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Are Lexus Cars That Good?


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I've no doubt this will be a contentious issue but having looked around the various LOC forums if I was someone who was thinking of purchasing a Lexus I would probably be put off by all the problems owners seem to have.

For example, there seem to be faults with :-

Tyres.....can wear out after only 8000 miles

Suspension.....knocking from both front and rear

Engine....poor starting

Air Conditioner.....nasty smells

alloys.....suffer from corrosion

Sun Roof....creaks

Brakes....loud noise caused by loose/worn pins

Fuel tank......difficult to fill

etc,

I'm sure this list can be added to so how come the Lexus marque always does so well in all the surveys? Is it that they are just very lucky owners whose vehicles have never shown any of the symptoms described or are most other vehicles on the road that much worse?

I do have to say that I am very pleased with my Lexus.....maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones (so far)!

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Aside from a recenlty sustained dint in my drivers front wing and the cars ability to steam up the minute I start to breate, I think there fantastic cars. Looks, performance, fuel economy.....errrr I mean standard mod cons etc

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Tyres.....can wear out after only 8000 miles

Suspension.....knocking from both front and rear

Engine....poor starting

Air Conditioner.....nasty smells

Alloys.....suffer from corrosion

Sun Roof....creaks

Brakes....loud noise caused by loose/worn pins

Fuel tank......difficult to fill

etc,

I have had my Lexus IS200 for a year. I have had to do the following.

Tyres = 2 (1 x Puncture unfixable & 1 x Boardline legal after 6 months) = £65.00 per tyre

Suspension = Just changed my front lower ball joints = £155.00 supplied & fitted

Engine = Poor Starting (I changed my battery) = £33.00

Air Con = No problems = £0.00

alloys = Purchased a new set of aftermarket alloys, then had all 5 replaced my Dealer I bought car from. = £400.00

Sunroof = No Problems = £0.00

Brakes = No Problems (Front pads need changed soon)

Fuel Tank = Solved (input nozzle and place upwards)

CD/Radio = Replaced twice (known problem and Lexus have given them 5 year warranty)

I bought a brand new Renault Scenic in 2002 and I have to have all the ignition coils replaced, brand new gearbox & when I turned left it squeaked = (build up of dust and crap on my brakes) = £120.00. After all the above happened anytime I drove the car I was thinking something was going to happen.

I went shopping for cables for my PC and decided to have a look at some cars. My wife said "lets have a look at a Lexus" so by the next day I bought one.

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I've no doubt this will be a contentious issue but having looked around the various LOC forums if I was someone who was thinking of purchasing a Lexus I would probably be put off by all the problems owners seem to have.

For example,  there seem to be faults with :-

Tyres.....can wear out after only 8000 miles - USE Dunlop SP9000 mine are running 20k and still look ok!

Suspension.....knocking from both front and rear - nope NEVER

Engine....poor starting - NOPE NEVER

Air Conditioner.....nasty smells - CHANGED FILTER £20 - SORTED

Alloys.....suffer from corrosion - YES BUT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY

Sun Roof....creaks - NOPE

Brakes....loud noise caused by loose/worn pins - YES BUT REPLACED UNDER WARRANTY

Fuel tank......difficult to fill - NOPE NEVER!

etc,

I'm sure this list can be added to so how come the Lexus marque always does so well in all the surveys? Is it that they are just very lucky owners whose vehicles have never shown any of the symptoms described or are most other vehicles on the road that much worse?

I do have to say that I am very pleased with my Lexus.....maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones (so far)!

TBH I think we're probably being just a tad bit fussy - but in defence of the Car it is brilliant!

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:whistling: what do you want from a car all cars have issues ;) IMO you can not buy a better car than the IS for the price you are paying for it, and i must be one of the lucky ones as i have not had any Faults with me IS in the 14 months i have had it, i use my IS alot...35000 miles a year i do in my IS, and when you use it that much you get to know what is right and what is not, as with driveing the car this much you get to know what it should sound like and so on!!

I've no doubt this will be a contentious issue but having looked around the various LOC forums if I was someone who was thinking of purchasing a Lexus I would probably be put off by all the problems owners seem to have.

For example,  there seem to be faults with :-

Tyres.....can wear out after only 8000 miles

Suspension.....knocking from both front and rear

Engine....poor starting

Air Conditioner.....nasty smells

Alloys.....suffer from corrosion

Sun Roof....creaks

Brakes....loud noise caused by loose/worn pins

Fuel tank......difficult to fill

etc,

I'm sure this list can be added to so how come the Lexus marque always does so well in all the surveys? Is it that they are just very lucky owners whose vehicles have never shown any of the symptoms described or are most other vehicles on the road that much worse?

I do have to say that I am very pleased with my Lexus.....maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones (so far)!

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Yeah I agree that all the problems we come across as Lexus owners are very minor and a lot of people would simply ignore them, and besides the dealers don't cause any kind of fuss fixing them.

