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Is250 Production Delays


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Hi there, although on the members forum I am still awaiting my ordered IS 250 SE-L auto.

It has been almost 3 months since I placed the order and there is still no delivery date. The dealer hinted at some small changes to the design of the interior to have more rear leg room, changes to the illuminated door sill and a new satnav DVD (with 4 disks - for different regions).

has anyone else experienced the delay or aware of these (hopefully beneficial) changes?

does anyone know what the expected delivery to the UK, for this run of production, might be?

does anyone know if there are any other surprises to be expected?

your answers gratefully appreciated.

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I guess it just takes bloody ages to make a new car, or maybe sales were down and they had just shifted more machinary/factory space and time to all the hybrid cars.

Once they actually start building your car, it doesn't take very long at all. It's only bolting bits together, after all. Any delay is because they have an overful order book and just have to work their way through them all.

It'll come... Maybe it will be a nice Christmas present!

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I guess it just takes bloody ages to make a new car, or maybe sales were down and they had just shifted more machinary/factory space and time to all the hybrid cars.

Once they actually start building your car, it doesn't take very long at all. It's only bolting bits together, after all. Any delay is because they have an overful order book and just have to work their way through them all.

It'll come... Maybe it will be a nice Christmas present!

hopefully christmas will come early!

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the average delivery time for a new Lexus is 3 months. Takes betweeen 4 and 5 weeks just to be shipped over from Japan.

Then the Lexus import centre have to put all the handbooks and record the vehicle details and deliver them to the correct dealers

Both of the new IS200's i purchased took 3 months

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the average delivery time for a new Lexus is 3 months. Takes betweeen 4 and 5 weeks just to be shipped over from Japan.

Then the Lexus import centre have to put all the handbooks and record the vehicle details and deliver them to the correct dealers

Both of the new IS200's i purchased took 3 months

Well, my first IS250 took 4 weeks and my second, 9 days. Because Lexus don't usually build to order for the UK, they generally build batches of particular models and colours, based on what's selling in our market. Hence if the most popular IS is a 220D SE in silver without MM, they will build more of them, against, say a base model petrol manual in gold, which may be far less popular. They then continually adjust production to match demand and inventory.

When you order a car the salesman checks dealers' inventories, stocks at the docks in Portberry, what's coming over on the ships, and what's in production. Only if the car you want isn't at any of these does he then order it specially. I would say if you ordered an IS250 SE-L with MM and pre-collision etc, then it would be a long wait for it to be made.

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The only time they come through quicker is if there is stock available of the spec you want at the docks or at another dealer.

if not then they are made to order

I know this because with working at a dealer when i ordered mine i was able to track its progress

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What? Another spec change?

That's one every year...for a Luxury marque that's a bit Fordish!!

The competition do this once every 2.5 years or so...

PS - lack of delivery dates - nothings changed there then!

This is the first spec change - and it's 2.5 years since the IS launch...

Blimey - you're right :blush: !! It's over 2 years since official launch in the f/east...

What about Velvet Black, the renaiming of the white, the moving of fuel filler/boot switches, umpteen software mods for the 220d ECU (tho's I suppose they were fixes to problems)?? I still count these minor items as a mid term tweak or 2...not something a pretsige marque does. Normally it's marketed as a new Model Year and effectively relaunched with not just visual, but engine changes too.

But yes NBLG, this is the biggest visible change to date...I wonder if the Shark Fin will arrive too??

PS - when I looked at the BMW, they could tell me exactly where the prospective car was and at what stage of production in the factory, together with a date for delivery - at the point of order. That is what you should expect - it is an expensive item and if you were gonna buy a Rolex and they couldn't tell you, you'd be off!!

Lexus will not do that...I had to escalate like mad to get my date - I was car-less as they'd taken my PEX early...

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What? Another spec change?

That's one every year...for a Luxury marque that's a bit Fordish!!

The competition do this once every 2.5 years or so...

PS - lack of delivery dates - nothings changed there then!

This is the first spec change - and it's 2.5 years since the IS launch...

Blimey - you're right :blush: !! It's over 2 years since official launch in the f/east...

What about Velvet Black, the renaiming of the white, the moving of fuel filler/boot switches, umpteen software mods for the 220d ECU (tho's I suppose they were fixes to problems)?? I still count these minor items as a mid term tweak or 2...not something a pretsige marque does. Normally it's marketed as a new Model Year and effectively relaunched with not just visual, but engine changes too.

But yes NBLG, this is the biggest visible change to date...I wonder if the Shark Fin will arrive too??

PS - when I looked at the BMW, they could tell me exactly where the prospective car was and at what stage of production in the factory, together with a date for delivery - at the point of order. That is what you should expect - it is an expensive item and if you were gonna buy a Rolex and they couldn't tell you, you'd be off!!

Lexus will not do that...I had to escalate like mad to get my date - I was car-less as they'd taken my PEX early...

I don't think the odd colour change or ECU mod count as a model year change - all companies do these, my missus gets a constant flow of Audi Technical Bulletins detailing these sort of mods. The boot and fuel filler change was an obvious one because it was just so bloody stupid the way it was - I was constantly opening the fuel flap when trying to open the boot.

