Well last night on my way to my friends house, I ran into a Lexus IS300 silver not sure if it was 5sp or auto but I noticed that the car had at least 5 people in it. It was so heavy it looked like it was dropped. But I passed him slowly trying to egg him on and he took the bait. Much to my surprise from 80 to 120 he actually was creeping on me but from 120 to 140 I passed him like he was standing still. But all in all I was shocked at what this IS300 had in terms of power from those speeds (80-120).

 

There pretty quick, I hand my hands full with one a few months ago.

 

Good Job. How many people did you have in your car?

 

I am assuming that you ran him without the bottle?

I am surprised that it was that close with 5 people in his car. He must have had some mods in it, maybe a bottle himself. They are nice cars that handle well, but they are a little underpowered for what they "pretend" to be. The 0-60 is around 7.5 for a manual tranny.

One egged me on at a stoplight once in my Contour SVT and I decided to do it. It was a manual because I heard him downshift as he got to the light. This was when they first came out and I did not know what kind of power they put out, but I figured to go for it anyway. I pulled on him steadily from the get-go, which kind of surprised me.
Since then, I haven't had a whole lot of respect for the IS300.

It is a nice engine, and there are a lot of mods for it. But to be competing in this class against BMWs, I think it needs more power. It will really get stomped when the G35 comes out.

 

They are def great cars w/o a doubt.

I dont think the manual versions are out yet. I have gotten a chance to run 2 IS300s. I raced one when i only had a CAI and only beat him by half a car from 30-70mph. I also got to pair up against one @ E-Town. I talked to the kid who owned it. At the time he was stock and didnt even have 10k mile son it. That night he ran 15.8 & 15.7. He said he hasnt broken 15.7 but bolt-on mods she shoudl be lookin towards low 15's. Either way, they are similar to our cars & great lookin as well. I have nothign but respect for those cars.

 

i saw a is3000 wagon, ewww those are funky looking

 

Where you spraying???

Either way, nice kill... although remember he had a LOT of additional weight....

 

What?! LOL IS300s are slower than us stock even with a 5spd. And if he had that much weight you should have killed him. I have driven a few and they felt like dogs.

 

I walked an auto with my 99 5spd! Bad!!

 

The 5-speeds just came out, I dont think it was a 5speed you raced if it was when the car first came out.

 

I drrove one. It was pretty slow. The pedals are tooooooooooo close. I kept hitting the right wall instead of the gas.

 

There's a writeup in Sport Compact Car for the new manual trannie ... Dec-01 edition ...

0-60 = 7.4 seconds ... they were disappointed since Lexus said 6.4 sec
1/4 mile was 15.3 seconds

 

7.4 thats horrible for 5 spd

 

I just did last night too... it wasn't much of a race... but I had an unfair advantage and he had his GF with him... Maybe that's why he zoomed by me after I shut it down.

 

i raced a 5spd IS300 here and he pulled a car on me from 50-90 but around 100 i pulled up next to him and at 115 i had almost pulled 1/2 a car, and im auto.. he had a passenger and i didnt..

they are nice cars, im looking to get one in 2 years, that or a BMW 323ci..

 

When they first came out the manual IS300 was not available, it just came out! If I recall correctly the auto{sport shift} did 0-60 in 7.1 seconds. The new 5spd wagon did 0-60 in 6.9 seconds, the sedan version will likely shave 2 tenths off that time and get a respectfull 6.7 to 60.

 

Where are your #'s coming from?

I listed SCC's #'s in my post above ... their auto did 0-60 in 7.8 .. the 5 speed shaved 4 tenths off that ....

 

Motor Trend has the auto listed at 7.4 0-60. Road and track has it listed at 7.1 0-60. I recall reading a short review in MT on the 5spd manual wagon, it did 0-60= 6.9.

I think when the IS300 first came out MT also listed it at 7.1 0-60.

 

man .. it's really weird how much of a discrepancy there will be b/w magazines .... maybe those are corrected for altitude & temp?

 

You can't really tell whether an IS is a manual or automatic from the sounds of the engine, since the car has Toyota's E-shift, which allows manual shifting of the automatic via steering wheel mounted buttons.

 

I have a modded auto and beat an IS300 by 3-4 carlengths everytime. We made several runs on the highway racing from 40 to about 85.

 

I beg to differ

Automatics have a distinctive shifting sound... barring clutchless shifting on a manual, it's usually easy to tell.

 

hmmm....something must have been wrong with that car......