yogi350

Picking up an IS350 tomorrow. I bought it from a dealer, it's a 2006 Tungsten Pearl with 18k miles. It would have been certified but i opted to pay less without the cert. Not sure this was the right decision but i dont plan on keeping this car out of warranty anyway so i think itll be fine. So not to waste an entire thread talking about my new car i have two questions for you all.

1. Im not exactly sure how the car was equiped from the factory. I mean i know what options my car has but not sure how they fit into the various packages (to me a lot of the sport and luxury packages seem redundant) So a little insight here would be nice. The car has the front and rear spoilers, the HID lights, the door sill skid plate. The heated and cooled memory seats. The wood interior, the navigation system, and the sunroof. And all weather mats but i know where those are coming from obviously. Is there any way to find out if i have the sport package and the other suspension. Are there any other options i can look for that arent factory standard equipment. The salesperson told me its not ML becuase it didnt say it by the cd slot. Lastly, i think it has the 18inch wheels too.

2. I read the FAQ on the V1 hardwire. I want to try and wire it directly to the mirror like some of you have done. I was wondering if you did any grounding of the detector or is it not needed because the mirror is grounded (if that makes any sense i dont know). Also it seems like you guys didnt wire a fuse in, again is this because the mirror is fused so its not necessary?

Thanks for the help and i know ill learn a lot more about the car.

List of things to do:
Tint (20-25%) somewhere in there
Hardwire V1
Hack into the Nav

Yogi

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

If you have wood trim, you do NOT have the Sports package. With most of the options noted, you do have the Luxury Package.

Does the stereo say "Mark Levinson" above the AM/FM/CD buttons? If it does, then you have the premium audio system, which with Nav should also include a DVD player. To test, put the car in park with the parking brake applied, and play a DVD.

Do NOT hack the nav if you do not have the Mark Levinson system. You wouldn't be hacking anything!!!

tracerit

how much did you get it for? I'm waiting for an 06 w/ Nav to hit $30k in socal before I get one Most if not all on autotrader are listing for $35-6k.

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

COngrats on the NEw/Used IS.. Part of teh IS family now..

CWS

I think TX law says max tint is about 30%. Mine came with 35% from the dealer (in TX). Just thought I'd point that out, since you said 20 or so. Congrats on the 'new' car; sounds just like mine.

yogi350

Thanks for the welcome...

Philip, i already know i do not have ML but i thought hacking the nav would still allow me control of my Mp3s better and to enter destinations while driving, am i wrong here? I thought all i would be missing out on was DVD.

Trace, I paid 33,800. Figured it was an OK deal, nothing too special. The things that made this a good deal for me was it was at a Lexus dealer, not private sale or other brand, 2 it was certified till i said i didnt want it so i know its in good shape, 3 it was one of the 4 colors i would accept and i HAD to have nav so my options were limited, there were very few in the country on the internet that i liked nevertheless 30 miles from my house, they had just got the car in the day before. All in all it sealed the deal for me and still at a pretty good price.

Funny thing is when i first started shopping for a sports sedan IS was the first i drove and it was the first i eliminated. After a month of shopping i came full circle and decided it was in fact the best balance of sport, luxury, and price. Other cars i considered MB C55amg, Audi S4, Cadi CTS-v, 300c/charger srt-8. I actually wanted the c55 but it was about 40k before any "extra" options, obviously it was still fairly well equiped but it was sans nav and HID which i thought was weird. All in all although the Lexus is the slowest of the group it does get the best gas milage, will be the quietest, and was one of the cheapest, easy decision.

Old Oiler

Welcome aboard!

I'm a newcomer myself, just recently passed my "drivers school candidate test".

You're going to love your car and I think just as much you'll love this forum for any type of information you could possibly want.

Anything from how to cook dinner on top of your Lexus engine while on a road trip to how to crack a safe and use your IS as your getta' way car.

Welcome and cheers!

Here is your virtual ice cold beer on me.

Old Oiler

CWS

I don't know anything about the mp3 stuff, but in the '06, anytime you want to input a destination while driving, you can simply do the 'override', and then input it. The override is: Menu, Vol, (upper left, lower left) twice, then hold the 'override' menu item for about 5 seconds, then back out of the menus. That takes less than 10 seconds to do, and you probably won't be using it often enough to make the 'hack' worthwhile.

llamaboiz

Dont forget MOST RELIABLE and LOWER maintenace fees that the rest of that list.

