Three years ago, as the pandemic was winding down, I bought a Mazda3 sedan in premium trim. The car I really wanted, a used Lexus IS, was wildly overpriced at the time and generally has remained so.
During the last week I found a 2022 Lexus IS300 that is actually in my price range, and since then my head and my heart are staging a raging battle over it. Here are my concerns:
-Would an IS300 be enough of an upgrade to justify a possible $12k payment plus my own car in trade?
-As much as I like the IS, it strikes me as a very flawed car…with dated trackpad infotainment, virtually no interior storage, no place to put a phone, and no ability to rotate the tires. Are these compromises overblown, or do they become issues over time?
-I’m averaging just under 30 mpg combined in the Mazda. I constantly see comments that the IS gas mileage is poor, even for the 300 especially in the city. Has this been your experience?
-My Mazda has the uplevel Bose sound system. The IS I’m considering has the base system. Is the Mazda system actually better? I’ve also been told that the trackpad turns changing a radio station into an adventure.
Any insights you have would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much in advance.