hahahaha I do have my worries at times about (a) getting into an accident resulting in the car being written off, and (b) having parts discontinued by Toyota.

There were so many aftermarket parts that got discontinued that I regretted not making a purchase earlier (e.g. TRD sway bars, Fig's brake bracket kit that allows us to use Supra TT's rotors, which I was finally able to get directly from RacingBrakes.com).

I have replaced many parts with new OEM parts over the years that driving it feels like driving a new car, except the exterior is definitely showing its age. I just wish it has more power, and in this part of the world, I cannot put a turbo in the car to resolve this. An engine like IS500 would simply be perfect.

If I am in the market for a new sport sedan, I would not hesitate to get the IS, it will definitely be a future classic!


Off-topic: If you are ever in the market for parts, do check out these sites:

https://www.megazip.net/ for specific part numbers for all markets (e.g. I could choose USDM spec if I were looking for DRL parts to retrofit on my car)

https://www.monotaro.com/ for comparing prices of the OEM parts. There are interchangeable parts that are much more affordable in the JDM market than in US market (e.g. power steering lines and window regulators/motors at like half price of what USDM charges, USDM exhaust manifold with cats is around USD1.7k compared to JDM's at USD1k [yes, different emission standard, I know, but the JDM standard is good enough for Canada]. There are items that are less expensive in US - power steering pump is like half price of what JDM charges, feels like it will be discontinued soon.

Monotaro Japan does not sell directly to other countries, you will have to buy parts through a site like https://www.fromjapan.com/ and they will place the order for you. Each type of item, they will charge around 3 USD as fee, and they will consolidate your orders which you can ship them to you through FedEx or other services.

Tell me about it... went through all of it with my MR2 Turbo, buying up extras of stuff and parts I didn't think much of 10 years ago but now you can't find them or if they do come up they're crazy $$$

Those sites are pretty handy though thanks... both my IS300's are Sport Design packages (one auto, one manual) so they've even got some weird one-off stuff over and above the regular IS... darker tail lights and headlights, badging... one of the cars the exhaust tip fell off a few weeks back somewhere?! No idea when or where... good luck finding it though!! Also the centre caps for the wheels lose their finish if you even look at them the wrong way and are unique to the 11 spoke wheels on that package and are unobtanium.... but I see them listed on one of those sites... for $33 USD... per... wheel. Hahaha!

I've been kicking myself for not stocking up on more parts a few years back as well. The good thing is it wasn't til the ~25 year old mark that stuff started to really dry up. That was a lot better than my experiences with Honda and Jeep with parts going out of stock in 15 years and 10 years respectively. If that pattern continues then you're set with a new Lexus until at least 2046 before things get a little more fiddly.

Glad to see pricing is exactly where I expected it to be. This will 100% be added into the stable for long-term ownership when the time is right. Can't wait for the UX lease to be up for early renewal :alonehappy: Has always been a goal of mine to own a sports sedan with a big NA V8 that isn't German. The Mustang interior is too cheap for me, and being a Lexus fan, this IS 500 is a dream come true.

Gf wanted Launch Edition for the nardo grey-esque paint but I was against it. I hate maintaining alcantara and I actually don't like the black BBS wheels and prefer the standard F-Sport Performance wheels. Seeing the pricing of the Launch Edition makes my preference shift to the standard one even more.

Now the question is whether to go for 2022 model or 2023 model, assuming there are some minor issues to work out for the first model year cars.

If it's going to be a bit parts binny as I'm anticipating, then anything under warranty needing replacement will probably be an update. If infotainment is going to be problematic, expect firmware updates.

Can't wait till sept 10 when the embargo is lifted and also the 2022 wrx comes out.
Pricing is a bit higher than expected, I was hoping for 68-70ish.

Still debating between this or a 2023 wrx sti. The 2022 wrx will give me a rough idea what the sti will be.

is sti a $70k car now?
i haven't kept up on new prices since hawkeye lol

Brand new STI w/ sport tech is $48k.

"is not an M3 competitor, if you're expecting that you're going to be highly disappointed. What this is, is a luxury car with a spirit of a V8"

Seems like it's the car for someone who wants a v8 in a car rather than a performance car.

pointy elbows but that's pretty noticeable orange peel for whatever premium they charge for the red paint in almost all the close-up shots

if you need to have the last na 8cyl i think it makes sense but i'd rather get a 3rd gen GS and call it a day

^ The V8 in the GS is different though unless you are talking about the GS-F which is over 100k.

