAV, back-up camera, 306hp and it gets more MPG than the G35. The only downside is HID is not standard unless you get the Lux or Sport package. In the end, knowing the G35 sedan and coupe will have redesigns coming soon and that the 2006 IS just had its redesign- my choice was crystal clear. Now everyday, I open my garage door to a 2006 Tungsten Pearl/Black IS350. The new car smell has never been better.

 

'68 Corvette!
The 18s are the way to go. IMHO the 17s look too small on this car.


BTW: I had a '96 Maxima as well. We got 200K+ miles out of that puppy. The engine was still in great condition.

 

Where in cali are you? I special ordered 17"s and I've only had my car for 3 weeks no, absolutely perfect condition wheels. I was looking to get the ISP's so i wouldn't mind swapping + paying the balance if you're interested.

BTW i'm in san diego

 

I've never heard the ML, so I can't comment on how much better it is than our stock systems,
but I have def heard better stock systems than that which is in our IS's.. I actually think our stock systems don't sound good at all....

 

Totally agree. The stock system sounds okay when you really crank it up, but at low and medium volume levels it sounds lifeless and has no punch. (This is with the bass control set to (0) - flat. Boosting the bass control makes the system unacceptably muddy)

 

Remeber the NAV come with the back-up camera. Very Helpful and it looks

 

I'm in the LA area near Magic Mtn. I haven't been to SD in a long time, that might be a good little trip when I get the new IS

I'll PM you when I finally get the car.

~Jay

 

Do you know of a car that has a better stock system? I haven't listened to everthing available, but I thought the IS sounded very good. I have heard that Acura has some great sound systems. They are even endorsed by Elliot Scheiner.

But I am happy enough with the Stock IS system. Lucky me!

~Jay

 

When do you plan on buying? I'm taking my bros up to magic mountain soemtime in august
gonna try out tatsu o.O

 

I hope to have it by the end of July.

I haven't been to Magic Mtn in a few years... I think I'm about due, Tatsu does look really cool.

~Jay

 

The standard stereo system in the 2006 Acura RL I test drove sounded MUCH better than the one in my IS. So did the Bose stereo in the 2006 Infiniti M45 (not certain if it was standard or an upgrade) - quite a feat given that I am predisposed to regard most Bose products as overpriced garbage.