Dear Father Christmas.....

[terdancam]

Firstly, many thanks to Glenn at MK Lexus for the test drive; a man who deserves your custom.

Myself and the wife took out the new is250 auto for a spin. The look is growing on us, and i realised the rear end looks like one of those devil smilies , the horns being the light clusters--have a look you`ll see what i mean.

Overall the car is lush. But here are our highpoints:

The auto gearbox was very smooth, no lurching at all- a revelation.

It was quick, and 70mph appears very suddenly and silently (keep an eye on the speedo, gatso fans!!)

The dash display was supremely crisp. Now i love the original is200 display because it is different, but this new one offsets the disappointment by being gorgeous in the dark.

It is gadget city, from the keyless entry to the rev limiters, the satnav to the entry lights--you could probably spend all day d1cking about in that car without moving!

The Mark L sound system---bye bye chavs!!

Rear parking camera--now i can reverse park the car in a straight line (the is200 is the only car i`ve ever driven that oddly cannot be backed up in a straight line!)

The seats feel like they`ve come out of your living room--i look forward to developing a butt groove over time....

Downsides:

Still no folding rear seats--i`m not sure whether the designers actually appreciate what a major pain in the backside that is. i know its a bit like comparing apples with pears, but it will be going against cars that can, and therefore it becomes a war between practicality and desire, and not a harmonious relationship!!

The glove box is too small, even for gloves ( ), and although the other storage space is better utilised there is still not enough of it.

Although the car is actually quieter, there is surprisingly quite a lot of tyre noise being transfered into the cabin--but is that because other external noise has been stopped?

The wood trim looks like formica--the brushed metal looks far superior.

The car was in blah silver which fades into obscurity--we`d either go with the granite sky/ gunmetal/carbon or mazda6/rx8/yamaha r1 blue, with some "spokey" alloys on there--this would enhance the "get the chuff outta my way" look we all need on the motorway.

Would i get one tomorrow over any other similar priced car?

You betcha, Santa Claus.

Its japanese, therefore it won`t break.

Its put together properly.

It doesn`t have that lego set look on the inside (have a look at the hazard light buttons in all cars to see what i mean-lexus=conservative and understated, new renaults look like bits from a duplo set)

Compared to all the others out there it has a scarcity value which means a) its not outselling mondeos, B)i won`t be confused with a rep, c)i can find it in a car park d) people look at it e)ooooooh, you`ve got a lexus (not: "you got a bimmer? yeah my dad, brother, uncle, pet dog has got one as well").

After getting back into my is200, i can safely say the new car has moved on into a different league again, and we were vaguely diasppointed getting into our "old" car.

Well done Lexus, its lovely. :D

[Mr Singh]

Nice :)

I'm sure the Mark L system could have room for improvement though :P

btw, does it have a trip computer?

[terdancam]

ermmmmmmmmmm, i was too busy faffing around with the paddles to notice a trip computer--but surely they are standard nowadays.

and you are not pimping my ride sir with your ice systems----i`m not bloddy made of money you know...so the mark l will "have to do"................ :D :D :D

and from prev posts, who needs rear vis when you have that amazing rear camera--was well impressed with that,

can`t wait to see what the diesel is like, buts lets hope they get some cars over!

[The Mole]

No folding rear seat is a very valid point, and one Lexus are more than aware of.

The reason they choose against it is two fold.

Firstly, strength, solid rear bulkhead is much stronger in a crash.

Secondly, and this is the main reason, the whole concept of the new car was to reach unprecedented levels of smoothness, quietness and refinement. A solid rear bulkhead drastically compromises interior cabin noise. Can't please all of the people all of the time....

Tyre noise is as you say, only due to lack of any other mechanical or wind noise. On the superb French road I first tested the car on, at 120kph it was tombstone quiet - UK roads are just crap. If we had noiser and harsher engines and more wind noise like everyone else, you wouldn't notice any tyre noise.

Engineers have done many tests, IS is definately much quieter.

Smaller glove box is because of knee airbags, a sacrafice in the name of safety.

Know what you mean about the wood - all down to taste, but it is beautiful quality, just too highly polished for some?

Mark Levinson sound system is unbeatable. One of our customers has installed ICE systems in chav mobiles costing in excess of £12k! and says they are not as clear as the Levinson.

