2002 Lexus IS 300 Review (continued)
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Walkaround

The platform features short overhangs with the wheels pushed out to the corners. The wedge-shaped format has a conspicuously low prow, and in 2002 the hood has grown a cosmetic bulge down the center to suggest power, which it does, especially from the driver's seat. Creased lines on the hood flow steeply down from raked A-pillars to a familial trapezoidal grille; in 2002 there are three horizontal bars, one less than in 2001. It is ringed with chrome and bordered by jewel-like HID headlamp clusters. Within the air dam, there are round halogen foglamps shielded behind trapezoidal composite lenses.

In the rear, there are subtle changes; the taillight housings are smoked gray on dark-colored cars, and chrome on light colors. There were some eye-catching new Lexus colors introduced on the IS 300 in 2001, and in 2002 there are more, making a total of nine.

The three rear windows on each side of the SportCross are a bit odd, the back two crowded, as if they're an unsolved design problem. Behind the rear door window there's a non-opening triangular window that looks like an old-style vent window, and behind that there's a another one shaped like a triangle/trapezoid, which neither looks in nor out on anything, and is outlined by a thick black band inside the glass where it fits against the car's interior.

Lexus calls the SportCross more than a sedan but less than a full wagon'' (that's the cross), and adds "the new silhouette admittedly places unique design ahead of maximum utility." This priority leaves room for a gaping hole in the concept: there is no standard roofrack, nor even an available one, nor even any rain gutters to attach an aftermarket rack; and the radio antenna, rising from the center rear of the roof, would get in the way anyhow. Lexus says the SportCross will appeal to mountain bikers, and the press kit includes a photo of a SportCross with a bike squeezed in the back to prove it, but we don't think so. The bike has whitewall tires, which suggests how much Lexus knows about mountain bikers. They go everywhere in pairs; their bikes are perpetually caked in mud. They need roof racks."

Interior Features

We were less than impressed by our test model's $1845 Leather/Ecsaine interior trim package with power front seats; earlier we described it as being suede-like, but it could also be considered cloth-like. Another $300 for the full leather seems like a bargain (which is not to say that $2145 for leather and power seats is a bargain).

The cockpit reflects an attempt at driver-oriented and contemporary styling in a theme of graphite-tinged plastics and machined metallic finishes. Drilled aluminum pedals, a polished metal ball shift lever rising from a notched gate rimmed by chrome, and doorsills covered with stainless steel scuff plates studded with rubber cleats add an appearance of high technology. A graphite plate on the driver-side door panel surrounds rocker toggles that power the windows, door locks and both exterior mirrors.

The instrument panel includes a round analog speedometer containing three smaller analog gauges: temperature, voltmeter and instant fuel mileage. It's designed to resemble a sports chronograph wristwatch, and in its attempt to be cute, cool, clever, unique, whatever, it fails the no-nonsense test: the instant fuel gauge is too small to be useful, as a tiny needle flips in a tiny semicircle between 0 and 80 mpg. The watch face cluster stands between a half-moon tachometer on the left, whose clarity is compromised by the clutter of the faux chronograph, and quarter-circle fuel gauge to the right, above a digital display for gear selection and trip odometer.

The vents and pods for audio and climate controls drop down from the center of the dash to the console, with a new armrest for 2002. The power bucket seats felt a bit hard and wide, compared to the fantastic optional sport seats in the BMW Z3 Coupe we had just climbed out of, but they felt better as that memory faded. When we drove the SportCross hard through the curves, there was adequate lateral support, and the suede-like cloth-like Escaine surface was good and grippy.

A very attractive stitched leather three-spoke steering wheel (spokes at 3, 9 and 6 o'clock) tilts manually and contains left and right sets of finger buttons that enable the driver to shift up or down one gear at a time without removing his or her hands from the wheel. The front button downshifts with the thumb and the back button upshifts with the middle finger.

The sedan's firm rear bench will accommodate three in a pinch, and has a fold-down armrest that conceals a small pass-through portal to the trunk.

The SportCross model's five-door configuration, with the 60/40 rear seatbacks dropped, produces 21.8 cubic feet of cargo space, more than twice as much as the trunk of the sedan. The wheel wells protrude quite a bit into the cargo area, making the space hourglass-shaped, which reduces cargo capacity.