Advice Needed - Buy A 220D With Patchy History And Dubious Maintenance

[HarpoonJoe]

I've been in discussion with a Lexus main dealer (I'll not mention theit name to save embarrasment) wanting to buy an 07 IS 220d SE with around 68k on the clock.

Service history goes up to 50k, Lexus say the previous owner had the 60k service done by a friend and has no receipts as evidence of this, so I would have to take this on faith. I put down a deposit of £1000 to secure the car and waited a couple of weeks for them to prep it for sale. Bodywork was touched up (scrape on front bumper), alloys were refurbished, two new front tyres plus a 70k service. All in all I thought this was good.

I had a call mid week to say the car was ready so on Saturday I drove 100 miles to take it our for a second test drive.

Before taking it out I had a quick look over it and noticed that one of the reat tyres was only just over the legal limit, way under the 3mm limit that Lexus had promised. I pointed this out to the dealer and he was confused how workshop missed it, the other tyre wasn't as bad but it was very close to 3mm if not under. Front discs seemed rather worn, there was a prominent ridge or lip on the outside of the disc. I raised it with the salesman and he insisted that it would have passed the checks before sale, though I'm not convinced of this as they clearly missed dubious rear tyre.

Anyway, we took it out for a short drive, about 10 minutes on a dual carridge way. Car drove fine, quiet other than a bit of whistle around the driver's door. Doing around 70mph I felt some hesitation, as if someone had dabbed the brakes, then about 20 seconds later all hell broke loose, the rear end started banging and grinding and we came to a smoky halt by the side of the road. Both tyres had locked up, and it was going nowhere! Me and the missus got picked up leaving the salesman with the car waiting for the AA. I suspect it was the rear diff (though I haven't spoken to Lexus about it since).

I have a missed call and a voicemail on my wife's phone from Lexus this morning apologising for the incident and saying they'd deliver the car once it's been fixed. Something now I'm not too comfortable with.

So I come to this forum to ask experienced Lexus owners for some advice....

The missed service record.. Should I take their word that the previous friend did the work.

Lexus said that in their pre sales checks that anything coming under spec would be replaced before sale, the rear tyre clearly being missed makes me wonder what other work may have been missed.

Front brakes, is it normal to have a sharp ridge on the outside surface of the disc or are they due for a change soon?

If Lexus fix the diff do you think it's fair to expect that the problem would be gone away? Are there possibly any other knock-on effects such as gearbox etc?

Do you think it's fair under the circumstances to insist on an extra 12 months warranty in lieu of the issues above?

I like this car, it's in my price range, the colour and spec is just what I'm after (though an SE-L with multimedia would be even better just a bit out of my pricerange. Should I persevere with this car with it's known problems should I give up on it and look elsewhere?

I was initially drawn to Lexus' good reputation for reliability and customer service, but this seems to be at odds with my recent (limited) experience.. Is this typical of have I just been very unlucky? Is this a blip or the shape of things to come?

Any advice very welcome

Regards

Paul

[Hondaman]

Run............................If they can miss a dodgy tyre, then what else have they missed. If you buy the car there will always be that doubt in the back of your mind. I know you may feel that all these minor faults may be a bargaining issue for you, but peace of mind is priceless my friend. Look for another car.

[steve2006]

In my opinion and in five words "it sounds like a lemon!"

It was serviced by a friend with no receipts could also translate as it hasn't been serviced for 18,000 miles and I may be wrong but I think the 60,000 mile service includes the cambelt replacement so has that been done?

If the diff has failed and the mystery service was done was the diff oil replaced with Lyons Golden Syrup? I have never heard of a Diff on a Lexus IS fail in such a violent way.

The salesman couldn't understand how the service department missed the rear tyre condition translates as they didn't miss them they thought you wouldn't notice.

There is a minimum thickness for the brake discs and these should have been checked and recorded on the workshop report if they were below manufacturer's specifications they should have been replaced. They may look bad but may be still within specification.

My LS400 has done around 75,000 from new, is now 18 years old and is still on its original discs with no wear lip on either the fronts or rears.

You could ask for detais of the previous owner and contact them to enquire as to why they sold the car, they have no reason to lie as the car is no longer theirs.

If you are a member of the AA or RAC it may be a good investment to have the vehicle examined, I had one done many years ago and they are very stringent.

Personally given the problems before purchase I would ask for my deposit back on the grounds of the delayed delivery and pre delivery issues, tell them you have lost confidence both in the vehicle and the dealership and then continue to look for another. The rear end locking up at 70 MPH could have resulted in a serious accident do you really want to risk that again?Personally I wouldn't want to get back behind the wheel of this car after that.

PS Are you aware of all the problems with the 220D engine? Have a search for this it may be the icing on the cake as far as NOT buying the car goes!

Fuel consumption on the 220D is also an issue with only 30 odd MPG being the average.

Personally and even as a Lexus owner if I were in the market for a diesel I would be thinking German engineering with three initials e.g. they make the 320d 325d or the 5 series or if your budget could stretch the IS250.

Finally welcome to the LOC Paul

[normski2]

Walk away from it after that experience!!

That would apply to absolutely any car.

[Exiled]

Lots of problems, lots of questions, only one answer. Leave well alone!

(Hope you get your £1000 back)

[jasons]

I wouldnt touch that car and demand your deposit back- dealer's approach sounds very poor and not to the standard you'd expect from a Lexus 'direct' car.

From memory (having come from BMW) to be an approved used car for BMW have to have documented SH (all Dealer- no indy)- I would expect the same from a used Lex.

Any trouble from the dealer in getting deposit back and I'd be straight onto Lexus GB to get it sorted.

As mentioned above, if rear tyres were missed and a (potentialy) knackered diff for a car going out on a test drive along with poor SH records, that could be the least of your worries.

Its a buyers market out there- look elsewhere...

[Bratman91]

I would not buy that car simply because it's an IS220D. Go for an IS250 auto which seems to me to be far superior to the 220D in every respect except, perhaps, fuel cost and, even then, the difference may not be all that much. I believe that they (IS250 auto) were far more popular so there should be plenty of good examples on offer at any Lexus dealer.

[aly-g]

My advice for what it's worth is walk away and get your grand back look for another car , from what I've read on this forum the 220d is not that reliable anyway, get yourself a 250 with proper history... There are plenty about , I know it's grief to keep looking but it will be worth it in the long run, I looked at quite a few before settling on the one I got. I'm wondering how reliable lexus history is anyway given some horror stories on this forum !!!!!!!! Take your time and get the car you want .

Allan

[bobbyc]

Walk away from this car. As people have already said they have a few issues as it is and there are no shortage of decent examples elsewhere with full lexus service history. The 60K service is the "biggy" and for the IS250 can cost up to £700, therefore if his mate has done it, you can bet it is to save money and will not have covered all the parts which Lexus would have done.

Lexus are great cars, (ever the IS220d has many fans), however they do need to be looked after in order to run as expected and if I could'nt prove that this was the case I would walk away.

Lucky you and your family were not hurt, but it could easliy have been far worse.

How would your wife feel sitting in that car in the future?

Get your money back and look for another Lexus....

[steve2006]

Guys this topic is over 2 years old :)

Would have been nice to hear the final outcome though.

[aly-g]

Some of us are so bored !!!!!!!!! But surely this all still applies today for any new members that might be thinking of buying a car and as you say it would have been nice to know the outcome....perhaps he bought a Beemer !