pauls13

so Normski, come on then! where's the promised pictures? it's been two days now

I own the sport and the difference is the gearbox, the sport is fully loaded, the only thing it doesn’t have is the rear blinds, the gearbox has better gearing than the standard 220d which means you can use sixth gear without breaking the speed limit, the trade-off is the car is less economical both on a run and around town. On a run I get around 35 mpg and around town I get in the mid 20’s, admittedly I do have a heavy right foot but even driving like miss daisy doesn’t really improve it that much. The diesel is a good car but I would strongly recommend getting the Lexus Warranty as part of your purchase, as both I and Normski have come to appreciate, it will save you thousand’s in the long run as that’s what it cost to repair the diesel when it goes wrong.

My car is currently under an extended warranty, and has been for the past 2 years. Before Lexus excepted the car, they did a complete shakedown of the car and found that the car had a noisy thrust bearing in the clutch, when I got the paperwork back from Lexus, the clutch thrust bearing was excluded and has been in the past two years that I have paid for the warranty. In a nut shell, if its broken now, it wont be fixed by Lexus if you put it under warranty now. sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

The 220d is a difficult engine to mod and one you should avoid doing any mods on as the engine is prone to blowing a head gasket in standard trim yet alone with additional loads put through it. Most kits modify the fuel flow at the common rail fooling the ECU to deliver more fuel thus increasing BHP but in my opinion using one of these kits is the best way of killing your car fast not to mention invalidating your warranty if you had one.

I know it’s the most annoying thing when your car has irritating niggles but stick with it and make your warranty work for you, I also have a 220d sport and had lots of issues with the car which eventually resulted in a new engine, Lexus have spent close to £11k on warranty claims on my car and now the car is running perfect, if you work with your dealer to resolve the problems, they will fix them for you, Lexus are renowned for their customer service so use it to your advantage.

For me the extended warranty was the best investment I ever made, I brought my IS 220d last January as I opted out of my companies company car scheme, as I do some 15k business miles a year, I can’t afford not to be without a car, in the last 16 months, my car has had a warped head which eventually ended up being completely changed with a new engine, had I had not had the warranty would of cost me close to £10k. I have also had new brake callipers a new Xeon bulb and ballast (costing £180) all done under warranty and each time the car has gone in, I have always been provided with a car and classic Lexus service. As a bonus you also get breakdown cover which saves on AA subscription.

Hi dgman my car had covered 112,000 before the engine gave out, have now done around 2500 miles with the new engine which is performing really well. I do have a smoke problem when the car first starts up but i think it is turbo related as once its clear I can drive all day with not a puff of smoke until I stop again

you can get the sills from Sewells in the USA who will ship to the UK, I ordered some for my Car and I must saw, they look great http://is.sewellparts.com/accessories-catalog/Interior/IS250-2007/1813.html

I had all my brakes done under warranty, I only had to pay for the front pads

I may have spoken too soon; on the way to London today I had a load of white smoke as I accelerated, the car was cold and I was only doing 40 with no more than 2200 RPM on a dual carriageway but there was a lot of smoke for the first few minutes. I have notices some small traces of smoke over a number of days but it usually clears as the car warms up, but today there was a lot of smoke which almost made me turn back for home but it cleared and was ok for the rest of the day, also noticed a strong smell of diesel with the smoke almost as if the car is running really rich. The car is going in to Lexus on Friday for its 1000 mile fluid check so I’ll break the news to Lexus then, it’s a shame because up until this morning, the car has been perfect.

Bluetooth and Satnav will not be affected nor your radio if you have the multimedia pack on your car, all the settings are stored on a internal Rom

The car has now completed it running in process and I am still smiling from ear to ear. The car has so much torque that I can comfortably drive in sixth gear for the first time for the majority of my journey. Yesterday I drove from Poole to Pinewood Studios and only came out of sixth gear twice for slowing traffic (I have a 220d sport which has a lower sixth gear ratio than the standard IS gearbox) the car, comfortably and quickly recovers as low as 1500 rpm without labouring or any noticeable turbo lag. So far the only issue I have come across is speed, namely I have to watch it, as I thing I was caught by a mobile speed camera unit as I was distracted by the smoothness of the car, oh well should find out in a few days if I was caught or not and if so, it will be the bus for me as I am at the high end of the naughty point scale!!

that will be your battery in your remote thob, if you hold it next to your start button, that should help you start the car but I would recommend you change the battery at your first opertunity

Ok so I took the car for a 240 mile run to Eastbourne yesterday and what a joy the car was to drive. Due to the car needing to be run in means that I have to vary my speed and not allow the car to labour for the next 600 miles, but even with such restrictions the car felt like a dream to drive. The key differences are the car has loads of torque from 1100rpm right through to 3500 rpm and the turbo lag that is notorious with some of the 220d’s (and was terrible in my car) has all but disappeared, and the fuel economy is not bad either, I got 34mpg doing not more than 70 MPH. I expect this will improve as the ECU will need to re-learn my driving style since being reset after the new engine fitted. All in all, it’s been a good experience to date. I was considering selling my IS but after the service and the performance of the new engine, I am now back to being a loyal follower.

Good news, I got my car back today and what a difference. The car has much more torque below 2000 rpm where as before it was flat until 2100 rpm and feels considerably more powerful than the 200d I have been driving for the past 3 weeks, and in true Lexus Poole style the car has been valeted to a high standard. The car has been fitted with a optifit engine and has to be run in for the next 600 miles, but already the car is performing much better than before. the cost for all the work was £5068 fortunately covered by my extended Lexus Warranty hats off to Poole Lexus because they even fixed my noisey suspension so I feel like i have gained a new car. will update you all in a few hundred miles (which will take me a couple of days) on how she is performing.