Afternoon all,

Looked around the forum but didn't see a first time Lexus owner or prospective buyer thread. If there is one, please forgive! Reposted here from the Car Chat forum.

So I have a few questions for those that have bought and owned a Lexus for a while. It's time for a new vehicle and I have my eye on a 2022 or newer Lexus IS 350 F Sport. I'll try to keep this short as possible. I know no one likes to read long posts.

First off:
My problem is I live in southeastern NC. The closest Lexus dealership is Hendrick Lexus of Charlotte, some 190 miles away. Other Lexus dealerships, like Johnson Lexus get further away as you look beyond Hendrick. How is scheduled maintenance taken care of if you don't have a Lexus dealership nearby? I am keeping my eye out for pre-owned local cars for sale, but I'm afraid I might have to end up going to a Lexus dealership to get the car.

Second:
For those that have an IS sedan (new or old), how has your experience been with it? Does the F Sport ride rough compared to a non-F Sport?

Third:
Is there anything, like options, I should avoid when looking at an IS? Are there any options I should look for?



Any insight and information is greatly appreciated.

thanks so much,

Stephen

 

I just bought a 2022 IS350 FSport -- from a Toyota dealership in Washington, NC of all places (I live in Maryland). So I might be able to help with a few of the questions...

If you buy a CPO and/or something that is still under factory warranty, only a Lexus dealer will be able to handle any warranty repairs. Lexus L/Certified (CPO) vehicles also include complementary scheduled maintenance during the 2-yr CPO period, which only a Lexus dealer can perform. Depending on how much you drive, this could mean one or two complementary maintenance visits per year, so if you want to take advantage of that service you'd need to make the trip to a Lexus dealer. It's worth nothing that you don't HAVE to use the complementary CPO maintenance. You're free to have scheduled maintenance performed elsewhere on your own dime, if it's not worth the drive back to a Lexus dealership.

If you don't buy CPO and don't have a need for any warranty service (which you typically shouldn't on a newer Lexus), then you can have the car serviced at any shop that is familiar with Lexus or Toyota vehicles, Most Toyota dealers are also happy to service Lexus vehicles--they just can't provide warranty service or do the complementary CPO maintenance.

In order to find a good car to buy, I would recommend looking mostly at Lexus and Toyota dealers. They tend to get the "good" customer trade-ins and if even if they don't CPO the car, they tend to pay more attention to any issues that might need to be resolved before it's offered for sale. Most other dealers get their used inventory from auctions, which can work fine as well, but personally I usually prefer to buy a used car from a dealer that sells that same car brand. Those tend do the ones with the best maintenance history and condition that they keep to sell themselves. So would probably be worth a trip to get one from a Lexus or Toyota dealer if you see one that looks good. I've done that three times myself when buying used Lexus vehicles and have never been disappointed with the purchase.

I've only owned my 2022 IS350 FSport (RWD) for about a month, but so far I'm very happy with it. My car has the Dynamic Handling Package (DHP) which includes adjustable suspension settings, and in "Normal" mode I think the ride quality is excellent even on pretty rough roads (no shortage of those here in MD)--better then I was expecting. I haven't drive an F Sport without the DHP package, so I can comment on ride quality on a non-DHP car.

If you don't need AWD, I'd look for a RWD model, since those have an 8-speed transmission instead of 6-speed, and get slightly better MPG. I would absolutely recommend getting the Mark Levinson audio system if you have any interest in music---it's a great system and at least to my ears it's a significant improvement over the regular system. The triple-beam LED headlight options make the headlights look cool (a little more aggressive looking) but I don't think really improve the light output that much, so that option is nice to have but not something I'd go out the way to get (I have it on mine but wasn't a must-have for me). DHP is also an option to consider but will significantly reduce the number of potential cars, as it wasn't a really common option.

Good luck with the search!

 

Must have been Hendrick Toyota. LOL

Thanks for the reply and information. RWD should be fine for me, don't see myself really needing AWD. We rarely ever get snow, and if we do, it melts within a few hours. Did see they have a Mark Levinson sound system but wasn't sure if that was worth skipping or not (have not had a chance to hear the system in person). I do like my tunes though, so will keep an eye out for that option for sure.

 

Mark Levinson sound is the one feature I wish I had been able to score when I purchased my IS.

 

The ML sound is OK, not really that great but still better then the stock system. I ended up changing the dash speakers and rear door speakers and now OK. If you can afford it do it. At a minimum the 10inch bigger screen is worth it, the memory's seat package is not, if you like the BBS wheels/package get it because those wheels are expensive. Only thing I wish I would have gotten is the wheels and tri-beam LED and not the memory seats.
Also don't pay or buy CPO if you can't take it to the dealership. If you have a Toyota deal near you I would talk to the service manager and see If they will take on lexus CPO stuff.
overall Lexus is my favorite brand. I have owned over 50 cars and swore off German cars that is out of warranty (reason why many people including myself dump them while they are almost out of warranty), Lexus has the refinement and build quality, while they don't have as many tech stuff as Acura or infinity, they do not have as many issues because of that.