I am in the market for an '06 IS350 with the sports package. I have a few questions. Please correct me if I am wrong. thanks everyone in advance

1.) If an '06 has the alloy pedals -- does that mean it has the sport package?

2.) Is it possible for an '06 with the sports package to have the wood trim on the doors and console? - from what I understand it isn't becuase having the sports package elliminates the posibility of having the luxury or premium pkgs. which were the only way to get the wood trim?

3.) Is the factory sport tuned suspension any lower than stock?

4.) Not too experienced w/Lexus or toyota aftermarket -- how expensive or cost effective would it be to put on aftermarket sport springs to recreate the sport suspension.

 

1) yes, check for the aluminum door sills also
2) no, because of the package features intersecting with the same features in another package. You would have to find someone that has wood trim and wants to swap for the metallic trim. These pieces are expensive from the dealer
3) ~.5" all around

 

Welcome to forum! Good luck finding your car.. i love my 06 is 350...see sig for details.. anyway..


1.) Not neccesarily.. It's possible to add the sport pedals as an accesory, without purchasing the sports package.. ie. I have sport pedals w/ the lux package.

2.) You are correct that the sports package does not offer wood trim as an option. Again, there is always a chance that someone could add wood trim, but it's not likely. Chances are, if the car has wood trim, it's not sports package.

3.) I believe the sport pack suspension is about .5 in lower in the front.. Pretty negligible in my opinion. If you want a noticable drop, you gotta go aftermarket.

4.) You can buy eibach springs for around $210 for the 2IS with no problem. Depending on where you live, you can have them installed for a reasonable price. I paid somewhere around $200.

 

Thanks that's exactly the info I am looking for. The reason is I see a lot more with the lux pkg than the sports. I know I want the options shared by the luxury and sports packages (Heated Seats/HIDs/Memory etc.). So at this point if I might just settle for the luxury package and go ahead and put aftermarket suspension on there, although I am not a big fan of the wood trim.

 

Agreed, though I'll point out that someone with the sports package who wanted wood trim could probably get it at no cost, as there are plenty of people (especially teens and young twenty-somethings) who share your dislike of wood trim and would jump at the chance to swap trim with a sports package (or base car) owner.

 

haha. mine doesn't have sports package but it LOOKS like sports package because I added aluminum pedals and door sill myself. If someone had sold IS with user added mod like me then you truly don't have sports package.

 

Okay so I am still having problems, I need a definitive way to tell if an '06 has the luxury or sports package. If an '06 has auto leveling HIDs, pwr tilt wheel, and Rain sensing wipers I am assuming it either has the sports or lux pkg. If it has those features with wood/sunshade -- lux package, if metal trim and petals -- sports.

If anyone can think of a better way let me know. I just want to make sure I know what I am paying for.

 

There are four possibilities:

1) Stock ---- no seat memory preset buttons on the door + non perforated seats + aluminum trim (NOT VERY COMMON)

2) Premium package ---- no seat memory preset buttons on the door + perforated seats + wood trim (VERY COMMON)

3) Luxury package ---- seat memory preset buttons on the door + wood trim + illum scuff plates (SOMEWHAT COMMON)

4) Sports package ---- seat memory preset buttons on the door + aluminum trim + aluminum pedals + non-illum scuff plates. (NOT VERY COMMON)

As long as the original owner didn't add things to the factory options this will tell what package you have.

 

okay so the memory buttons for lux or sports are on the door where the memory buttons for premium are on the side of the seat. If that's true that's a huge help.

What is really killing me is how many people say "Fully Loaded" which i am beginning to realize tranlated from dealer talk really means "This lexus has a lot of power options but I don't understand exactly what it has." Like one I am looking at the dealer swears it has the Sports package, but it has wood trima and a power sunshade....hmmm

anyways thanks for the info if anyone has any other ways to discern between a Premium and Lux/Sports alll info greatly appreciated......thanks

 

"Fully Loaded" is a meaningless term and is thrown around with abandon.

If you don't have the 1, 2, 3 buttons on the door that means you don't have memory seats, period. All IS's have power seat controls on the side of the seat, but that is different than memory seats.

Sounds like you have the Luxury Package, but check for the memory buttons to confirm.

 

This is very true. "Fully loaded" is thrown around way too much, from what I've seen. For many, it just means -- "This car has lots of features". I had one dealer--a very large volume, reputable dealer, try to convince me that I could choose from the Lux Pkg OR the Sport Pkg for an AWD model. Even after I gave him the "Gee, I couldn't build one that way on the website" he was not swayed from this. I should have made him place an order that way.

 

Okay to make my search easier I am looking at a couple things. If it has memory seats, alloy trim/petals, and AFS HIDs, rain sensing wipers then I am assuming sports package.

If it has memory, wood trim, AFS HIDs, electrochromatic then I am assuming lux package.

I think Premium Pkg has memory so if the car has wood trim and no HIDs/AFS then I am assuming premium package.

Obviusoly if I find a car I want to buy I will check the VIN with a Lexus dealer to get an exact idea of what it was built with.

If anyone see's a flaw with my logic, please let me know. I just want to be 100% sure I know what I am buying, so i don't end up with a premium package IS that someone put alloy petals/trim on to make it appear like a sports package.

 

Keep in mind that when you build a Lexus online, you can only build a car with the options that Lexus allocates to your area. You could certainly special order one with any of the options (as long as they don't conflict) Lexus offers for that model. I believe you can special order a AWD with Lux, not sure about Sport, though.

 

I'm in PA, so, although they are tough to find, Lux Pkg AWD are available w/o special order. If you go to the "Options" page, rather than "Build Your Lexus" page, you will not see the Sport Pkg as an available option for AWD (this page does not ask for zip code input), so you couldn't even special order it.

 

I'm not too surprised they dropped it in '08. I'd guess that most "performance oriented" sports package customers were foregoing the AWD model because choosing it meant they couldn't get the 3.5L engine or a manual transmission.