Any Is300 Manual Owners Out There?

petayV8 · January 23, 2013

I couldnt help but notice Lexus did in fact make the IS300 with a manual box, but not sold in the UK. Any imports or conversions out there? just curious really....

Steve · January 23, 2013

Never seen or heard of one here.. would be interesting though

noby76 · January 23, 2013

As you might already know Lexus initially offered the I300 in only tiptronic/manumatic form as this box was good, worked well with the 2JZ engine and was responsive to kick down and strong so they probably felt a manual box was not needed but when it went on sale mostly in the US (biggest market), most hardcore manual lovers cried at Lexus for not having a manual version. the argument was, if they wanted to take on BMW 328i/330i they hard to bring a stick (manual) to the fight. so Lexus went back to the drawing board and released a manual version from 2002 onwards just for the US market to shut them up. apparantely lots of manuals did not even sell there after the cry out as most realised the auto box can handle more horse power through it than the manual when the engine is boosted and the manaul wasnt that smooth to shift. the rest of the world did not get manual IS300's in thier showrooms hence not in UK. not a lot of IS300's in UK either so would be surprised if we find a conversion here.

And you know what? Lexus engineers got thier decisions right the first time because a test was carried out in US between the manual and the tiptronic and the manual was only 0.5 secs quicker from 0-62mph in real life and wasnt much quicker in slalom and top speed tests either compared to the tiptronic. I was and still am a hardcore manual box fun but I have come to realise it actually depends on the car you driving. e.g. I beleive cars like Mitsu Evo, Subaru Imprezza, Mazda MPS, Civic Type R, S2000 wear manual boxes well but cars like the Lexus IS-F,M5,AUDI S/RS's, AMG's, IS200/300, V8's wear tiptronics well and i think it boils down to how the engine delivers the power and transmission gearing. I have now realised manual boxes are not always powerful or shift quicker than tiptronics. havent driven a manual IS300 before so not sure how much fun it would be compared to the tiptronic but after driving a tiptronic now I have gained respect for these boxes I still love manuals as i believe it gives the driver more control of the car and are more reliable but mordern tiptronic boxes and DSG boxes are becoming more reliable and lasting longer, they are now making manuals slower and hardwork to drive :) . thought i was gona miss a manual box when i got the IS300 but am not. I think the tip suits the IS300 and transmits enough power for me to the rear wheels. :D in fact in M mode with ECT PWR activated gives me all the control i need without having to clutch down.

panya · January 24, 2013

it's not worse the cost , just upgarde ur vale body instead and turbo it !

petayV8 · January 26, 2013

wow nice response. interesting info noby thanks

noby76 · January 26, 2013

wow nice response. interesting info noby thanks

no probs mate. I personally think IS300 is an underated car thought it would feel slow being a tiptronic but i have driven manuals all my life and wanted a change for a bit. I know tiptronic cars tend to loose more horsepower through drive losses and more friction compared to an equivalent manual car of the same engine size or horsepower but for some reason this IS respondes exactly like a manual kick down is quick when you floor the peddle in ECT PWR mode and in M mode it actually feels like another 50bhp has been added to the car and am not exaggerating in this mode, not a lot of cars can keep up or gain in speed acceleration as quick and I have had challenges from quite some powerful cars both hot hatch Turbos and big engined TDI's for some reason thier huge Torque figure gets thrown out of the window..

petayV8 · January 28, 2013

Thats outstanding. I mean its just a slushbox too at the end of the day, a very good one at that, but not a DSG or similar, so def underrated and ahead of it times ide say too. Just make sure you look after it, i.e servicing etc, my tranny is due a service soonish.

If i was sticking around in the UK my next car would be the IS300 and soon! if not that a GS430 but insurance stopped me when buying my 200. I also find that a manual car will always stop accelerating for a second as you change whereas a auto IS will just glide thru the gears constantly picking up speed :)

I bought the auto just because im a auto guy, my last car was auto too, my first car was manual and just didnt enjoy the experience to be quite honest, get alot of grief off my friends but dont care! thats just me. Yeah shifting is fun, but it gets old fast especially when im using my car 90% of the time to get to work in a town, not "fun" territory. Autos are the way forward these days too, DSGs are faster and more ecomical than any manual. My dad just got rid of his manual 911 and got himself a AMG E55 auto, he says its faster and more fun