Buying New Lexus

[Cathal]

Hello, i have not been on this site for a while, i sold my is200 and have had no car for the past 4 months,I've decided i want a is220D, i've found a 2006 se model with 90,000 miles and around £9,000 which i will try and reduce. The price is higher than you would expect because i am in Ireland and buying the car up north.

Just wondering what are your thoughts on the 220

What should i look out for when having a look at the car. (any know problems)

Thanks

Cathal

[simon k]

ill be the first to say dont do it,

i went from the is 200 to the 220d and so regreted it and had to wait 2 years to get out of the pcp i was on, the car is the deisel they should have never made, its got numerous issues such as poor mpg, rattles 5th injector issues and so on,

as for price mine was a 56plate with 28k on the clock when it went back which was 4 months ago at that point it was worth 9k to lexus and no doubt went for a lot less at auction

im now in a 3 series bmw petrol and loving it

if your stuck on the lexus brand then the 250 auto is the one to have

[Gunther]

ill be the first to say dont do it,

i went from the is 200 to the 220d and so regreted it and had to wait 2 years to get out of the pcp i was on, the car is the deisel they should have never made, its got numerous issues such as poor mpg, rattles 5th injector issues and so on,

as for price mine was a 56plate with 28k on the clock when it went back which was 4 months ago at that point it was worth 9k to lexus and no doubt went for a lot less at auction

im now in a 3 series bmw petrol and loving it

if your stuck on the lexus brand then the 250 auto is the one to have

I also agree with SimonK. Even though my car was more acceptable, if you want a Lexus, buy a proper one. Lexus is renowned for smooth petrol automatics, and the IS250 will be perfect if you want an IS.

I was getting at best mid 40's MPG driving carefully on a motorway run, but in my 3.0l diesel Auto Beemer I can smash that driving very hard.

If it has to be a diesel, there are many others you should go for. Example - You can pick up C Class C220CDi's, 06's, with a lot less miles for the same money if you look around, or a very good Audi diesel. The Lexus diesel is best avoided - with all that mileage and some doubts about how reliable the emissions system is, I would avoid.

[Cathal]

is it really that bad? i'm not too concerend about mpg because i only need it for a short run to work and the gym and small bit of driving at the weekend. i was talking to a friend yesterday and he said it was a smooth drive. no compaints.

i'm going to have a look at it this evening and have a test drive and see wot that story is.

[Gunther]

is it really that bad? i'm not too concerend about mpg because i only need it for a short run to work and the gym and small bit of driving at the weekend. i was talking to a friend yesterday and he said it was a smooth drive. no compaints.

i'm going to have a look at it this evening and have a test drive and see wot that story is.

If you're doing so few miles, why bother with a noisy thirsty rattly diesel? Try both before you commit. Lots of happy owners with IS220d, but lots who regreted buying one too and got out as quick as possible!!

remember Lexus make the best auto petrol cars around

[Cathal]

do you think a lot of the regrets were from people who bought the is 220 and had so many problems with it? up to the first 30k, and had a bad experience trying to get them sorted with the dealer. Buy buying second hand with a full service history hopefully all these problem (if any) have been sorted.

[Gunther]

Think it's over to you, all I would say is test drive an IS auto too. if you like the diesel, go for it.

Ignore the toys - you get those in petrol or diesel - concentrate on the drive, gearing etc.

[Cathal]

Ye true,

It has to be diesel because, petrol is getting more expensive, and tax for a 2.5 in irelans is €1000.

I'll test drive and see how i get on

Thanks

[GJD]

For what's its worth, my comment is that I absolutely adore my 220d SE, have had a few minor niggles, nothing major, always had excellent Lexus service, can't fault the experience

BUT..........having driven a 250SE AUTO on loan whilst mine has been serviced, I'd swap mine ANY day for the petrol one - funds / allowances allowing, hopefully next company car will be a IS250

And I do 30,000+ miles a year so in theory an oil burner makes more sense but the type of driving I do I reckon you could get near enough the same MPG out of the petrol give or take a couple of mpg. Like you its just the tax (company car) I have to consider and do the sums.

On the MPG front, I can get 40+ out of mine on a regular basis but you do have to drive it a certain way - if I let my wife loose in it, MPG is 25 if I'm lucky which is no better than you'd get out of a petrol (if not worse)

Anyway, thats my comments - certainly do as the other well informed chaps suggest and try both out, you will be surprised at the difference!

[giorgoXXI]

Check if the 5th injector has been replaced, and also check for rattles. Other than that, it is a very good car. Looks great, great interior, engine is smooth enough... only big let down is the gearbox, but you can adjust to it.

I would also consider getting extended warranty for the car (I would recommend this for any diesel car that is more than 3 years old).

[Monsterped]

do you think a lot of the regrets were from people who bought the is 220 and had so many problems with it? up to the first 30k, and had a bad experience trying to get them sorted with the dealer. Buy buying second hand with a full service history hopefully all these problem (if any) have been sorted.

