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Thanks GS430 - great car, brilliant all-rounder. Quick comfortable, utterly reliable. In my view the earlier one has a better quality interior and still has the Lexus feel of alternative styling. The later model is more of a sleeper with a little more tech. Usually a bargain as many are put off by the thirsty V8 but it's actually much better than you might expect. Really quick and agile for a big car. I miss the radar cruise. Just make sure the cam-belt service and water pump has been done or get them done and check the rear suspension. The rear struts are a known weakness. Fit 2 new ones and enjoy. Cheers Phil, I see you are in Sussex. If you can't wait or if your mate wants to see a slightly non-standard SC send me a PM some time and we can do a mini meet. Robb is the guy with the skills. I'm not an engineer, I'm just daft enough to give it a go. I was tinkering with cars before I could drive. Made plenty of mistakes along the way but now I am confident to take most things on and can decide whether I will do a particular task or give it to a trusted local garage to do it. For example I will show you shortly the rear spoiler, the first effort was too big and heavy, (looked like a Porsche whale tail) the second wasn't perfect but not bad so I painted, wet-sanded and lacquered it using spray cans and attached it to the boot knowing that it would later go into the paint shop to be finished properly and baked on. So there's no great risk.

In fairness Kieron, I have spent way closer to £1500 if not £2000 with H&S since getting mine fitted. Then again, as Mark points out I sucked up the testing and guinea pig costs to help other owners buy a system that works for most needs. The additional 'X' pipe change cost me some money, as did the extra silencers I added when the drone was really bad. Add in the PPE headers I bought, PPE mid-pipes, labour from SRD to install it all, replacement O2 sensor (one broke), and I'm closer to the £5K mark just for exhaust work! You also get a lifetime warranty from H&S provided you keep the car of course. That proved useful when the ceramic tips on my setup started to discolour (looked like rust, but couldn't have been as they were stainless steel tips coated in black ceramic). Ian sent them off to the coaters, and hey presto, returned re-finished and fitted at no cost. I'm very pleased with H&S. Nice small firm that go that extra mile to help their customers. I can see why people keep going back to them.