I think the "facelift" looks great, and the hump is aggressive. Bummer it's not sport oriented.

Autoblog Review

Motor Trend review




It's not a M3 fighter or track day car and wasn't meant to be one, I feel like this is exactly what I'm looking for.

Reminds me of the old C55 AMG… big V8 in a soft sedan, great at anything except track… but really how many people track cars? And even if you did, would you track your daily?

Only weirdos like 320icar do that :awwyeah:

dunno it just doesn't seem to offer anything new, more rather a last chance parts bin sleeper but i suppose that in itself is special these days as they blitz towards electrification

if i want muscle it'd be the nissan Z, if i want an autobahn cruiser the interior is important and this one's a bit underwhelming

so can save 50k going for an old GS which has similar weight/wheelbase just fat C pillars and no hood bulge..yeah down on power but it's not like you're benefiting from fuel efficiency going 12 years newer either

but what do i know im not the lexus target buyer

The target buyer isn’t cross-shopping this against a GS460 or GS430 :lol

If anything, it would be this versus a used GS-F at a similar price, or IS-F if you want to save money. But this wasn’t meant to be an F car, it’s just for those who want that big displacement motor in a small chassis. The refinement of moving at low rpm’s and high torque.

Almost like the V6 Camry buyer, but at another level Kappa

I like how the first video there they keep harping on it not being a track car... but anytime the guy wants he just mashes the gas and goes sideways in a full out drift. The rest of the time he isn't crushing his spine in a track oriented car, just cruises along like a consummate gentleman's ride.

The Lexus sounds a lot more fun to me.

I don't know about you guys but those new V6 Camry's are pretty quick.

More I think about it, I think it's priced a bit too high at $75k including freight.

The M340i + C43 even with options are in the same ballpark $ wise. You must really love the V8 or the reliability.

i remember all the magazines back in the day laughing at the IS-F vs comparable Germans

resale tells a different story

but yes for this admission you can have both e90 daily and e92 track

Lease the German, buy the Lexus.

I can get behind it as a Lexus fan but I can see how the average buyer that might want better MPG's and more tech could overlook this car. Too sporty for luxury but not sporty enough for the sporty buyer. It is in a bit of a weird spot. What's not to like about a reliable N/A V8 that you can mash on constantly for 200k+kms without too much worry; seems like a no brainer in that regard.

If there's still hope of a true IS-F successor then that should be on par with the M3, C63, RS4, etc IMO; and with luck, maybe even dominate that space.

I really love the V8 :lawl:

I went car shopping this weekend. Damn. No new car stock anywhere. OpenRoad Toyota said to be backlogged for 1.5years, Rav4 Prime waitlist is 3 years and A91 Supra waitlist is 1 year, 17 ppl on the wait list for Richmond already.

Apparently in Canada, you can't even order anything non-xdrive anymore. Unfortunate, because I really wanted a rwd diesel wagon. I haven't drive the F80/G80 M3 nor the M340i yet.

But as a wildcard and of the three cars I test drove, the last gen Genesis G80 3.3T really takes it home. It's the right kind of wild and the right kind of calm at a push of a button/foot. I also tested the adaptive cruise control and the lane centering assist which worked perfectly on 91 even on the turns. The car handles very well and has a lot of character.

I didn't really get to push the C43 on the test drive, but with no active exhaust it was still quite loud. Sport++ mode or whatever really livened up the downshifts. I don't remember if it automatically upshifts for you in manual mode tho.

I 100% agree with you on the interior aspect of things. I also test drove a 2021 Q60S Red Sport 400. Since it's the same motor for the 400Z, I'm very disappointed. The car was very numb. It's definitely a "sport" model, but no where near M Performance.

While it's not a direct comparable but I priced out a C43 sedan to 79,750 + tax, 1.99% 45 mo lease, 24K km allowance works out to $1429/mo tax in. Yikes.

(Specs on this was DE1 Avantgarde Edition, DL1 Intelligent Drive Package)



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Managed to talk le wifey out of Launch Edition. Since we're keeping the car long term, I don't want to deal with maintaining all the alcantara. So realistically we'll be looking at 2023 model.

According to my sales, the first cars aren't slated to arrive until very late Dec 2021, with a more realistic date being mid to late Jan. As usual they're taking deposits though.

Looks like the configurator is live on Lexus Canada:

https://www.lexus.ca/lexus/en/build-price/is#/models

Looks like Ultrasonic Blue 2.0 is listed as an option which wasn't listed in the ordering guide. Wonder if it's an error or if Lexus Canada changed their mind on the color.