New Lexus Owner- What To Look Now?

[Grandmaster80]

Dear All,

I am a new owner of Lexus IS 200 SE Auto (54 reg) and looking for some advice and comments.

I previously owned VW Passat 2.0 Tdi 140 bhp (55 reg) but forced to part exchange with this car because of problems with fuel injectors in the passat. I lost a big amount of money on the passat so I was looking for a reliable car.

First thing I would like to know wheather I paid too much for this car or it is good price. The price I paid is £8500 including 3 year 5 star AA exendeded warranty. The car details are as follow:

1- 29000 miles on the clock

2- Full service history

3- One previous owner

4- Leather interior with Sat Nav,

5- Blue color

I have car since Monday and so far I am very happy with the drive apart from the fuel econmocy and high insurance costs. This is my first auto car so have not used fully with that. It seems very slow compared to previous passat (I hope this is normal in auto Vs manual).

I was very use to with the passat's trip computer espically MPG reading etc but on this car MPG information seems pretty useless. I cant read it and dont understand what it means. Most of the time the clock hand is above 40 (close to 80 when i accelerate more so it can't be correct).

There does not seem option of finding adress by post code in Sat Nav. Do i missing something or it is not possible?

I am a big man and there is less room for leg room etc and also boot seems tiny compared to the passat!!

I need to buy boot liner because this car did not have one. Where can I find that and how much it would cost me?

How would I know my car needs serving etc. The dealer said he has done service this time but I dont belive him (he is non lexus dealer)!

Thanks for your help in advance

Cheers

[GWilso]

The price you paid is about right From a Main Dealer Maybe thats a little high for a private dealership i've jsut bought An 05Manual with sat nav for 9K 34000,

From Lexus Oxford

1.The IS is not a fast car mate

2.I agree there is not easy way of reading the Fuel consupmtion (you'll just get used to it being poor)

3.No there is no post code option

4.plenty of leg room for me and the wife but poor for rear seat passangers

5.try eBay for the boot liner or ask around on here (try the For sale Section) around £50

6.ask the dealer for evidence of the service etc etc

Welcome to the club mate :D :D

[sparkystav]

Welcome mate,

Think GWilso ha answered most of your Q's

Stav

[VVProtocolVV]

The mpg reading really only works once you're on the motorway and in 6th gear, other then that it will just jump all over the show and not worth reading.

If they said its been serviced then ask them what they did (or look at the service sheet), if it's had an oil change then you can always check the dipstick oil colour, the oil colour should be like amber clean colour, if it's black than it's not recently been changed. Basically check the parts that are said have been changed are new e.g air filters, oil filter etc. Since you have no bootliner it's worth while pouring water from a bucket onto the back of the (with the bootlid closed ofcourse!) car to see if water leaks into the boot area from the outside, as a few lexus suffer from this and you end up having water build up in the boot/sparewheel area.

Also get the geomentry done by WIM (if it hasn't already), otherwise you will find out you will need to change tyres every 10k miles with badly worn inner tyres. In fact do a full lock to check the tyre yourself to see if there are any signs of uneven tyre wear e.g does it seem like the tread is unevenly worn. Search the forum for more details about WIM in this.

Hope this hasn't scared you off lol

[Lexus2D]

[LOcKY]

I got mine from a Subaru dealer called S & S in Ayr, Scotland for £7k but it had some non VAT qualifying so i think it meant i didnt have tax added to the price tag or something like that.

Mines a 2005 54reg with Sat Nav 26.6k miles and blue with full leather just like yours so i think its about right what you paid for.

and yes you will have to get used to the putting in the town and then address for the sat nav however its only a minor as i barely use it unless i have to make long trips.

When im driving i try to keep the MPG gauge 35 to 40 when im on the motorway by easing off the throttle and gliding down hills.

welcome to the club :)

[Steviewevie]

I was very use to with the passat's trip computer espically MPG reading etc but on this car MPG information seems pretty useless. I cant read it and dont understand what it means. Most of the time the clock hand is above 40 (close to 80 when i accelerate more so it can't be correct).

When I first got my IS200 I used to think that the MPG reading was useless. Actually, now I think it's quite useful. As long as you're cruising then I think it can tell you something useful, e.g. give you a rough idea of MPG. Though you can get the best feel for it by measuring your mileage and then how much petrol it takes to fill up etc. Fuel economy isn't the car's strong point, but on long runs you can try engaging "Snow" mode - unlike on some other cars this just changes the throttle response (making it less responsive).

It sounds weird though if your MPG figure seems to go *up* when you accelerate, that doesn't sound right at all, your MPG should obviously be decreasing. If the reading is above 40 for most of the time then that also doesn't sound right.