Lexus Is250 – The Real Punter Review !

[nedsplace]

Lexus IS250 – The Real punter review !

I drive an IS200 sport, a 2002 car that cost me £22500 (ish) . I have been looking forward to the new Lex for some time and have been reading the articles and trawling the net for info on the new one for ages

I received my invitation to a “preview test drive” so off I went on the 4th November, the earliest possible date !

I can not say that I was overwhelmed by the is250 experience, oh dear

I test drove the IS250 SE-L, auto , with the multimedia pack, at a list price of nearly £33,000 blimey that is steep : - # What’s the Sport going to cost with a reasonable spec ??????

I had a brief wait in the showroom and that gave me the opportunity of a look around, the RX300 Special edition was £31995, an ex demo GS300 fully loaded for £31995, come on Lexus your having a laugh with the new IS pricing !!!

First impressions.

Outside:

It’s a lot bigger than my is200, higher, wider, longer, just looks a lot stockier! Not quite so sporty.

The attempts to flow down to a lower noise seem to just mean a high nose and an even higher windscreen line !

:- {

Oh dear some ones fitted TOYOTA VAN mirrors the size of dinner plates to the car !

Inside

Very posh, stuffed to the gunnels with gadgets and gizmos, seems comfortable.

: - }

No sunroof as standard so better head room but again Oh dear. It seemed a bit cramped, and the visibility, even with the seat set to its lowest position was poor. Do the door pillars and surrounds need to be so thick and so intrusive, even the windscreen seems to have a couple of inches of surround at the top before the roof which means you have to crouch down or look down to see out!!

It seemed claustrophobic to me !!

I realise that the promo picture has some Japanese bod driving the car, I guess he’s five foot nothing and can see out ok !

Rear visibility, from the windscreen mounted central mirror – poor at best.

From the enormous Toyota Van wing mirrors, I swear I could see into the next county !

I was let down again when I tried to get in the back , the door openings a bit restricted by the sculpting of the door and the positioning relative to the wheel arch. The rear legroom seems poor. Ok I am a six footer and had the drivers seat set to be comfortable but oh dear, another issue. And what’s going on with the slidey flippy centre console, I had left it slid open and it intrudes big time on the rear passenger space !

The Test-drive.

Impressed by the keyless entry and ignition etc, the sat nav knew where we were ! good start.

It did not seem gazzel like moving off, more smooth acceleration than shockingly rapid ! still the speed limit approached and so I guess the soundproofing must be disguising the progress a little.

Flippy paddle gear shift and the auto box were smooth as silk, the steering and brakes superb as expected. I could not really push to hard on the preview day with the bod from the garage in the car but it seemed fine.

The reversing camera and the technology in the car is great but is the multimedia pack worth £2700 and the auto option a further £1000??

The garage bod said a Coupe and Soft-top would follow

Results

As I said not overwhelmed by the car, or the price, id only give it 6/10. A real disappointment from a committed Lexus fan.

Will I buy one – Nope – have to rethink next move, maybe Audi or dreaded BMW or the ex demo Lexus GS300 if I could put up with the old man stigma that goes with it !!!!

Will Lexus sell them , if you’re a mid five footer of slim build maybe you’ll be interested if you have the major dosh !

Hammond from Top Gear will be ok, but I doubt Clarkson would fit in the front and be able to see out without having the seat so reclined to be horizontal.

I think the diesel will shift in basic spec by the bucket load ! it’ll be the posh end reps car and the Taxi rank mobile of the future ! with that record torque, I can see them now racing between the traffic lights as Lex Cabs !

COPYRIGHT - NEILDAVIES 08/11/2005

[enquiries@frzr.com]

Lexus IS250 – The Real punter review !

I drive an IS200 sport, a 2002 car that cost me £22500 (ish) . I have been looking forward to the new Lex for some time and have been reading the articles and trawling the net for info on the new one for ages

I received my invitation to a “preview test drive” so off I went on the 4th November, the earliest possible date !

