Lexus IS 350 (3rd gen, XE30) Review: 43/70

The Buyer's Guide

We scored the car as a 2014 to 2020 IS 350 F Sport sedan with the 3.5-litre V6, the eight-speed automatic and rear-wheel drive, and it landed at 43 out of 70, with a verdict of Buy for reliability, not the price.

This car is for someone who wants a rear-drive six-cylinder sedan with nothing expensive waiting to go wrong, who can live with steering that is precise and numb, and who will pay full price for that peace of mind.

All money figures use a fixed set of assumptions so they can be compared to other cars we cover: 12,000 miles a year, insurance for a 40-year-old with a clean record on full coverage, and premium fuel at $4.00 a gallon, which this car requires. Prices are Kelley Blue Book private-party in Good condition, on the 2020 F Sport at KBB's 72,000 miles. We scored rear-wheel drive with the eight-speed automatic. The all-wheel-drive car pairs the same V6 with a six-speed automatic, a materially different drivetrain, so it is noted rather than scored.

Why the F Sport, and why a 2020: KBB shows the F Sport at a modest $1,720 premium over the base sedan, and about 30% of the 2014 to 2020 listings we sampled are F Sports, so the market supports pricing it. The engine is identical to the base car's. What the F Sport changes is brakes, wheels and cabin.

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The Deal

~ our estimate, not a measured or quoted figure · [S] one credible source, uncorroborated. Why we mark figures

We price the Deal on a 2017, the first year our verdict recommends. Kelley Blue Book values a 2017 IS 350 sedan at $21,400 in Good condition private party, national average. KBB treats the 2017 F Sport as an option package and keeps no separate value for it, so that figure is the sedan without the package. For scale, on a 2020, where the F Sport is its own trim, KBB's F Sport premium was $1,720.

Across 23 listings of 2014 to 2020 IS 350s on Cars.com, base and F Sport together, the median ask was $27,998, with a spread from $14,424 to $33,998. That is 1.31 times the 2017 book, but it mixes every year in the scope, so read it as the market's shape rather than a like-for-like gap. The typical listing has 79,980 miles on a 2017, about 8,890 miles a year.

Two figures decide the Deal score. What you lose: KBB's value for a 2017 IS 350 sedan went from $24,064 in 2023 to $19,387 in 2024 and $19,396 in 2025, falling about 10.2% a year, which is about $2,187 a year on the $21,400 buy-in. That is less than the Q50 Red Sport's $3,387 a year and the M340i's $4,068. What you get: $21,400 buys 11.6 lb per hp, against about $13,608 for what that power-to-weight usually costs across our Board. That is 1.57 times the going rate. It works out to $68.8 per horsepower on book and $90.0 on the asking median, against $46.4 for the Q50 Red Sport.

The Deal is a 3. Neither half is kind: the entry sits over the going rate, and a 2017 still sheds about $2,187 a year.

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The Drive

311 hp and 277 lb-ft at 4,800 rpm, in 3,594 lb. That is 11.6 lb per hp, against the 335i's 11.98 and the Q50 Red Sport's 9.6.

The engine changed halfway through the scope, and the sources disagree about how. The 3.5-litre V6 is naturally aspirated with dual injection, and it is the 2GR-FSE in 2014 to 2017 cars, which make 306 hp at 6,400 rpm. From 2018 it is the 2GR-FKS, a real internal engine-code change, and it makes 311 hp, at 6,400 rpm in 2018 and 6,600 rpm in 2019 and 2020 on cars.com's own year pages. Torque did not move with it. Three separate cars.com pages for 2018, 2019 and 2020 all say 277 lb-ft at 4,800 rpm, the same as the earlier cars. KBB's 2020 specs page claims 280 lb-ft, and nothing else backs it, so we dropped it. Wikipedia's single 311 hp and 281 lb-ft for the whole generation blends the years, so we dropped that too.

The gearbox is an eight-speed automatic on the rear-drive car, and there is no manual.

