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2001 - 2005 Lexus IS 300 Pre-Owned

The BMW 3-series is the benchmark for sports sedans. Sure, there are faster four doors; that Audi's new RS4 handily beats anything from Regensburg, Dingolfing, Leipzig or even Rosslyn is hardly a point of contention, but there is simply no other sports sedan on earth that is as scintillating to drive, nor as popular as the Bimmer. With an inline six, rear- or all-wheel drive, and impeccable chassis dynamics, the 3-Series really came into its own in 1999, when the last generation debuted. That even the lowliest 325i possessed the same chassis as the vaunted M3 showed how capable it was, and that performance pedigree combined with BMW's relatively excellent construction made every model in the 3-Series lineup an excellent buy. And try as they might, numerous attempts at dethroning the little Bimmer failed, with everything from Cadillac's Catera and CTS to Jaguar's ill-fated X-Type failing miserably by all comparisons (but the CTS-V is pretty intense - Ed.), to Audi's A4 series being criticized for one too many dips into the VW parts bin. Infiniti's G35 has done a pretty good job offering a larger car with more power and deft handling, and then there was Lexus' first-generation IS.

A brand that holds perfection as the goal, Lexus had been targeting BMW's market for quite some time, and in some segments had even had moderate success in doing so. Offering a similar luxury experience and arguably superior quality, Toyota's upper echelon brand lacked but one thing: an attainable entry-level model in the sport sedan segment. Sure the well-priced ES 300, 330 and now 350 has long been a best-seller, but a youthful market is not what the front-drive four-door attracts. Contrarily, BMW's entire North American business model relies on the 3-Series, and has done so since the demise of the 2002, with the aim of using it as a vehicle (no pun intended) with which to introduce the brand's products to successful, financially secure, and (most importantly) impressionable young buyers. Thus, as the subject's tastes and bank accounts matured, he or she would logically and predictably move up the product ladder, purchasing a 5-Seriesand eventually a 7-Series (with the 6-Series slotted somewhere in between the two as a sort of mid-life crisis-mobile). Unfortunately for Lexus, not having that all-important entry-level, sport-oriented model meant that they remained out of sight and out of mind for younger buyers.

So to remedy that situation, Lexus introduced the world to its diminutive IS 300 sedan in 2001. As the brand's first entry-level sport sedan, it was greeted with open arms by the media and public alike, its aggressive shape being welcomed as an alternative to the relatively conservative styling offered up by its German counterparts/competitors. With a unique front fascia that reflected the IS 300's youthful nature, the car had an almost bulldog-like quality to it, with a blunt nose and powerful fenders. Wraparound, angular headlights imparted an extroverted, sporty image that the A4 and 3-Series' hooded lenses didn't, and the deep-set, blacked out grille added to the illusion. A tall greenhouse and reasonably upright windshield retained a modicum of stateliness, and a thick, tapering C-pillar gave it a real aura of strength.

Out back, the Lexus' most telling features were its taillights. A multi-element design, the IS 300's chrome taillights soon became all the rage, and it wasn't long before the Fast and Furious crowd started putting what they referred to as "Altezzas" (the Japanese domestic market variant of the Lexus IS 300 was the Toyota Altezza, and everything from Japan is far cooler so of course the moniker had to be taken from the JDM car) on their cars. Sort of like a tattoo on the lower back, the clear/chrome taillights let the world know exactly what age group this car was aimed at, so imagine everyone's surprise when Lexus followed up the IS 300 sedan's 2001 launch with the IS 300 SportCross (read: wagon) in 2002.

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