I can not say that I was overwhelmed by the is250 experience, oh dear 

I test drove the IS250 SE-L, auto ,  with the multimedia pack, at a list price of nearly £33,000  blimey that is steep : - # What’s the Sport going to cost with a reasonable spec ??????

I had a brief wait in the showroom and that gave me the opportunity of a look around,  the RX300 Special edition was £31995, an ex demo GS300 fully loaded for £31995, come on Lexus your having a laugh with the new IS pricing !!!

First impressions.

Outside:

It’s a lot bigger than my is200, higher, wider, longer, just looks a lot stockier! Not quite so sporty.

The attempts to flow down to a lower noise seem to just mean a high nose and an even higher windscreen line !

:- {

Oh dear some ones fitted TOYOTA VAN mirrors the size of dinner plates to the car !

Inside

Very posh, stuffed to the gunnels with gadgets and gizmos, seems comfortable.

: - }

No sunroof as standard so better head room but again Oh dear. It seemed a bit cramped, and the visibility, even with the seat set to its lowest position was poor. Do the door pillars and surrounds need to be so thick and so intrusive, even the windscreen seems to have a couple of inches of surround at the top before the roof which means you have to crouch down or look down to see out!!

It seemed claustrophobic to me !!

I realise that the promo picture has some Japanese bod driving the car, I guess he’s five foot nothing and can see out ok !

Rear visibility, from the windscreen mounted central mirror – poor at best.

From the enormous Toyota Van wing mirrors, I swear I could see into the next county !

I was let down again when I tried to get in the back , the door openings a bit restricted by the sculpting of the door and the positioning relative to the wheel arch. The rear legroom seems poor. Ok I am a six footer and had the drivers seat set to be comfortable but oh dear, another issue.  And what’s going on with the slidey flippy centre console, I had left it slid open and it intrudes big time on the rear passenger space !

The Test-drive.

Impressed by the keyless entry and ignition etc, the sat nav knew where we were ! good start.

It did not seem gazzel like moving off, more smooth acceleration than shockingly rapid ! still the speed limit approached and so I guess the soundproofing must be disguising the progress a little.

Flippy paddle gear shift and the auto box were smooth as silk, the steering and brakes superb as expected. I could not really push to hard on the preview day with the bod from the garage in the car but it seemed fine.

The reversing camera and the technology in the car is great but is the multimedia pack worth £2700 and the auto option a further £1000??

The garage bod said a Coupe and Soft-top would follow 

Results

As I said not overwhelmed by the car, or the price,  id only give it 6/10. A real disappointment from a committed Lexus fan.

Will I buy one – Nope – have to rethink next move, maybe Audi or dreaded BMW or the ex demo Lexus GS300 if I could put up with the old man stigma that goes with it !!!!

Will Lexus sell them , if you’re a mid five footer of slim build maybe you’ll be interested if you have the major dosh !

Hammond from Top Gear will be ok, but I doubt Clarkson would fit in the front and be able to see out without having the seat so reclined to be horizontal.

I think the diesel will shift in basic spec by the bucket load ! it’ll be the posh end reps car and the Taxi rank mobile of the future !  with that record torque, I can see them now racing between the traffic lights as Lex Cabs !

COPYRIGHT - NEILDAVIES 08/11/2005

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Useful comments as I am test driving it myself tomorrow. Will let you know how I get on.

[squarehead]

I've had invites from both Stockport & Manchester but NOT Chester (take note if your reading Chester boys who take all my money in servicing). I've basically thrown the invites in the bin as I'm not interested in the new IS at the moment.

£27k for a decent spec IS250 sport, yeah right!

Has the entry level IS220d got cloth seats as well?

[The Mole]

Still better spec for less money than Merc/BMW/Audi at any trim level, so if you think the Lexus is expensive you're in for a shock eslewhere.

[Kremmen]

I have absolutely no doubt that with the build quality and comparing it to the other makers mentioned above that it is probably very good value.

