2002 Lexus IS300: Taking the Road Less Traveled

Welcome, my friends, to a particularly woodsy two-lane in suburban Georgia. Now, I know what you’re thinking: there are a great many cars on the secondhand market today that can send you down a long, windy road like this with a big smile on your face. I’m writing today to share with you the car I have chosen for the task.

The IS300 shares same power plant, save a few small differences, as the famed Toyota Supra. This rear-drive, 218 horsepower sports sedan was built expressly to give BMW's 3-series sedan a 5a.m. blast of ice water to the face. And I believe it has.

Straight away, power delivery from the inline six cylinder engine is smooth and uniform, feeling torquey throughout the entire rev band all the way up to the 6500 RPM limiter. The transmission in this particular model is a five-speed automatic, with the option to shift up and down via the buttons on either side of the steering wheel. In normal mode, the transmission seems hesitant to kick down, but click the ECU into power mode, and gear changes are much sportier.

Steering feels remarkably tight, even with the car going on 160,000 miles, and the excellent feedback gives the driver utmost confidence in spirited driving. Behind all four 17 inch alloy wheels lie steel disk brakes, which provide excellent stopping power, although ABS does seem to cut in a bit too sharply at times. The chassis, while not balanced quite as well as a 3 series’, is still quite sporty, with power delivered to the rear wheels and through an optional limited-slip differential. With this kind of setup, all too commonly, come jitters, stiffness, and often downright annoyance when you want to drive around in a real world filled with potholes and speed bumps. In the Lexus, however, there's a good balance between the nimble handling and a comfortable on-road experience. You get more jitters and reverberations than in an LS or ES, but the ride is far from intolerable.

Sitting in the leather and suede trimmed cabin you definitely get the feeling that you are in a luxury vehicle. The car transforms from a formidable back-road barn-stormer into a quiet and sumptuously comfortable oasis.

The speedometer, styled to look like a chronograph watch, has definitely caught some critical aversion. However, I feel that it adds considerably to the character of the car. What does not deserve praise, however, is the dashboard coating, which, as it heats up in the sun, becomes soft as silly putty. If you so much as touch it, your fingerprint will forever remain.

Aside from sharing the same coating along the sides, the center stack proves to be intuitively designed, with dedicated tuning and volume knobs for the radio and extremely easy-to-use climate controls above it. Being a small sedan the IS does lack in the cabin storage and head/leg room departments. The driver’s seat is easy to get into a good position, extremely supportive, and comfortable, even for those of us more vertically gifted. However, my 6’4” stature means that I only have about 1.5 inches of room between my head and the ceiling.

Headroom is the same story in the back seats, and while you could easily fit two adults in the back, comfort will quickly go down as your distance traveled goes up. Trunk space is modest and the lack of folding rear seats could definitely be a negative point if you’re looking to haul much more than groceries.

If this car has one thing, it's presence. The IS sits low on handsome-looking 17 inch alloy wheels, which, on this particular car, are also finished in the highly desirable graphite metallic paint. It’s a small car, shorter than a Honda Civic sedan, but the IS’s sheet metal has been styled much more aggressively than any Lexus that's come before it. Parallelogram-shaped headlights with standard auto-leveling HID projectors flank a familiarly Toyota-shaped grill opening. A bulge in the center provides some drama to the otherwise standard issue hood, and moving back the drama increases.

The door line sweeps up sharply into a wedge shaped rear, which houses tail lights which, arguably, began an aftermarket trend. The tastefulness of the chrome-housed tail lights is, as always, a matter of opinion, but know that they can easily be transformed with a pre-cut transparent red vinyl covering.

As a driver’s car, the IS300 is brilliant. I also feel that it accomplishes the goals it set for itself very well; acting as a formidable back roads bruiser while also maintaining an air of luxury and sophistication.

The powertrain and chassis configuration prove excellent, but still trail behind the leader of the pack, the BMW 330i. Some interior and exterior design features may not be to every luxury or sports car buyer’s liking, but overall, I feel that it is a good looking package.

If you’re looking for a sports sedan with a bit of luxury that can keep up with the well-established alternatives while not blending into the crowd, then the Lexus IS300 could certainly be the vehicle for you.