The steering is what stops the Drive at a 7. It is ordinary electric power assist, precise but numb: you trust it without enjoying it, the same read as the G37. The engine earns its points back. It revs cleanly to 6,600 rpm with a real six-cylinder note, which is a reason to hold a gear.

Handling is scored in The Limit, not here. We have not published a 0-60 time. Instrumented tests exist, but the outlets that ran them were not reachable to us, and the aggregator sites only repeat their numbers.

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The Upkeep

About $4,982 a year: $2,087 in fuel, $1,939 in insurance, $456 in tires and $500 in service. That sits below the 335i's $5,668, the Q50 Red Sport's $5,802 and the M340i's $6,025.

Premium is required, not merely recommended. fueleconomy.gov lists Premium Gasoline without a number, and dealer and forum citations of the engine's own spec put it at 91. The car is rated 23 mpg combined, 20 city and 28 highway, on 2018 to 2020 cars, and 22 mpg on 2014 to 2017 cars, which is $2,182 a year in fuel, $95 more.

Insurance is $1,939 a year, and it is a model-wide figure for the IS nameplate, not an IS 350 quote. MoneyGeek publishes the Lexus IS by model year from 2016 on, at $124, $150, $164, $175 and $195 a month for 2016 to 2020, with no split between the IS 250, IS 300 and IS 350, and nothing for 2014 or 2015. We averaged the five, which is $161.60 a month. Against the $27,330 book value it is about 7% of the car a year.

The F Sport runs staggered 225/40R18 front and 255/35R18 rear summer-biased tires, so they cannot rotate front to back. Tires are on our Board tire rule, the same for every sedan we cover: a Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 in the factory sizes, priced at SimpleTire, one set every 24,000 miles. That is $198.99 a front and $256.99 a rear, a $911.96 set, or $456 a year. ClubLexus owners report 20,000 to 30,000 miles of tread, which sits around that interval. Service at $500 is our estimate.

What year one costs, by condition

Those are at 120,000 miles, parts plus independent labor. The water pump is $722 to $969. Front pads and rotors are about $829 and may be needed twice by then, given the 15,000-mile front pad life F Sport owners report. Spark plugs, filters and fluids are about $700, and a battery about $250. This is a car whose known costs are wear parts, not one part that quietly kills the engine, so the neglected column is deferred wear catching up.

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The Risk

No catastrophic mode is on file for this car. The worst realistic repair is the water pump, $722 to $969 on RepairPal's estimator for a 2015 IS 350, which is our one source for that price. Across the wider 2GR V6 family owners cite 100,000 to 130,000 miles, with some failing earlier. A coolant weep or a bearing whine on a warm engine can warn you, but it can also go without warning. We could not show it is more common on this generation than on any other car with this engine, so it is weighted lightly. For scale, the 335i's worst repair is $4,625 to $7,641 and the Q50 Red Sport's is about $4,400.

The recall is a fuel pump. The in-tank low-pressure pump can fail and stall the engine while you are driving, under campaigns 20V012000 and 20V682000. They cover the 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019 model years, and not 2016, 2017 or 2020, as NHTSA's file shows when you check one year at a time. Toyota's remedy is a new pump, not an inspection, and it costs you nothing, so a closed campaign on the VIN means the part is actually new. Outside the recall the part is about $400 to $600.

Do not confuse it with the other fuel recall you will find. 18V432000 is for the fuel pulsation damper, and it covers only the 2006 to 2013 IS 350 and the 2010 to 2014 IS 350C convertible. That is the older XE20 car and a different part, and it does not apply here. The same goes for the older car's carbon buildup and dash complaints: they belong to that generation, and we checked them against this scope and left them out.

The rest is wear. Several 2014 and 2015 NHTSA complaints, fewer than 10 across the two years, plus a recurring ClubLexus thread, describe wipers that stop mid-sweep, freeze upright or work only on high. It is the motor or the relay in the engine-bay fuse box, $150 to $300 for the relay and $400 to $500 for the motor. And the F Sport's firmer brakes and summer-biased tires trade pad and tire life for grip. Owners report about 15,000 miles from a set of front pads, at $392 to $449 for pads and $380 and up for rotors per axle. That is a recurring cost rather than a defect.