As has been mentioned by other members the 'hike' from £21k(ish) to £28k(ish) for similar spec is rather more than a lot of us can or are willing to part with. If I had that sort of cash available I would have gone straight for the IS300 last time as I'm sure would have many others.

I also bet that depreciation will be higher than the IS200 % wise. These £30k cars do seem to drop to £20k quite rapdily.

I can foresee that after the initial rush from those who can afford is over that there is only going to be a trickle and I suspect those may well be for the very basic IS250 which does seem to be lacking in 'toys' or the diesel which will, reading the latest Lexus mag, probably be very common as the fleet market homes in.

Still, lets see what the position is in about 2 years when mine is up for renewal.

[ColinBarber]

The problem with the new IS250 is it really is a replacement for the IS300 and in that way isn't too badly priced.

The difference between the IS200 and IS300 cost was always much too much however and existing IS200 owners will find it hard to justify the extra money.

[ColinBarber]

Has the entry level IS220d got cloth seats as well?

←

Yes, the engine has nothing to do with the different trim levels.

[Big Chris]

If as reported the fleet market takes to the IS220d, then the increased numbers of vehicles on the market will affect the resale values of IS250’s which I suspect will be mainly bought by private / car allowance types.

The double whammy of a big increase in purchase price allied to the prospect of worse (compared to the current IS) residuals have blown away my dreams of changing my IS200 for an IS250

You can’t blame Lexus, skim off the wealthier private customers with the IS250 and then a couple of months later start making big sales by selling the IS220d to fleets. It just leaves less wealthy private buyers like me who were starting to get used to super reliability and first rate customer care a bit lost as where to go next.

I can buy a decent spec 2 litre Mondeo for £14k so why can’t Toyota market a decently styled car with rear wheel drive, more than 4 cylinders, leather and fancy alloys for £22.5k? They used to, it was called an IS200SE.

My invite from Cardiff also regrettably went in the bin, but I’m not sure where to look next. There are loads of high spec 4 door saloons on the market for £15 - £18k, including the Type S Accord which is soon to get a face lift. In the £25 -£30k bracket there are all the BMWs, Mercs and Lexus’, but I’m struggling to find something in the middle.

[squarehead]

I think the nail has finally sunk.

It's not that I or any of us poorer IS owners don't like the new IS250, it's the depreciation from £28k that will hit us hard.

For £20k at the moment you can buy e.g. A Mazda RX8 12 months old, A Nissan 350z and even an old shape 330d 18months old, all these cars have depreciated between 6-10k in a year.

My point is not many private buyers are likely to buy one of the higher spec IS250's brand new are they?

I might even be tempted to sell my IS200 and opt back into the comp car scheme and get the IS220d next year. But then again I might just sell my IS200 and buy a 350z for 20k instead!

[spwolfx]

p.s. IS200 is nothing close to IS250 and its equipment package was nothing to IS250's equipment packages...

That being said, IS220d should be an fine choice...

[koshime]

lexus IS250 review

http://cars.about.com/od/lexus/fr/mm_06lexusis.htm

[Tango]

The problem with the new IS250 is it really is a replacement for the IS300 and in that way isn't too badly priced.

The difference between the IS200 and IS300 cost was always much too much however and existing IS200 owners will find it hard to justify the extra money.

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My IS250 SE-L is already on order in the UK, but I am in Houston at the moment and I drive past the Lexus dealership every day. Do I pay a visit and take a test drive in the IS350 ?

I really, really want to, but will I then be forever dissatisfied with my new IS250??

Help!!!

[gordi]

If its speed you want then YES you will be disappointed , the IS250 is not a flying machine but unless your surname is Schumacher I think it will be quick enough for you .

[Tango]

If its speed you want then YES you will be disappointed , the IS250 is not a flying machine but unless your surname is Schumacher I think it will be quick enough for you .

Bit of a pointless resurrection of an ancient post