New Black IS F-Sport owner here

[yesitisme]

Hi all -

Found the forum hours ago and it is the first Lexus site where I felt the need to sign up. Sorry guys, English is not my first language, hence apologies for the (possibly many) errors.

As someone appreciating craftsmanship, beauty and elegance I have now switched from an Italian car to a Lexus. Just a couple of weeks ago I received my IS300h F-Sport in Starlight black being the first private owner after dealership had used the car for some months as demo vehicle.

Super happy with the car so far. Silky smooth ride which is enhanced with the superb Mark Levinson audio. I probably fit into the "playstation gen" a bit so I find the car to be slightly spaceship-like.

Hope to learn from other owners here and share the appreciation to this in my opinion still under-rated marque.

And, finally some photos to sweeten the day..

 

[RAL]

Wow! ... beautiful IS! Congratulations and Welcome!!! ... to the community of Lexus enthusiasts!

Thanks for sharing the pictures! We see few models, much less demos, with Mark Levinson audio. It is superb and I know you will appreciate it.

No worries ... we all struggle with English even those of us for whom it is native! ... though your English seems impeccable!

 

[IS-SV]

Congrats on new IS yesitsme. The rare color combination is beautiful.

 

[yesitisme]

Thanks both! Indeed, the Starlight Black is quite interesting close up. I'll try to take better pictures later (those first were iPhone).
Once the summer is here I might add some window tint for some sinister touch.

 

[mikeavelli]

Awesome and welcome to TLE!!!

 

[yesitisme]

Thanks all!
Currently on a business trip in Germany and took the Lexus with me. I have driven 2000 km in the past 2 days - and noticed something. In high speeds like 200+ km/h the IS feels slightly unstable on the road, like it needs more downforce or stiffer suspension. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[IS-SV]

124 mph, wow.

 

[yesitisme]

124 mph, wow.

It is normal on the Autobahn
Around 160 - 180 km/h the IS feels super relaxed, but the difference really comes around 205 km/h when I felt the front end wants to change direction a tad too often. It could be caused by side wind - e.g. the particular conditions I had and not apply to all times.
Very interested to know if anyone else has experienced this with their IS-s.

 

[Gecko]

Beautiful car - congratulations. I wish we had the IS 300h here in the States!

 

[yesitisme]

After the (amazing) 3 months of IS F-Sport ownership I thought it’s about time to share our Lexus experience with the group here.

We (me&wife) originally decided to enter into the Lexus world because we wanted something interesting, effortless and roomy. We also thought the Lexus brand is underrated - in my opinion the cars are well engineered and starting to look very interesting on the road.
Anyways, our goal was to have a car that can take us for long trips without breaking a sweat, be agile enough for the city and efficient enough for the highway. So far, the IS ticks all boxes.
The opportunity for an endurance challenge came when my work schedule collided with holiday plans - so we decided to take the IS for a loo..ong drive. For the last 3 weeks I covered in total over 5000 km (3000 miles) from through cities like Copenhagen, Berlin, Munich, Innsbruck, Turin, Milan and even got to the Alps in Courmayeur (near Mont Blanc).

Below are some snapshots from the road.

- Rough route overview -


- Parking in Berlin can be a mess, fortunately found a protective tree -


- The Alps show their tips on the way to Austria -


- Even trickier parking in Milan, one can use a sidewalk if necessary -


- Morning in Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy -


- Oh no, more narrow roads, time to fold in side mirrors -


- Zaha Hadid designed train station(s) in Innsbruck, Austria -


- Car washed again, back home -

We had absolutely no issues with the car. I just needed to clean it up from dead bug stains occasionally, and filled up the tank more often than usual.

For those interested in numbers:

Distance traveled: 5030 km (3125 miles)
Avg. fuel consumption: 6,6l/100km (35,6 mpg)
Avg. fuel cost on road: 1,38€/l (1,52 usd)
Total cost for fuel: 440€ (486 usd)
Road tolls: 157€ (173 usd)

The most difficult moments were probably near Lake Como where the roads are very narrow. I often had to turn in the side mirrors while driving to avoid impact with opposing car, or the walls on the passenger side.
Thanks for reading this far, and feel free to ping me if planning a similar trip to Europe. From experience one good advice to give is to avoid Switzerland when crossing Germany -> Italy. Austria was a much easier and equally beautiful.

Ciao!

 

[RAL]

Thank you for sharing your journey in the black beauty! Great pictures!

 

[Brooks2IS]

Beautiful!!