NHTSA has 22 complaints across 2014 to 2020, 14, 4, 2, 1, 0, 1 and 0 by year. Raw counts do not compare across nameplates that sell in different volumes, so the finding is the pattern: no complaint category dominates.

The inspection checklist

1. Run the VIN for recalls 20V012000 and 20V682000
2. Run the wipers on every speed, including intermittent
3. Check pad and rotor condition
4. Warm the engine and look for a coolant weep
5. Listen for a water pump bearing whine
6. Ask for brake and tire service history

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The Daily

Five seats, four doors and a 10.8 cu ft trunk, in a cabin with real luxury-car trim. Could it be your only car? Yes.

You will see 13.8 cu ft printed in places, and cars.com shows 14 cu ft on its 2014, 2016 and 2017 pages against 11 on 2018 and 2020. It is the same trunk. A Lexus customer-service reply, quoted in a ClubLexus thread, says the 2016 spec sheet used the German VDA method and the 2018 sheet the US SAE method. 13.8 is VDA, 10.8 is SAE, and we use 10.8, as KBB's 2014 and 2020 pages do.

What dates it is the dash. There is no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto anywhere in the scope. You get Lexus's Remote Touch, a click controller through 2016 and a trackpad from the 2017 refresh on. CarPlay only arrived with the 2021 refresh, which this scope leaves out on price. On a car this new that is a real ding, and the M340i has wireless CarPlay.

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The Limit

D Street Touring, on the 2026 SCCA Solo rules. Appendix A lists the IS 250, IS 300 and IS 350 together in that class with no year qualifier, so it covers every year in the scope. We read both columns of that page and checked F Street separately: the plain IS 350 is not there, unlike the G37 and the Charger R/T, so the class is real.

Class is context, and it does not rank. The score comes from the car: a soft, comfort-tuned rear-drive sedan at 3,594 lb, with no limited-slip differential on the scored trim and no competition record. The F Sport runs staggered 225/40R18 front and 255/35R18 rear. The base car's standard tire is a square 225/45R17. We have no grip figure, because the outlets that instrument-test it were not reachable to us. It is competent rather than sharp, the same read as the G37.

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The Mods

The first step is an ECU tune from RR Racing at $565. The live page hides the price from visitors without an account, so that is the vendor's own listing from an archived capture. RR Racing claims about 10 whp from the tune alone, 15 to 26 whp with a cat-back exhaust added, and 38 to 48 whp with headers and exhaust. Its page confirms fitment for 2013 to 2016 cars and nothing for 2017 and later.

The one real power path is RR Racing's RR530 Rotrex supercharger kit, at $6,800 on the vendor's own archived listing. It advertises about 430 whp on 91 to 93 octane with headers and a dual exhaust. Against an estimated 260 whp stock, that is roughly a 170 whp gain, or about $4,000 per +100 whp. A tuner's dyno claim is marketing, so treat the figure as a direction. And the vendor confirms the kit only for 2013 to 2017 rear-drive cars, F Sport included, so on a 2018 to 2020 car it is unconfirmed.

That is why this scores a 5. The aftermarket is thin. No factory turbo or supercharger was offered, and this V6 has no established forced-induction ecosystem like the VQ37, a Coyote or an LS. The kit reads as a cottage-industry product. Compare the 335i, where a $379 JB4 claims up to 80 whp, about $474 per +100 whp.

There is a kinder side. We found no link between modifying this car and a failure: it has no single dominant failure mode for added power to accelerate, and the fuel pump recall has nothing to do with power. Brakes and tires would wear faster under harder use, as on any car.

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The Verdict

Buy for reliability, not the price: a 2017 or newer with the fuel pump recall closed on the VIN, and go in knowing it loses about $2,187 a year. It scores 43 out of 70: an 8 for Risk, where the worst realistic repair is a $722 to $969 water pump, and an 8 for Daily, held down by a Deal of 3, where a 2017's $21,400 is 1.57 times the going rate, and a Mods of 5.

