My Is 250C To Date

BigV · December 17, 2013

Hi all.

18 months ago I purchased a 2 year old IS 250C in black, being a Newbie I Just thought I'd share my experience with the car so far.

I bought the car from a Jaguar franchise in London. I never visited the dealership but they did bring the car to my home for me to see it. In retrospect I would not purchase this way again as I always felt under pressure to buy no matter what the condition.

It was just under 2 years old with 12K on the clock. I got it at a good price compared to the local Lexus dealer. (I suppose Jag dealer wanted it off their hands) Once purchased I began finding a lot more blemishes on it than I would expect from a 2 year old car. To this end I purchased a Rotary polisher and have spent a great deal of time bringing the paintwork up to a good standard. The alloy wheels had been refurbished, but not very well, as the new paint has started to flake in parts. These will need refurbing again in the future. Two of the tyres had sidewall damage. I got these replaced by the supplying dealer after giving a less than favorable review on their feedback proforma.

Non of the above could be attributable to the car, or Lexus, just carelessness by the previous owner and less than satisfactory presentation by the supplying garage.

The main mechanical issue was with the folding roof. Soon after driving for the first time it became apparent there was a rattle behind my head that was more than just a traceable loose part. To this end I returned the car to Lexus Hedge End who removed the whole roof mechanism and fixed the issue under warranty.

That's about the extent of the bad news. The car now has nearly 30K on the clock and has been utterly reliable. The roof, when opened, adds a different dimension to driving and the engine is very smooth. The boot is big with the roof up and even has usable capacity when folded. The interior is standard to that in the 250 saloon and I find it very easy to get along with.

I receive plenty of favorable comments about the car as there are very few around. All in all I'm a very satisfied owner.

Regards. Martin

sj300 · April 30, 2014

Hi Martin, is the car still running well for you? I'm thinking about picking up a second hand one if these; I'm i retested in two aspects - firstly, what is space like in the back seats? Is it like some convertibles where there is pretty much zero leg space (eg the SC430 or Jaguar XK) or can you actually fit two adults in the back for reasonable distances? Secondly, what is it like to drive with the roof up, does it truly feel like a normal coupe car (ie you don't even notice it's a convertible)?