Another customer has the Lynn system in his DB9 - "doesn't come close to the Levinson"

If anyone out there is in any doubt, ask your dealer for a demo, I absolutely guarentee you will not have heard anyhting even close.

BOSE and Harman Kardon set themselves a standard of 0.1% THD at max vol.... the Levinson is 0.01!!!!

It is so good, you wouldn't dare even touch the bass/treble controls - thar would be vulgar, it is perfect out of the box.

[Mr Singh]

Mark Levinson sound system is unbeatable. One of our customers has installed ICE systems in chav mobiles costing in excess of £12k! and says they are not as clear as the Levinson.

Another customer has the Lynn system in his DB9 - "doesn't come close to the Levinson"

If anyone out there is in any doubt, ask your dealer for a demo, I absolutely guarentee you will not have heard anyhting even close.

BOSE and Harman Kardon set themselves a standard of 0.1% THD at max vol.... the Levinson is 0.01!!!!

It is so good, you wouldn't dare even touch the bass/treble controls - thar would be vulgar, it is perfect out of the box.

←

I'm sure its good. I've built,designed and installed award winning installs for less than £2k, so your £12k reference point is probably a VERY badly installed and setup system.

Can you hear difference between 0.1% THD and 0.01?

LOL! hahahahaha

[Mr Singh]

ermmmmmmmmmm, i was too busy faffing around with the paddles to notice a trip computer--but surely they are standard nowadays.

and you are not pimping my ride sir with your ice systems----i`m not bloddy made of money you know...so the mark l will "have to do"................ :D  :D  :D

and from prev posts, who needs rear vis when you have that amazing rear camera--was well impressed with that,

can`t wait to see what the diesel is like, buts lets hope they get some cars over!

←

So you getting one then :D

[ColinBarber]

BOSE and Harman Kardon set themselves a standard of 0.1% THD at max vol.... the Levinson is 0.01!!!!

It is so good, you wouldn't dare even touch the bass/treble controls - thar would be vulgar, it is perfect out of the box.

←

THD % isn't really any sort of measure of good sound quality. I would like to think the ML sounds much better than a BOSE system!

[terdancam]

hopefully be getting the diesel very early next year........... :D

as for the previous points raised by the Mole, i can see the arguments but i would counter thus:

how many rear end collisions are the Lexus involved in worldwide, compared to the amount of shopping expeditions to get things that are too big for the boot? Especially given that it would have to be one hell of an impact to justify that :D ?

It reminds me of that most recent story of the fact that builders/windowcleaners/decorators are not going to be allowed to go up ladders for more than 30 mins because it kills 2 people a year.................bees kill more than that; are we going to ban them too? Its overkill for the wrong reasons, and very much a case of cutting your nose off to spite your face, i would venture.

as for the tyre noise, design is supposed to be holistic. If you are going to sell globally you have to take note of the local market conditions.

We don`t have roads like the french because we don`t spend as much on them, have greater levels of traffic and have more damaging weather. ANd tyre noise is, i would venture, a fairly major source of noise in a car!

You could say it would sound terrific on a racetrack, but that enters the J.Clarkson world of arguments where Bmws are the ultimate driving machines...............on tracks!!

So by not having foldable seats just to kill environmental noise, they have just exacerbated the noise from the tyres!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I`d have: foldable seats, more engine note noise, and a good music system, not small boot with non foldable seats, very little external "high level" noise but lots of "low-level" noise and a good music system---given that reasoning! :D

BTW in no way having a go at anybody (we`ve seen how these posts get!), just saying that the proffered reasoning is wrong for my particular circumstances, that of a father of 2 who shops at garden centres, b&Q and sainsburys(thats me in a minority then :duh: -------but i`d still have the car way before getting a german or american car

[The Mole]

As I say, can't please all the people all the time.....

Try the Levinson..... end of story.

[G7UHF]

And an AM / FM radio

[spwolfx]

foldable rear seats are huge no-no in luxury car. You would not belive how much noise could intrude from the back of the car. No matter how much sound proofing you add, it is going to be much noiser - little objects hitting each other in the boot will sound even worse in noise free enviroment.

It is really an big no no for sedans, I would like to say that I would never buy an hatch back again because of that very reason, except I had no choice and am looking at small SUV as next purchase so I am doomed once again...