dali

dobedo, good point. I'll have to verify the warranty with the dealer.

The Lexus is in AVIS "prestige cars" category (AVIS Prestige), which means you only can book it in a few cities and you have to contact AVIS in advance. I guess that most of the customers that put up the cash to rent a Lexus know what they want. The fact that the dealer is 300 km from where I live doesn't make it easier ... had they been local I probably could have borrowed it over the weekend and have some time to check it out. If only it hadn't been silver metallic with the interior I want ... ;) It does still have two years factory warranty, and it is a Lexus ... had it been an Audi or a BMW I would probably have let it go. This is a tough one ...

I've found a Lexus IS300 automatic, built 2001-08, first registration 2003-04 with 25000 km on the clock. It looks like it has been a rental car (previuos owner was AVIS Sweden). I guess you could say that the car has had something like 150-300 "owners" during its year as a rental. My firs reaction was "no way I'll buy it, I know how people drive rental cars". There's probably quite a few that know exactly how fast the car is ... On the other hand, perhaps rental cars are in better shape than privately owned cars, they have to look good otherwise the customers won't rent them or at least complain. So, would you buy a used rental car, if it was a Lexus IS300?

I'm also going to look at a used IS300, built 2001-08 with 25000 km on the clock. I've checked the U.S. recalls at Alldata.com and it looks like there has been quite a few TSB's since 2001, but most of them seem quite harmless. Anything else I should check out?

Supracharged-IS340, thanks for the info. I was hoping for 2005, but early 2006 is not too far away. Mitch, the A4 is a beautiful car, when I bought my Volvo the A4 was very high on the list but the Volvo dealer gave me a better offer on my BMW. The A4 1.8TQ/190 and the Volvo V70 2.5T AWD are very close in price here in Sweden, within a few hundred pounds depending on options. The A4 had some weak points; the stereo was quite bad (compared to BMW and Volvo), the suspension was a bit too stiff, the engine is nice but they crank 190 bhp from an 1.8L 4 cyl while Volvo produces 210 bhp from a 2.5L 5 cyl. Just seems that the Volvo engine isn't pushed as hard as the Audi. If I want to I can chip the Volvo to 255 bhp (costs about £600) and still not push it as hard as the A4's 1.8L. The main reason for not choosing Audi is that their service network here in Sweden is really bad, they have consistently placed last in every reader's poll for the last years. Lexus on the other hand seem to know how to treat their customers, have a great sound system, make beautiful cars with the best quality around ... and soon AWD. I'm pretty sure that an IS330 AWD is my best option when it arrives, if I can afford it.

Hello from Sweden! My next car will probably be my last new car, I want it to be the right one. So far I've had a a beautilful one (BMW 323Ci), a sporty one (BMW 330i) and currently a grown-up, intelligent, practical but oh-so-not-the-car-I-dream-about Volvo V70 AWD. My (realistic) dream car is a Lexus IS300, but the current model is only RWD. I've driven my share of powerful RWD's, amazing cars in the summer but in the swedish winter all those horses are basically useless. The solution is of course AWD - incredible grip all seasons, all weather. I've researched the next generation IS for a long time and was very pleased to see that it will (most likely) have AWD as an option. So far all I've found is rumours, but it looks promising. Unfortunately I have also found several arrival dates for the next gen IS; 2005, 2006 and even 2007. Does anyone have more info about this, will it arrive this fall (as a 2005 model), next year or could it be up to three years away? PS Yes, I've searched these forums, didn't find it - doesn't mean it's not there, but I didn't find it. DS