The bottom line

I dont think I would buy this car again. There are many problems. People may claim that the car just came out, etc. I use to live in Tokyo until recently. The car has been there for a few years. Lexus/Toyota should have hammered out the bugs, but the car still has many of them. I used to own a chrysler 300M (my first car) and it has no problems as severe as on my car.....under panel falling off, broken cd player, door pin kept flying off, burnt out headlights, condensation in headlight housing, sqeuaky chair, the list goes on and on. Buy a different car.

Dunno. I think I'd buy it again...only problem I've had was with the door pin and now that the hinge has been replaced, everything is hunky dory. No squeaks, no rattles, no problems at all. Of course, now I have more money (got a large raise), so I MIGHT look at a couple of cars that cost a bit more...but I still like my blue beast and I'm still smiling whenever I look at it.

I'm pretty satisfied with mine, except for the little problems like the ecu thing that I'm still on the wait list for. I would love to get the 5 speed, but I didn't want to wait another year. Overall, it's what I expected for what I paid.

I AM buying an IS again! I have a 2001 company lease) that I'm handing in at the end of Sept. I'm in the process of searching for an 02 5spd.

I've had absolutely no problems with the car during its 1 year tenure with me. If I had the car for 2-3 years, I would most likely get something different. But, 1 year with the IS just didn't feel like enough. I still look forward to driving it and I think the 5spd version would only add to that excitement.

My only minor gripe is long distance comfort. I regularly take 6-7 hr biz trips and it's not nearly as comfortable as my old car (99 Solara SLE V6) - but then again, it's not supposed to be a plush cruiser. The fun of driving it around town more than makes up for it.