2017 is where the recommendation starts: the refresh year, with a revised nose, tail and dash, and Lexus Safety System+ made standard. From 2018 the engine makes 311 hp where the earlier cars make 306 hp, with the same 277 lb-ft. Of the recommended years, 2017 and 2020 carry no fuel pump recall on file, and 2018 and 2019 carry one that is free once done.

This car is for you if you want a rear-drive V6 sedan that costs $4,982 a year to run, against the 335i's $5,668, and whose worst realistic repair is under $1,000. It is not for you if you want a bargain, because the Q50 Red Sport is $18,540 for 400 hp. And it is not for you if you want tuning headroom, or CarPlay.

The Long Read: Should You Buy a Used Lexus IS 350 F Sport?

We scored the IS 350 as a 2014 to 2020 F Sport sedan with the 3.5-litre V6, the eight-speed automatic and rear-wheel drive, and it landed at 43 out of 70, with a verdict of Buy for reliability, not the price.

So you are cross-shopping a rear-drive six-cylinder sedan and you are tired of reading about turbos. A 2014 to 2020 IS 350 F Sport puts a naturally aspirated V6 in a five-seat sedan, $21,400 on book for the 2017 we recommend from, and the biggest repair on file is a water pump at $722 to $969. The catch is on the window sticker. That price is 1.57 times the going rate for the power.

We scored the F Sport on rear-wheel drive with the eight-speed automatic, priced on a 2020. The all-wheel-drive car pairs the same V6 with a six-speed automatic, so it is noted rather than scored.

How much does a used Lexus IS 350 F Sport cost?

Kelley Blue Book values a 2017 IS 350 sedan at $21,400 in Good condition private party, national average. KBB keeps no separate value for the 2017 F Sport package; on a 2020, where the F Sport is its own trim, it costs $1,720 more than the base sedan. The 23 listings we found on Cars.com across 2014 to 2020, base and F Sport together, asked a median of $27,998, from $14,424 to $33,998, a mix of every year in the scope.

The book and the market agree, which is not a given. The Charger R/T is the opposite case, with asking at 1.73 times book. What you are paying is what the car sells for.

The number to watch is the price against the power. KBB's value for a 2017 IS 350 sedan went from $24,064 in 2023 to $19,396 in 2025, about 10.2% a year, or $2,187 a year on the buy-in. That is less than the Q50 Red Sport's $3,387 a year and the M340i's $4,068. The entry is the other half: $21,400 is about $68.8 per horsepower, against $46.4 for the Q50 Red Sport, and 1.57 times the $13,608 our Board pays for 11.6 lb per hp. That is why the Deal is a 3.

Is the Lexus IS 350 reliable?

It is the reason to buy one. We found no catastrophic mode. The worst realistic repair is the water pump, $722 to $969 on RepairPal's estimator for a 2015 IS 350. Owners cite 100,000 to 130,000 miles across the wider 2GR V6 family, and some fail earlier, but we could not show it is more common on this generation, so it is weighted lightly. The 335i's worst repair is $4,625 to $7,641 and the Q50 Red Sport's is about $4,400.

Around it is ordinary wear. The F Sport's firmer brakes and summer-biased tires use up pads and tires faster: owners report about 15,000 miles from front pads, at $392 to $449 for pads and $380 and up for rotors per axle. A few 2014 and 2015 cars had wipers that stopped mid-sweep, a motor at $400 to $500 or a relay at $150 to $300. NHTSA has 22 complaints across all seven model years, and no category dominates them.

Which IS 350 recalls should you check?

One, and it is a fuel pump. The in-tank low-pressure pump can fail and stall the engine while you drive, under campaigns 20V012000 and 20V682000. They cover 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019, and not 2016, 2017 or 2020. The remedy is a new pump at no cost, so a closed campaign on the VIN means the part is new. Run the VIN at nhtsa.gov before you buy.

