I have always taken great care when parking my '14 IS in parking lots with concrete stops to make sure the bumper cleared sufficiently. Today I pulled into a slot and parked - plenty of clearance. When I went to back out, a piece of rebar holding the concrete stop down to the asphalt snagged the bottom of my bumper with a loud pop - two bottoms clips and one side clip were basically ripped off. What a wonderful $1200 new bumper repair I get for for Christmas.

Keep an eye out there for these hidden dangers - hopefully it won't happen to you.

 

Yikes. Yeah I have gotten lucky with that before. I scraped the bottom of the front of the car on a parking block that was higher than most... Luckily, you have to basically get on the ground to see the scrapes. But yeah I am super careful about that now! Lesson learned.

Also, I got rear-ended last weekend, and also have a roughly $1200 repair to do. So I feel for you.

 

Lexus needs to add front mounted camera for next gen IS. Why do tall SUV's with plenty of ground clearance have them but not sporty low profile car?

 

This is exactly why I added the front facing camera to my 2015 IS. I think the newer IS's come with bird's eye cameras if I'm not mistaken though.

 

Okay, I guess I was wrong. The new ISs still don't have bird's eye or panoramic view.

 

Are you a new "sports sedan" owner? It's hard to get used to after driving a "normal" car like a camry or something. you get used to it. always watch your approach. you'll always find my cars 2-3 feet away from the parking bump thing just by habit.

but at the end of the day don't stress too much. it's just a car. the front edge of the bumper will eventually get scratched by entering/exiting a driveway when there's cross traffic approaching fast. sometimes you can't slow down. not worth causing an accident over. let a car be a car =)

 

I am not a new sports sedan owner - drove an Acura TSX for many years before - not quite as low of clearance. Despite being ultra careful for the last 3 years when parking my IS, all it took was a piece of rebar sticking up from a crappy parking stop installation to cause an issue - there was plenty of clearance otherwise. I am seriously considering going after the owner of the building for the cost of the repairs - from searching the internet, it seems like people have 50/50 success in similar situations in getting them to pay. If I had ripped my leg open on that rebar, you could guarantee they would have had no problem paying out to avoid any legal action. They should be just as responsible for property damage from the same cause.

 

I came from an A4, to G35x, G37x. The A4 had great clearance, but the 3IS looks more aerodynamic.
Speaking of clearance, it is a bit ironic to have 4 wheel drive with so little clearance.

Anyway two stories. I am at my nearby strip mall frequently for food shopping, gym and haircut. I have my favorite spot way away
from shopping carts, etc. The spot has a rebar protruding, so I keep 2-3 feet away from the stop. I look at that rebar thing, thinking
of the danger.

I had a different close call. I had an appointment in an office park early in the morning. I parked way away from everything in a largely empty lot.
When leaving, I was backing out slowly and felt the back tire hit something. I hit one of those invisible islands. Fortunately the clearance and
the curb height barely worked in my favor. Now, I don't assume anything and always use the backup camera. Lesson learned.