it never breaks down so why would it Malc

Hi, and welcome to the story so far of my IS250. I figured since I have started to change a few things, and with some more mods & upgrades planned, I should probably keep tabs on my progress and try and document as much as possible. I enjoy reading this kind of thing about other people's cars, so hopefully you will too. If nothing else, it'll be something useful for the next owner to have a gander at when I eventually part company with it. So, the car then. It's an Argento Ice (1G1) 2011 F-Sport with optional Navigation unit, and it's an automatic of course. I traveled just under 200mls by train, to Darlington, to buy it from a thoroughly nice chap and fellow LOC member in late August 2016. This is my third Lexus IS and my second IS250 F-Sport in a relative short space of time. The previous one being a 2010 model in the rare Sable Metallic (4T5) but this was sadly written-off inside a year with only 27K on the clock. Finding another low-miles F-Sport to replace it proved to be quite difficult and after a couple of months of fruitless searching I was starting to give serious consideration to buying something else. Then one day, someone on the forum announced that they were selling-up... Being honest, silver was not my 1st-choice when looking for a replacement. In fact it was probably near the bottom of the pile in terms of desirability, but the price was just too good to ignore and it sounded like a great car - one owner (a LOC member, no less), 36K miles, FSH & it had been kept in a garage since new. At this point I was thoroughly fed-up of having to borrow other people's cars to get around so I was prepared to compromise and a deal was quickly struck. On the day I arrived to see the car in the flesh for the first time, any misgivings I had about the colour disappeared the minute I pulled-up to the seller's house in a taxi. It was a gloriously sunny day and the IS looked absolutely amazing, sitting there, spotlessly-clean on the driveway. I knew right then and there that I would be going home in it. I quickly told the driver to keep the change because I couldn't wait to exit the taxi and have a closer look. After chatting with the seller over a cuppa and pouring over the car's history and piles of receipts, it was evident that the car had been well looked-after since the day it was purchased from Lexus Nottingham in April 2011. The test drive was pretty short. Just a mere formality really as I was already very familiar with how an IS250 behaves on the road and there was nothing to be concerned about, so the deal was finalised over another cuppa and then the car was mine. There was a generous amount of fuel still left in the tank at the point of sale, but I brimmed the car at Scotch Corner services and planned the journey home on the sat-nav. The obvious choice would've been to head up the A1, but I wasn't in a hurry so instead I headed west on a relaxed cruise along the A66 towards Penrith where I would join the M6, and then subsequently the M74 as I crossed the border before eventually turning off at Abington services in the Clyde Valley to join one of my favourite driving roads, the A702. This is a road that I'm very familiar with and it has it all; great scenery, sweeping fast corners, dips, rises, a few sleepy towns & villages to cruise through, twisty technical sections and plenty of long straights and clear sightlines for overtaking opportunities. Best of all, there's no speed cameras so you can really explore the limits of whatever you're driving. Taking in this road whilst getting to know my new car truly was the icing on the cake. (forgive my lengthy into and waffling but I really did enjoy the whole buying experience of acquiring this car, so I thought I would share it...) Anyway, here's a couple of pics from the sales ad showing how the car looked before I bought it. My first six months or so with the car were fairly uneventful. It had just been serviced, MOT'd and kitted-out with a new set of tyres shortly before it went up for sale, so all I had to do was get it taxed and enjoy it. My first modification (if you can call it that), was in November when I prepped the car for the miserable Scottish winter weather - by swapping out the OEM floor mats for the set of genuine Lexus rubber mats that were included with the car, and by switching to winter tyres. The winter setup was a carry-over from my previous IS250 consisting of 18" 3rd-gen F-Sport wheels shod with 225/40F / 245/40R Pirelli Sottozero 3 tyres, so this was something that didn't cost anything, and arguably looked better than stock so I was happy for my car to wear these for the next 4 or 5 months. The 2016/17 winter weather was particularly awful. Not to the extent that winter tyres were required, but it just seemed to be constantly raining and/or very windy, especially on the occasions when I actually had some free time! So during the dark winter months I just planned what I was going to do next and armed myself with some knowledge, and also picked up a few parts. Fast-forward to the spring and it was time to switch back to summer tyres. A successful PPI claim had given me some funds to play with so I wanted to upgrade to a set of staggered 19" wheels. Sure, the stock 18's look good on a 2nd-gen IS, but 19's look even better!. My initial plan was to save up for a set of graphite OZ Superturismo LMs, but these are pretty expensive and rarely show up on the used market, so I mulled this over for a number of weeks before deciding on my alternative choice of wheel - the OEM "blade" wheels off an IS-F. Produced for Lexus by BBS Japan, these forged and relatively lightweight wheels were hardly a booby prize and were actually a good choice for what I want to achieve. My overall goal for the car could be described as "OEM Plus". To try and make some tasteful improvements to how it looks and performs without ruining it, and to add a bit more of a sporting flavour without it looking out of place. At the end of the day this is my daily driver and I still want it to feel like a Lexus so I'll be using high quality aftermarket or genuine parts from within the Lexus family where possible. In this regard the IS-F wheels are ideal, so when a newly-refurbished set showed up on eBay, I snapped them up. Once the wheels arrived (from Latvia!), my next point of deliberation was tyre choice. I had narrowed the short-list of candidates down to three - Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3, Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 or Michelin Pilot Super Sports. In the end I stumped-up for the more expensive Michelins as they've been proven quality for years and are still featuring as an OEM application on various performance cars. Whilst, on the other hand, the other two are quite new on the market with less known about them. Regarding sizes, I took the safe option and went with stock widths as I didn't want to run into problems when I lower the car a touch. I didn't weigh them but just by handling them during fitting and removal and moving the various wheels in and out of storage a few times, the new wheel & tyre combo certainly felt lighter than the OEM F-Sport alloys, despite them being larger. What isn't in question though, is just how much sharper and more precise the steering feels with them, plus grip is superb. Refinement suffered a little of course, but I would say only a little as the car still rides extremely well. On my initial impressions, I was more concerned about the increased road noise and thought I had made a huge mistake, because, boy were these things loud! Thankfully they got a lot quieter after putting a few miles on them but they're still probably louder than a lot of other tyres on the market. I would happily buy them again though. Around this time I also gave the car it's first proper detail during my ownership, and it was badly-needed. After months of being caked with dirt and rock salt, the sides of the car felt like sandpaper, There were literally hundreds of tar spots, so an extensive decontamination and clay bar session paved the way for a course of Super Resin Polish and a coat of Soft99 Fusso Coat. This restored some much-needed shine and lustre to the paintwork, and for the first time in ages, it was actually protected from the elements. (Obligatory snow foam pics) April saw the car pay a visit to Lexus Edinburgh to be serviced and MOT'd and it sailed through with no advisories. In fact, the service manager commented on how clean it was, and how he had to double-check whether they had washed it or not. Next up, was to install a dash-cam. In my previous car I had the relatively cheap, but excellent A118c. And I was in the market for a new one because I carelessly forgot to remove it from the wreck before it was taken away. Anyhow, suitably impressed with how it had performed, I was all set to buy another one when I noticed that there was now an A119 on the market. This promised to be even better and could be installed just as discreetly as the older camera, so I ponied-up an extra few quid to grab one, along with the optional GPS module and a CPL filter. This time, I wanted to make use of the parking mode so that meant hard-wiring it into an "always-on" circuit, so I tapped into the keyless entry system. I was a little worried that this would drain the battery and leave the car unable to start, but so far so good. I've left the car parked-up for 3 or 4 days at a time without any trouble. This is especially impressive, since, after reviewing some footage that was captured whilst parked, it would appear that the motion sensor is pretty sensitive and will trigger the camera into recording an "event" quite easily, So, at times (like when it's raining) the camera can effectively be recording 24/7, yet it doesn't seem to be too much of a burden on the battery. This is something I'm mindful of though, so I'm keeping an eye on it. For the past couple of months, I've just been concentrating on keeping the car clean, but a couple of days ago I done my first "performance" mod when I swapped-out the standard air intake for the official F-Sport one (PTR03-53100). I'd had one of these in my eBay watch list for about 2 years, just waiting for a deal nice enough for me to pull the trigger on. Well, such a deal showed up a couple of weeks ago so I jumped on it. Some pics I took during fitting. Installation was a breeze, very straightforward and quick. I took my time however and cleaned my MAF sensor at the same time, and also cleaned-up some parts of the engine bay that were dusty & dirty before putting everything back together. As for the intake, it's a nice piece of kit. Being an OEM upgrade, you would expect the quality to be very good and the fitment to be perfect, and it is. The general consensus seems to be that this will free up around 3-5 bhp, but that's not something that can be felt. What is noticeable though is the induction sound. There's very little difference, if any, during normal driving but when you push the revs above 3K you're greeted with a fantastic throaty roar. My next move will probably be to lower the car another 10mm or so via a set of H&R springs that I bought ages ago, but until then here's a few pics of how the car looked with the 19" IS-F wheels. Quick Links: F-Sport Gear knob Winter Wheels prep & installation Interior LED upgrade New & current wheel setup IS350 Brake upgrade

