8th Jul 2001, 03:00

Fuel economy - what do expect when you have a car delivering 215hp from a 3 litre? My hat goes off to them for producing a non-turbo car with that horse power.

If you are after fuel economy, buy a small 4 cylinder.

15th Aug 2001, 14:01

A common problem appears to be the hesitation in acceleration from a dead or worse a rolling stop. I have almost been hit while rolling into an intersection to make a left hand turn and then stepping on the accelerator and getting a delayed response.

I have complained each time I take it into the dealership only to get the response that Lexus designed it that way. Sure - they purposely designed in a delay that can you killed!

It appears to me to be a fuel injection mapping issue. Any one else with this problem? Anyone get it resolved?

John.

3rd Sep 2001, 01:00

215 from a 3 liter? Wow. Maybe that was technically impressive ten years ago, but not these days. Honda has a 2 liter I4 making 220 and BMW has a 3.2 V6 making 333. Both are naturally aspirated.

13th Oct 2001, 20:02

215 from a 3 litre! Yes, Honda has 240 from a 2 litre with a uninspiring 153 pound feet at 7500rpm!

Go for the hard top, it that amounts of revs required! and the BMW M3.. impressive engine, nice MSRP too, not to include the waiting line and dealer markups... The BMW 330 is just as nice as the IS300. Until you include that cost and insurance.. IS all the way babe.

28th Jul 2003, 03:55

I'm afraid I have to agree - 215 isn't particularly impressive for a 3-liter. Even the BMW 330 makes more than that (though admittedly not much). And the Supra definitely makes more than that, which makes you wonder as they're both 3.0L in-line-6s, made by the same company... Lexus can definitely do better than 215. I'm sure if they tried, they could approach or even exceed 300 BHP from this engine, as they didn't seem to have any trouble exceeding 100 hp/liter with the Celica.

1st Oct 2003, 23:45

Its not just horsepower. The car has 218 lbs of torque. Those other cars don't have nearly that much, certainly at such low rpm.

26th Nov 2004, 22:06

Yes, considering 215hp @ 5800 rpm and 218 lbs torque @ 3800 rpm means incredible thrust at low speeds. When you read car stats, there is a reason why dealers include max hp with the rpm of the engine. 999hp @ 1000000 rpm means your foot will be on that pedal for a long time before your car generates that much hp. If you look at Hondas and Toyotas, some of them do have higher max hp, but at 7,000 or 8,000 rpms meaning the IS would dust them off the line, no contest.

15th Jan 2005, 15:31

I have a 97 Avalon that just started hesitating on takeoffs only.. Otherwise runs great at any speed. I took it to my mechanic and to the dealer. Neither one could solve the problem. I had a tune up and replaced the fuel filter to no avail. The car only has 55000 miles. Any advice would be helpful...