Apparently, we are getting a coin holder too - but don't hold your breath because I've seen it and it look crap.

When you order a car from Audi or BMW you are given a slot in production a number of weeks/months in advance but you don't have to confirm spec until much nearer the actual date - something like 48 hours before actual build date. Other, unfilled slots are taken up by dealer orders for stock and general inventory filling. As far as I'm aware Lexus don't allocate production slots to individuals.

BTW - what is the shark fin for? A BMW 5 series pulled up next to me and it had this triangular piece of plastic stuck on the back of the roof - is that it? My radio gets perfect reception without an external antenna so why would we go backwards on this issue?

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That plastic triangle is it!! It's all about looks, and I hate them. We have enough Beemers in the family with them.

Apparently, some of these have GPS antennae in there too...and as far as I know the GSM antenna too for Factory fitted HF kits too in the Beemers.

Complete waste of time...what's wrong with the "in yer rear window heating element" types??

You can get plaggy ones if you are that shallow too:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-STYLE-SHARK-FIN-...1QQcmdZViewItem

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That plastic triangle is it!! It's all about looks, and I hate them. We have enough Beemers in the family with them.

Apparently, some of these have GPS antennae in there too...and as far as I know the GSM antenna too for Factory fitted HF kits too in the Beemers.

Complete waste of time...what's wrong with the "in yer rear window heating element" types??

You can get plaggy ones if you are that shallow too:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-STYLE-SHARK-FIN-...1QQcmdZViewItem

yes, go to the above link for the ultimate in plastic tack to make your decent car look... (need good synonym for crap)

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BTW - what is the shark fin for? A BMW 5 series pulled up next to me and it had this triangular piece of plastic stuck on the back of the roof - is that it? My radio gets perfect reception without an external antenna so why would we go backwards on this issue?

Actually the shark fin antennae on the US spec IS's is for satellite radio reception, i.e. Sirius Satellite Radio NASDAQ: SIRI is one of two satellite radio (SDARS) services operating in the United States and Canada, along with XM Satellite Radio. No point in having it here unless we have equivalent.

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I know they are changing the seat backs from the hard plastic pocket to a soft leather pocket and sculpting the seats more to increase rear knee room. I hadn't heard anything about delays though - I can't see any of these changes affecting factory throughput.

That's good news nblg as the lack of rear legroom is an issue for me, (when getting the old folk in). Where have you seen it or heard it?

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  • 2 weeks later...

well, i'm still waiting and it is officially 3 months since the order was put in. Still no definite date from the dealer. just keeps saying possibly the end of the week, possibly the end of the month!!! sooo frustrating. also have someone waiting for my old car and they are getting ants in their pants (probably the excitement of being about to become the owner of an SLK)!!

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That plastic triangle is it!! It's all about looks, and I hate them. We have enough Beemers in the family with them.

Apparently, some of these have GPS antennae in there too...and as far as I know the GSM antenna too for Factory fitted HF kits too in the Beemers.

Complete waste of time...what's wrong with the "in yer rear window heating element" types??

You can get plaggy ones if you are that shallow too:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-STYLE-SHARK-FIN-...1QQcmdZViewItem

yes, go to the above link for the ultimate in plastic tack to make your decent car look... (need good synonym for crap)

How about "...kak" - it rhymes

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Hi there, although on the members forum I am still awaiting my ordered IS 250 SE-L auto.

It has been almost 3 months since I placed the order and there is still no delivery date. The dealer hinted at some small changes to the design of the interior to have more rear leg room, changes to the illuminated door sill and a new satnav DVD (with 4 disks - for different regions).

has anyone else experienced the delay or aware of these (hopefully beneficial) changes?

does anyone know what the expected delivery to the UK, for this run of production, might be?

does anyone know if there are any other surprises to be expected?

your answers gratefully appreciated.

anyone know where to get the updated dvds?? and these updates u mention do seem good..but are the true? and also what changes to the illuminated door sill?

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Got to say that the omission of a loose change holder was a mistake - never looked for one when on the test drive (well you wouldn't would you) and not having one wouldn't have made me change my mind. But, it's a real pain in the :tsktsk: when you're at a ticket barrier...

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Hi there, although on the members forum I am still awaiting my ordered IS 250 SE-L auto.

It has been almost 3 months since I placed the order and there is still no delivery date. The dealer hinted at some small changes to the design of the interior to have more rear leg room, changes to the illuminated door sill and a new satnav DVD (with 4 disks - for different regions).

has anyone else experienced the delay or aware of these (hopefully beneficial) changes?

does anyone know what the expected delivery to the UK, for this run of production, might be?

does anyone know if there are any other surprises to be expected?

your answers gratefully appreciated.

anyone know where to get the updated dvds?? and these updates u mention do seem good..but are the true? and also what changes to the illuminated door sill?

I think it is just a change in colour from blue to white (or vice versa). don't think it's anything more than that. will let you know about the other changes as I have finally got a date for delivery (and it's very soon!!!) :hehe::ohmy:

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Found this on the www, can't see it much different over here:

The 2008 IS 250 and 350 features a new finish to its standard 17-inch wheels for a sportier appearance. Additional upgrades include backlighting on the outside power mirror control, white illuminated scuff plates and an additional coin holder.
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