I had the message "System fault" with flashing tyre, and red exclamation mark appear today. Checking with Techstream produced D3 tyre sensor faulty with it's code number. The other three tyre pressures, and temperatures were shown, but this does not tell you which wheel the problem is on. With Techstream still connected I lowered the tyre pressures in each tyre noting which pressure altered (D1, D2, --, D4) marking the wheels accordingly. The tyre with the suspect transmitter was the rear NS. I had the transmitter removed by my local friendly tyre dealer, and a rubber valve put in it's place. I then went home with the offending item. Picture (1) I gently prised off the cover of the unit. This took about 30 seconds. Picture (2) Gently scraping off the soft sealant over the battery. This took about 2 minutes. Picture (3) I peeled off the tag connector. About 1 minute. Picture (4) Gently prised out the battery removing the underside tag. Again about 1 minute. Picture (5) The battery was a Panasonic BR2450 "Same as CR2450" reading 2.8 volts. Not having one of these to hand I replaced it temporarily with a CR2032 held in place with my fingers. I took it out to the car, and turned the car on. The system fault had disappeared, and was now showing a flat tyre obviously because I was holding the sensor without any air pressure. I have ordered 5 tagged BR2450 batteries at a cost of £3-22 pence. As soon as they arrive one will be soldered back to the OEM tags, and the valve refitted. The other batteries will be kept ready for failures of the other valves. The total cost per wheel with the charges from my tyre dealer for refitting, and balancing (£10) will be £10-65 pence. Plus 5 minutes work at my desk. These pressure units could easily be made with a compartment so that the batteries could be change readily, but I suppose the manufacturers are making to much profit for this to happen. John.