In my case no, 55k miles and it still runs like a bag of sh*t.... buy a petrol IS or something german....

Lexus dealers are great, it's the IS220d that's poor

[Cathal]

well, i took it for a test drive, everything was very solid, felt like the car stuck to the road, it handled a lot better than i is 200, smoother and felt more secure, there is a nice bit of power behind them too, i see what you mean about the gearbox, but will just take a bit of getting used to.

Anyway i was fearly happy with the car, looks and performance, especially on the motorway, doin 110 was like doing 60.

I bought the car for €9500 aobut £8300, high milage but drove like a 10k car full service history,

everything works inside and out, so i'm happy with it.

One question, Battery is gone on one of the key remote, can i just replace the Battery or does the key have to be reprogrammed again.

[dazed]

It has to be diesel because, petrol is getting more expensive, and tax for a 2.5 in irelans is €1000.

Is that an annual tax (or one off)?

How does it compare with the 2.2 diesel.

Cheers.

[Cathal]

you guys have it easy, in the 90's the PM inveted this tax called VRT for cars so, when you register a new car or an imported car you have to pay tax on it. This tax is a percentage of the OMSP and % of the tax is determined by the co2 emissions my is 168 so have to pay 23% tax of the omsp which thay have the car valued at €2300. so about €5k tax for vrt. then about €700 annual tax. bit of a joke.

I'm going to hold off until Jan to register my car because OMSP will drop because its a new year so hopefully i'll only have to pay €4000 vrt

[knitware]

What a pointless topic. Asking for advise, most people telling you to not buy a diesel for a multitude of reasons, and you dismissing the advise. A search on this forum would suggest the diesel is, lets say, not very good.

Sorry but I had to respond. I've read a few posts like this before where someone has asked for advice, received the advice then ignored it.

It seems that once someone has made a decision then all suggestion is ignored. How may responses, from owners and previous owners indicated that the 220 was rubbish. Did you test drive a 250 to gain a comparison as suggested?

Sorry, i'm grumpy today, but I think you have made a mistake in ignoring peoples experiences. I do hope though that you have bought 'a good one'.

[Cathal]

everyone to their own,

I asked for advice took it and then test drove the car myself, like it and bought it.

[giorgoXXI]

What a pointless topic. Asking for advise, most people telling you to not buy a diesel for a multitude of reasons, and you dismissing the advise. A search on this forum would suggest the diesel is, lets say, not very good.

Sorry but I had to respond. I've read a few posts like this before where someone has asked for advice, received the advice then ignored it.

It seems that once someone has made a decision then all suggestion is ignored. How may responses, from owners and previous owners indicated that the 220 was rubbish. Did you test drive a 250 to gain a comparison as suggested?

Sorry, i'm grumpy today, but I think you have made a mistake in ignoring peoples experiences. I do hope though that you have bought 'a good one'.

If anything, I would say your post is pointless, not the topic. He test drove the car and liked it, like many of use like the 220d... I am sure he did not ignore the suggestions, but rather weighed them against his own experience with the car and other sources and decided it was a good buy. What is wrong with that?

Did you stop to read why he could not afford the petrol version? So what would be the point of test driving the 250!?

Cathal, congratulations on your new car... if everything goes well I am sure you will love it.

[simon k]

i hope your still as keen in a couple of months when you have had time to really drive the car, normally you have a 30 min max test drive then part with a substatial amount of cash, its only when you actually use the car in a normal capacity day to day that you really find out what its like

i like many other 220 owners found out the hard way and suffered financially when we couldnt live with it anymore

i think lexus made a huge mistake with the 220 as like me i was a loyal lexus owner but the 220 made me look at other brands and i moved to bmw, im sure if i went for the 250 then i would be still driving it today.

[Gunther]

I think that the first sentence"....I've decided I want a IS220d...." says it all really. Then add the budget and the price, plus the tax issue - if you want a Lexus IS then the 220d is a perfect choice in Ireland. The mind was already made up, and the only thing that would have stopped Cathal buying it would have been if something was fundmanetally wrong with that car - then I think Cathal would still have kept on looking at 220d's until the right one appeared.

There are some people who are Lexus Loyal first, then they decide whether they want petrol or diesel. There are others like myself who don't care too much about the badge, but just want something different every now and again. That is why I chose the IS220d, and it wasn't a "great" car, just a "good" one largely because of rarity, nice interior and lots of toys. I love the toys.

When I had the 220d, I was quite happy, then time to change and I had a look at BMW. The choice was awesome, and finally after driving I realised why there are more 3er's than there are Rats in the UK!! On reflection now the 220d had one or two too foibles too many - gearing and road noise being too serious an issue on a long drive over different types of roads. Mine also went in for new EGR and 5th Injectors, which I thought wasn't to be expected from a bulletproof brand like Lexus.

