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Hello and happy holidays,

New member here. About a year ago I traded in a 2017 V6 Charger for a low mileage 2014 Lexus CT 200h. Going from that car to a hybrid was quite an adjustment but loved the hybrid MPG since I travel a lot. It's been a solid car and still has less than 43k miles on it but I'm ready to trade it in. Based on the payment area I want to fall in I'm looking at model years 2015-2017, possibly a 2018. I'm looking at the following models. Any feedback on what is the best option would be appreciated.

IS 200T - best mpg of the choices
IS 300 - I guess this would be the V6 option if you needed AW drive?
IS 350 - I assume the IS 300 but just RW drive.

If there was a good reason too I could fall back to an earlier model year and would then have the IS 250 in the discussion. By good reason I would consider a situation where the earlier model years of a certain model were better before some changes were made. (Something got fixed that wasn't broken)!!

Thanks
Alan
 

Gecko

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Hi Alan - welcome! The IS is a great car and especially a great used buy.

If it was me, I would buy the IS 350 because the MPG difference between that and the 2.0L turbo 4cylinder IS200t or IS 300 (name changed) is not that great, and the V6 has proven to be a very reliable engine. The older IS 250 had a carbon buildup issue, so I would avoid those if possible. An upside of the IS 350 is that the V6 also has great power.
 
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Hi Alan - welcome! The IS is a great car and especially a great used buy.

If it was me, I would buy the IS 350 because the MPG difference between that and the 2.0L turbo 4cylinder IS200t or IS 300 (name changed) is not that great, and the V6 has proven to be a very reliable engine. The older IS 250 had a carbon buildup issue, so I would avoid those if possible. An upside of the IS 350 is that the V6 also has great power.

Thanks for the response. I was leaning toward the IS350. It's a little harder to find than the 200t. I have my eye on two, both are 2015, both with the Fsport package. Is the package worth the extra cost in your opinion?
 

Gecko

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Thanks for the response. I was leaning toward the IS350. It's a little harder to find than the 200t. I have my eye on two, both are 2015, both with the Fsport package. Is the package worth the extra cost in your opinion?

Depends how you drive. I love our F-Sport!
 
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Depends how you drive. I love our F-Sport!

Well lets just say the "sport mode" on the my CT Hybrid hasn't wowed me. lol. So I've narrowed it down to a couple IS 350's. Is there a big difference in the AWD and plain RW drive cars? I have both options available. Both are F-sport packages. I'll share the final decision here once I have it! Thanks.
 

Gecko

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Well lets just say the "sport mode" on the my CT Hybrid hasn't wowed me. lol. So I've narrowed it down to a couple IS 350's. Is there a big difference in the AWD and plain RW drive cars? I have both options available. Both are F-sport packages. I'll share the final decision here once I have it! Thanks.

If you don’t need AWD, I would go for RWD F-Sport. AWD has a 6AT and uses more gas, RWD has an 8AT and uses less gas.
 
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Thanks for all the advice. I bought a 2015 IS 350. Love it so far. Upgrading the LCA's, I hear the front tires of these cars go quickly without this upgrade. The car is just turning 28k miles.

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