Leave the other fuel recall alone. 18V432000 is for the fuel pulsation damper, and it covers only the 2006 to 2013 IS 350 and the 2010 to 2014 IS 350C convertible. That is the older XE20 car, a different part, and not this one.

Is the IS 350 expensive to run?

About $4,982 a year. Fuel is $2,087 at 23 mpg on premium, which this engine requires. Insurance is $1,939, a model-wide figure for the IS nameplate rather than an IS 350 quote, because MoneyGeek does not split the IS 250, 300 and 350. Tires are $456 a year on our Board tire rule, and service about $500, our estimate. That is below the 335i's $5,668 and the M340i's $6,025.

The tires are the line to understand. The F Sport runs staggered 225/40R18 front and 255/35R18 rear, so they do not rotate, and owners report 20,000 to 30,000 miles of tread. On our tire rule that is a $911.96 set every two years.

How does the IS 350 drive?

Smoothly, and without much to say. 311 hp and 277 lb-ft in 3,594 lb is 11.6 lb per hp. The V6 revs cleanly to 6,600 rpm with a proper six-cylinder note, and that is the part you will enjoy.

The engine changed in 2018, and the sources disagree about how. The 2GR-FSE in 2014 to 2017 cars makes 306 hp. The 2GR-FKS from 2018 makes 311 hp. The torque stays at 277 lb-ft at 4,800 rpm for the whole range: KBB's claim of 280 lb-ft for 2018 to 2020 fails against three cars.com year pages that all say 277.

The steering is why the Drive is a 7 and not an 8. It is electric, precise and numb, the same read as the G37. You trust it and you do not enjoy it.

Can an IS 350 be your only car?

Yes. Five seats, four doors and 10.8 cu ft of trunk. If you have seen 13.8 cu ft, it is the same trunk: Lexus's own customer-service reply says the 2016 spec sheet used the German VDA method and the 2018 sheet the US SAE method. 10.8 is the SAE number, and it is the one we use.

What dates the car is the dash. There is no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto in any year of the scope, only Lexus's Remote Touch controller, and CarPlay arrived with the 2021 refresh. The M340i has wireless CarPlay.

Is the IS 350 any good at autocross?

It is competent rather than sharp. SCCA's 2026 Solo rules put the IS 350 in D Street Touring, listed with the IS 250 and IS 300 and with no year qualifier. That tells you where it would run, not how well. This is a soft, comfort-tuned sedan at 3,594 lb, with no limited-slip differential on the scored trim and no competition record, and we have no grip figure we could source.

Should you tune an IS 350?

You can, but you will not find much of a market. A $565 ECU tune from RR Racing claims about 10 whp alone and up to 48 whp with headers and exhaust. The one real power path is its $6,800 RR530 supercharger kit, about $4,000 per +100 whp, and the vendor confirms fitment only for 2013 to 2017 cars. This V6 has no forced-induction ecosystem to speak of. The 335i's $379 JB4 for up to 80 whp is about $474 per +100 whp.

The good news is that nothing you add here leans on a known weak part.

IS 350 buy or skip: the verdict

Buy a 2017 or newer with the fuel pump recall closed on the VIN, and go in knowing it loses about $2,187 a year. 2017 is where the recommendation starts: the refresh year, with a revised nose, tail and dash, and Lexus Safety System+ made standard. From 2018 the engine makes 311 hp where the earlier cars make 306 hp, with the same 277 lb-ft. Of the recommended years, 2017 and 2020 carry no fuel pump recall on file, and 2018 and 2019 carry one that is free once done.

The IS 350 finished at 43 out of 70 on our Board. It wins an 8 for Risk and an 8 for Daily, on a $722 to $969 worst repair and a real four-door cabin, and a 7 for Drive. It loses points to a Deal of 3, where a 2017's $21,400 is 1.57 times the going rate, and a Mods of 5, where one supercharger kit is the whole story. Buy it if what you want is a car that costs $4,982 a year and stays out of the shop.