I've never test drivin the s4, the lexus dealer cast a evil spell as soon as i walked in, they were so nice and no pressure caught me totally off guard... never made it to the audi stealership. What wasnt right with the s4 thou? Thats a step up, no?

yogi350

Well let me start by saying i just read through all 500 posts on the nav hack and ive figured out what im gonna do about that and what itll give me. Gonna wire in a switch and get the MP3 and bluetooth from the nav hack and then if i want to enter a destination i can just flip the switch or do the override deal mentioned above.

Llama, The audi was nice but for my price it would have been an 04 or an 05. All the interiors of those cars looked fairly worn. The 07 i test drove was NICE though. About the car, the handling was awesome, very tight steering and great feedback, it definitely felt race inspired. The power was just kinda blah, i mean it was probably about the same as lexus speed and acceleration wise but it didnt feel too fast. Also, i decided i didnt need the awd living in south texas so this was a waste on power, weight, and gas milage (rated like 14/20 or something like that). Also i think the s4 styling is pretty bland well at least compared to the rs4. Ive heard horror reliability issues with s4's although it was more with the older 6cylTT than the new v8. Finally, the MAIN reason i wanted a new car was to get the quietest car possible while not sacrificing performance. The MB and the Lexus were definitely the quietest of the two. The s4 and Cadi were a little louder.

I eliminated the chrystler because i think its just too big of a car for me and doesnt have the same sex appeal that the other cars on my list had (speaking of size i think the audi back seat is smaller than the IS, not that i cared too much about that.) It was very noticable where money was spent. I mean for the 50k dollar price range that the cts, 300, and s4 come in, the money is spent for more performance, for the lexus it is spent for more luxury, which is what i wanted in the first place. The MB had both but thats why it stickers in the 60k range.

Admittingly i havent picked up my car yet, 12 hours to go, but there is one thing i am a little disappointed about the IS. I really could use a fold down rear seat. Im hoping that this sacrifice i made is giving me more sound insulation and such between the cabin and the trunk so i dont feel so bad about not having it.

yogi350

Picked up the car yesterday. LOVE it...it is definitely quiet and very luxurious for the price...just had a quick drive back from the dealer and then "rejex"ed it so it should be nice and shiney today.

The power isnt all that special, feeling wise, but number wise and getting up to speed it is definitely quick. Im coming from a turbo car so it obviously felt faster than it actually was. This is the opposite, its faster than it feels. Handling is nice, you feel the bumps but i dont really mind that, cant imagine how the sport suspension handles, cause this feels pretty tight.

One question. One of the is350's i drove had an AWESOME sound. It sounded stock when just driving but when getting on it the thing wailed. It had kind of a indy/japanese style sound, not a throaty muscle car sound. Anybody have any idea how he accomplished this. I know that the car had the stock mufflers, with the black pipe inside the chrome tips. It did have a K and N intake on it. I figure its one of three things, what do you guys think...

The Intake (doubt it)
He had headers and i couldnt see them
Had electric cutouts microswitched to full throttle.

Thanks
Yogi

IS_Mine

LMS Intake/ K and N have the loudest intake that I've heard. You can also hear it from inside the car, so.. I'm betting it was probably the intake. Did he have exhaust? The Tannabe sounds really good.

ben_r_

Welcome and congrats on the new (to you) car!!!

yogi350

What kind of effect does the intake have on sound, i read some about them while searching. This wasnt a woosh/sucking/turbo noise kind of sound, this definitely sounded like exhaust, but like i said he did have the stock mufflers. I guess i may never find out, cant go back to the dealer and look around more since i already bought my is350 somewhere else

Edit: After reading some more maybe it was the intake, are you all saying that changing the intake changes the engine sound at WOT (not just the sucking of air). If changing the intake gives the engine noise i heard ill definitely do it; might try to remove the resonated snorkel thats pre-air filter. Another way i would describe the noise is the engine noise you hear during a car racing video game while revving the engine.