Have a browse on a Mercedes forum, and you'll see really major problems, the scariest being suspension failures and brake failures on several vehicles (which in my opinion is not acceptable at all)

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well not got an is200 but i have done 22,000 miles in my mk1 GS300 in two years of ownership and all i have had to replace is the Battery :D ,even the pads have lasted out .i have owned plenty of cars in the last ten years and none have been this reliable .must admit though i am surprised the amount of problems that seem to arise again and again with the is range you would think lexus would have nipped them in the bud on the earlier cars .

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had a few probs in the is200 like corrsion on the wheels(still there), gas pedal jamming & is NOT caused by the carpet i can tell ya. been sorted now & ERR3, bought aftermarket head unit.

i wouldnt say had no problems when owning a car, must of had i or 2 at least no matter how minor. like saying i never lie......thats a lie.....

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My tezza is third Lexus i have had. Lexus is the only car that I have felt comfortable with in the reliability stakes. Even though I could not change the bulb in the left hand main beam. :whistling: (even the Lexus engineer struggled this morning but he did it) I think the difference with Lexus is that the problems we all encounter is not the type that will leave you stranded by the roadside. :ph34r:

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i swapped my 53 plate golf 2.8 4 motion with 2300 miles on the clock for my is200 and its the best thing i ever did.

if want to see some horrifying customer service and reliability issues just look at the vw golf site its littered with complaints.

Most by me i must add :D

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I've had none of the problems listed above, but if i did i would put it down to the fact that its a 4 year old car ,and all cars get wear & tear at some stage.

Car clubs can be good and bad to potential new members, those of us that have owned an IS200 for a year or more ,know they have very few problems , but get a newbie up on the site , and he was to ask what problems do the IS200 have ,then everyone will chip in with possible faults, minor ones or not.

Had i listened to all the advice i receive when first joining the LOC, i would have never of bought an IS200 in the first place, things like , CD with fault codes, worried the hell out of me , then that the steering lock could seize up at any miniute....etc etc.

The IS200 is a fine car, it maybe a rebadged Toyota but still a fine car , and you don't come second in the JD Power customer satisfaction survey 2 years on the trot, if your a pile of c*ap,

Enjoy you IS200 ,its one of the best cars in its class on the road today :D .

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.....interesting to see the various comments on said topic. I thought there would be an instant springing to the defence for the Lexus marque and in most cases I was right.

I have no idea how many Lexus's (or is it Lexii ) there are on the UK roads but I assume that the LOC forum is only a small percentage of a much larger group so it is this small group that post on the forum This must mean that the much larger group are either:

i) have no problems with their Lexus (but don't post)

ii) have similar problems as others (but don't post)

iii) don't have internet access / don't know about LOC so can't post

So is the real truth out there? Well the various surveys, such as JD Power, try and help. However, again the sample is relatively small so I would say they can't be that accurate.

I guess the only people who would know best how reliable their cars are are Lexus and their dealers who are the ones that deal with the day to day problems (in the majority of cases) of Lexus owners.....

I appreciate that there may be flaws in my reasoning and that there will be those of you who will shoot me down. That's fine, that's what the forum is for.

I do think though mudzs kind of sums up my own feelings for a car that costs around 20 grand new...Lexus surely could have cured some if not all of the niggly problems that IMHO spoil an otherwise excellent car.

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As a non lexus owner (yet) i hope that it will be one of the better cars that i have owned when i finally get one. i have been browsing this forum since january this year and paid up my GOLD money soon after this.........i genuinely believe this is a very good site well run and certainly a huge amount of knowledge here!!

That is the reason why i support you all with my cash.

On to the point, when i finally come to get my lexus in january i hope i will be armed with the knowledge to spot the things that are wrong with the car, dodgy ball joints etc etc.

Without this site you end up going to look at a car blind!!

I hope that lexus wont let me down when i finally get too buy one and i know that if i do get stuck i can allways come here for some good advice.

Are lexus that good????? I really hope so!!

Nick

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The problem with most polls and opinions are that the satisfied people dont say a lot, yet the people who have complaints do

lets face it when was the last time you rang a retailer or manufacturer and told them how good their product is, most places have a complaints department but i dont know of any that have a compliment department

same as here, if someone has a problem it gets posted up, yet you dont see many posts saying i have just done 30000 miles without a single problem !!

another thing to consider is, if you think lexus are bad and they top the polls, it just shows how bad the rest must be

:D

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How reliable are Lexus cars?

Ask yourself this;

Whilst driving around, either Motorway or other A roads , come summer or winter.Of all the cars on the hard shoulder, especially during stop start crawling because, either sheer weight of traffic, or someone has decided to go into a barrier or the back of another car, How often have you seen a Lexus with the bonnet up?

Personally I have never seen one,and I have never had a problem of any sort with my GS,all I have ever had to do is top up with petrol and top up the windscreen washer bottle, and weekly check of oil and coolant levels.

In my humble opinion the Lexus , no matter what marque you have, are possibly the best and most reliable car on the roads of the U.K. to.date

If you haven't already, treat yourself, BUY one now you will not regret it

Pete

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If the initial question had been " Are lexii the best overall cars you have owned "

i think on the whole most of us would have said yes.

like someone said earlier its easy to pick little faults with anything we own but unless something goes wrong we just accept it and say nothing, we rarely shout about how good things are.

come to think of it my tele has never let me down in 10 years now where can i find the sony website to let them know :P

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