I was reading this years best and worst cars in Consumer Reports and was pleased to see they gave the IS very high marks in ALMOST every category. Under "Body Integrity" the 2007 actually received the lowest mark possible with no explanation. The 2006 received the second lowest mark and the 2008 was back in the good range... Has anybody heard anything that could acount for such a claim? What was wrong with the 06/07's that they caught in '08? poor rust protection? Metal Coating? Paint?

 

Its probably the Dash rattle, which can be fixed via TSB

 

The chart you refer to isn't a judgment made by Consumer Reports staff, rather it is a statistical table comparing the number of problems reported by readers who own a particular make/model/year car (and returned the annual questionnaire) to the number of average number of problems reported in that category for all cars of that age.

It is misleading to compare cars of different ages. Perhaps all three years have identical body integrity, but body integrity issues don't start show up until the car is a year old. If you look back at last year's auto issue, you'll probably find that the '07 IS didn't have that black dot when it was a new model.

 

It is misleading to compare cars of different ages. Perhaps all three years have identical body integrity, but body integrity issues don't start show up until the car is a year old. If you look back at last year's auto issue, you'll probably find that the '07 IS didn't have that black dot when it was a new model.[/QUOTE]

I don't think any 2/3 year old car should have "body integrity" issues, especially a Lexus. Other models from GM,Ford,Acura,and Lexus have high marks all the way back to 2003. They found something bad in the 06-07 IS, I was just wondering if anybody had any insight as to what that might have been.

Usually I would take a magazine's review with a grain of salt, but I do trust Consumer report's testing more than other's. They pride themselves on being an unbiased opinion.