Thanks Lee there are a few bits in the SC430 section but the original is 'elsewhere.' After supporting Robb in the request for a build thread, I thought I ought to make an effort to contribute to it. There was slight hesitancy as some like and even obsess about modifications but others might fairly argue that I've ruined a very nice car. I'm going to try to keep to the correct chronology as much as possible but I didn't realize how difficult this was going to be to produce. Whilst further modification of the front bumper holds up the paintwork the car gained a custom made strut brace from the Lexusman and a new, bigger battery.

I checked this - only camera is in a Pizza Hut doorway pointing to the immediate area just outside the door. No car park cameras installed. I remember reading a post a while ago about taking up two parking spots at the far reaches of a car park (where there's never anyone parked) - might adopt this !!

Well having owned both the IS220D and the IS250 I strongly advise you go for the IS250. It's better in every single way. Light years ahead infact and probably the most reliable car you can buy. The diesel is totally the opposite. Just read through the threads here on the forum. I had a variety of problems myself with the diesel. Mpg was very poor for a diesel I found. Infact my 250 gets slightly better mpg. I can easily get low 40's on a good motorway run with cruise and even tootling around town I get low-mid 30's which isn't bad for a 2.5 litre V6 engine.

I'm off as well, have just purchased a 2015 GS300h Luxury with sunroof & ML in Sonic Titanium. Primarily changed form the IS so I could get the sunroof, ML, cross traffic alert, blind spot monitor, F&R parking sensors, memory drivers seat & premium nav all for a sensible price. The GS is certainly a step up in quality and solidness but is not as sharp to drive as my previous IS Premier, but the level of "waft" and unstressed driving is tremendous.

I used to drive BMW 3 series both F30 (320d) and F31 (330d) in the past. I also had a Golf Mk7 at some point with 1.4 (150PS) TSi and a DSG. Bimmers were great, but cost 15-20K and left me stranded once.I thought I was a hard core BMW fan, but I really like IS now. I felt the IS is as good if not better than a modern 3 series. VW's DSG is something I didn't get my head around, operation-wise. It is nice to build up the speed, shifts smoothly, but at the roundabouts, junctions, in slow traffic, it is just horrible. Start/stop is not fast enough (BMW was excellent for comparison), you end up in the borderline dangerous situations when you are at any junction. Finally, there is this keenness to shift to 2nd gear. You feel like the car will stall. DSG just did not work for me. My IS250 does everything excellent so far and it has more than 100k miles on the clock.I am truly impressed by the overall package. Let me check if I can attached a few pics.

