Overview & Reviews

Lexus continues to change gears, moving away from single-minded relentless pursuits of perfection to chase performance. The new IS 300, complete with rear-wheel drive and a 215-horse inline six, chases the BMW 3 Series in the entry luxury sport marketplace, and will continue to do so until a proper manual transmission is available.

• Near ideal weight distribution, slick interior decor, competitive pricing.

• No manual transmission, small rear seat, lacking a telescoping steering column.

User Reviews:

Showing 1 through 10 of 70.00

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  Good but needs improvements - 2001 Lexus IS 300
  By Dude007 - December 27 - 10:00 am

  Love its sleeky look, handling and interior of course. Engine needs to be replaced with something better. Wasnt the toyota all about reliability, quality and economy? Well Im a Honda lover but this car cought my attention right from the begining, basically I love eveything about it except gas mileage. This car has a worst gas mileage in its class and if you compare it to the performance it really shouldnt burn so much. Even Maxima with 3.5 Liter engine uses less gas and gets far better performance and really Maxima seems to be a better bang for your buck.

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  Proven faster than an M3 - 2001 Lexus IS 300
  By Max SPek - April 28 - 2:00 am

  No regrets other than not holding out for the manual transmission. with no upgrades 0-60 is 6.35 on mine, which edges out my friends stick M3 from 1999 by about a second. The best part is, it goes way faster than the Beemer, 165 MPH and the doors start opening up with vacuum pressure so i didnt try to go any faster. The A/C is automatic contrary to the editors beliefs and if anything feels like a corolla its the little twitchy German crap buttons on the M that require you to carry a set of pencils to press accurately.

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  Sweet Car! - 2001 Lexus IS 300
  By KingLexBucket - September 27 - 2:00 am

  This is TOTALLY a sweet car.. cept for the MPG.. But it deffinately a head turner.. Ive owned my since 2002. I have notice that it runs real hard when the engine is cold.. Plus the noice is loud fromt he outside..

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  i like it, but - 2001 Lexus IS 300
  By yashka - August 7 - 10:00 am

  Thiss my third lexus (GS,SC,IS). Allways had very good expirience with cars and service dept. up to this point. One problem that no one seems to be talking about and help me with. Its the 17" tires by Good Year that came with IS. 24K miles and 10(ten) tires*$280 a pop later Im p..sed off as one can be!!!! BUUUUBLLLLLLES and blow outs twice (all hwy driving).Lexus refused to deal with it from day 4. Taking a big hit on $$$ and trading in. Lexus refused to deal with it from day 4.

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  The perfect Mix - 2001 Lexus IS 300
  By acumenhokie - January 22 - 8:00 am

  I bought my IS 300 in June and have been driving it as my daily driver for 7 months now. So far the car has lived up to or exceeded all of my expectations. Its not going to out perform some of the new sports cars (G35, 330, etc.) but the IS 300 has what a lot of those cars lack. The Lexus name. Not saying I drive a Lexus Im better than you but the Lexus name that says this car was quality built, reasonably priced and fun to drive. The 2JZ-GE engine is under powered compared to a lot of todays sports sedans but it is easily modified to be an unstoppable street machine. I highly recommend this car. You will not be disappointed.

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  Great Used Car - 2001 Lexus IS 300
  By ISDriver - December 27 - 6:23 am

  Bought In 05 with 80,000 miles. It runs great and is lots of fun to drive. I get a lot of compliments on the style of the car. I drive it daily to work and get about 18 mpg and have driven the car to South Dakota and to Florida and if I kept the speed around 75 I got about 27 mpg. I cant complain about that. If I average closer to 85 it drops to 23. I dont mind the miles since it is a Lexus.

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  They almost have it... - 2001 Lexus IS 300
  By terpfan - October 25 - 10:00 am

  This is a really super car for a 1st year. The swade-ish leather interior is a good feature because it is never too hot or too cold. It is fun to drive and handles real well (except for traction control...which I always turn off). The only downsides are bad fuel mileage, no center armrest to speak of, and no telescopic steering.

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  IS LOVER - 2001 Lexus IS 300
  By ndr71 - October 21 - 10:00 am

  Owned for a little over 3 years and very satisfied. Had a BMW325 before and is very comparable with performance and handling. Shouldve waited for the manual tranny. The only problem is the CD player which had to be fixed/replaced three times. I live in the Midwest and I need Snow tires if its over 3/4" of snow.

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  Nice car - 2001 Lexus IS 300
  By Nice IS300 - September 14 - 2:00 am

  I have the car for 3 year with 16,000 miles on it. Is nice car but it have a few complaint such fuel economy I got about 16 mpg in the city. So far this car have replaced driver side power window motor because when I pull the up position the window go up but it go back right away bring back to dealer for warranty repair. Last month I have to bring the car in to check front brake because when I go on freeway over 55mph and try top step on the brake a little and the steering have lot of vibration. Bring back to the dealer and they have to replace the front brake pad and rotor.

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  very nice car, but crappy service - 2001 Lexus IS 300
  By whatsnext - May 7 - 10:00 am

  cons: interior materials are poor quality. My steering wheel leather started cracking after a couple months. THe oem tires were terrible and blew up on me. one blew up after a couple thousand miles. Another one blew up later on. The tire recall didnt help either since they killed the new tires which I bought to replace my old tires. My center console plastic started fading. pros: very solid car. great handling. bottom line: dont expect to be reimbursed for any parts that are built below standard. Be prepared to shell out quite a bit of money to fix little things like interior parts, paint chips, tires, and so on.