The BMW is better overall, and I know people on here don't like them, but from a driving perspective they are as close to "great" as is possible in a small exec car. It doesn't have the toys, but I think anyone who buys a brand new car is mad any way, unless there is one with lots of toys and heavily discounted like my 325d was. It was a launch showroom car, so it had the new Satnav with HDD, Bluetooth, leather, and auto box, plus Xenon's better wheels and dark glass+++++so much I can't even remember now! I managed to get £4500 off the list price but the car had £7300 worth of extra's, and for me that was within budget and a positive bargain.

I did drive an IS250 Auto and thought it was "great". If I was to buy a petrol car, the choice between IS250 Auto or BMW325i Auto would be a close one, but the Lexus might just clinch it. That's the difference. The diesel is actually an acquired taste, more acquired by the Lexus loyal than others who see a better drive elsewhere on the whole. I don't wish to generalise, but that is how some people might see it and how it appears on the forum sometimes.

Like I say from my experience the IS220d is a good car, and on the 2nd hand market one selling for less than £9k with SE spec is a very good buy. Good luck.

[Cathal]

Thanks for replys. Some of you have had bad experience with the diesel, hopefully this will not happen to me , car has 90000miles on it and full service history, so hopefully if anything went worng its already been fixed. The way it drives is perfect smooth and solid, the gearbox is different so i'l just have to adjust, other than that i'm happy.

The is 250 is petrol and its a completely different engine and setup so i dont think the 220 should be comapired to it.

[nicnac]

you guys have it easy, in the 90's the PM inveted this tax called VRT for cars so, when you register a new car or an imported car you have to pay tax on it. This tax is a percentage of the OMSP and % of the tax is determined by the co2 emissions my is 168 so have to pay 23% tax of the omsp which thay have the car valued at €2300. so about €5k tax for vrt. then about €700 annual tax. bit of a joke.

I'm going to hold off until Jan to register my car because OMSP will drop because its a new year so hopefully i'll only have to pay €4000 vrt

I know your dilemma Cathal with VRT.In 2006 I moved to Newry and saved €14,702 on my new IS250SeMM plus it only cost me £3,600 VAT and £38 to register.The OMSP was €60,180 if I had stayed in the south .

[BosniaLexus]

Good luck with the car Cathal - that VRT is a savage tax, as is the annual road tax in Ireland, which is EUR 2000 for the IS250 (new). The only thing to watch for is the date on the invoice when you do put IE plates on it, as the taxman may deny you the lower VRT that comes with the lower Jan 2010 valuation. In the meantime, keep a low profile as the despicable Irish Tax Mafia customs cops watch out for UK reg cars that spend a long time in IE.

[Cathal]

Good luck with the car Cathal - that VRT is a savage tax, as is the annual road tax in Ireland, which is EUR 2000 for the IS250 (new). The only thing to watch for is the date on the invoice when you do put IE plates on it, as the taxman may deny you the lower VRT that comes with the lower Jan 2010 valuation. In the meantime, keep a low profile as the despicable Irish Tax Mafia customs cops watch out for UK reg cars that spend a long time in IE.

ye i know this is my third uk car. i have the log book for the car so when ever i go in to pay it they will not be able to tell when it was bought they will just be happy to be getting the money, robbers.

if your caught with uk car and you have an irish address, by customs, your car will be taken and you will be fined 10% of the omsp of the car and the impound fine on top of the vrt.

[Exiled]

What a pointless topic. Asking for advise, most people telling you to not buy a diesel for a multitude of reasons, and you dismissing the advise. A search on this forum would suggest the diesel is, lets say, not very good.

Sorry but I had to respond. I've read a few posts like this before where someone has asked for advice, received the advice then ignored it.

It seems that once someone has made a decision then all suggestion is ignored. How may responses, from owners and previous owners indicated that the 220 was rubbish. Did you test drive a 250 to gain a comparison as suggested?

Sorry, i'm grumpy today, but I think you have made a mistake in ignoring peoples experiences. I do hope though that you have bought 'a good one'.

As I scrolled through the replies must admit I was thinking we've been here before, same as you, and I'm not feeling grumpy.

Hope you've got a "good un" Cathal and everything goes ok.

[Andyscooke]

One question, battery is gone on one of the key remote, can i just replace the battery or does the key have to be reprogrammed again.

The Battery is a 3v CR1632.

Best get them off the internet - you'll get a pack of five cheaper than one from Lexus.

Armed with the Battery, remove the key from the remote and then prise the remote apart (once the key is removed, there's an indentation that you can twist a small screwdiver in to separate the two halves)

Raise the printed circuit and the Battery is underneath. Replace with a new one and clip it all back together again.

Changed mine this morning - took less than two minutes. No need to re-programme afterwards.

Good luck with the new car.