Hmmm, lubing the joints won't help if it's the motors themselves that aren't 100%. @Chris111 sure, if I have a bash at lubing then I'll report back.

thanks guys, nice to meet you all. hopefully the questions i ask won't be to silly. although i did have to use the manual to find the hidden head rest button on the drivers side. will have a nose at the build sections, did see an interesting thread on audio, but that might be a little out of my league.

Are you an engineer by profession? If not where to acquire such skills? I am amazed what you guys are prepared to tackle. You could make a list of all the guys with different skills on this forum - put them together and create a great car - detailing being the last thing byRayaans!

Gutted for you Shaun. That is so bloody annoying. Nothing on B&Q car park cameras? Neighbour had a similar thing in supermarket car park and it was caught on camera. Regarding bumper removal ....there are some pretty good write ups with pics on the US forum. If I can unearth them again I will put the link up for you. Ha, silly me, I'd made a copy for future reference, just found it .... here it is. Hope it helps you. Headlight and Bumper removal.docx

Thanks Robb The SC430 has the potential to be a bit of a wolf but instead Lexus dressed it up like grandma rather than a sheep and toned it down to appeal to a certain wealthy section of middle America. Top gear (Hammond) had quite a rant at it, as did many Soarer fans, not least for its styling and lack of practicality. I personally think Lexus missed the mark by a long, long way after the previous Soarer was such an amazing machine. The SC430 should have pushed the boundaries and been an edgy, sports coupe, much like the LCF as that was the way of the Soarer but I think Lexus were influenced too much by the lines of other cars of the day. I had 2 Soarers for many years, both modified, they were replaced by 2 x GS430s and an LS430 but I said I would find time to go back and have a go at modifying an SC430, the last of the Soarers. I've left out a lot of the details to progress it quickly, no doubt you will be wanting to see some metallic paint next.

I guess seized calipers. So you might be lucky and replacing pins going to help, or you need to replace calipers. That is all assuming you have bled the system and have no air or leaks anywhere.

hi all, Just wanted to say hi to everyone. Just picked up a new to me, 2007 GS300. Sold a Nissan Juke diesel,so hoping the mpg doesn't scare me to much. Hoping to get involved with forums, and looking forward to some wafting! thanks Tim

You haven't ruined the car at all but I understand what you're saying about folks that prefer to keep a car standard. Each to their own eh, it's your car and I think it looks fab. The strut brace looks smart, did you notice any difference to the steering/handling or ride? I guess the only drawback is that the engine cover now takes a bit longer to remove? #notabigeee

Erm don't think I'll be trading my IS250 F-sport in for one of those any day soon unless I wanted people to think I was a clown on my day off 😅

Hi all I've just bought an is 220d 70k miles 57 plate. I like it my only issue is the brake are a death trap. thought it would be just a simple fix but the more I read the more I'm worried. I press the brake and nothing happens until the pedal is half way down and then it brakes too hard any ideas on how to fix this?

Pacific Coast Auto uploaded a walk around of a special looking Altezza today. They import Japanese cars, some are fascinating!

Completely true, but here we taking about £3500 car and I need to be reasonable with spending on it + I am in process of finding replacement + I am interested and like scratching around it to get some experience. Sometimes it works out very well, sometimes I found it is pro-job, but again it is not like I am lacking skills or even tools to refurbish headlight - in this case I am lacking stupid think like simple socket for 220v...

I had a similar problem myself when I first bought my IS250. After a full service at my local garage including brake fluid change and greasing of all brake caliper slider pins (which I specifically asked them to do) the brakes have been perfect since.

After playing with Techstream on the TPMS I have found it is possible to look at the condition of the wheel sensor batteries. On the data screen the only information concerning the batteries is the words upper or lower. Going into the bar indicator graphs a green bar shows how much life is left in each battery. The rear units on my car are full, and 90% "the full one being the temporary battery I fitted. The two fronts are showing only about 5% life left. Good job I ordered five batteries. The new Lion batteries I have tested read around 3.8 volts. The battery I removed when the sensor stopped transmitting read 2.8 volts. You can also see the actual tyre pressure in psi or bar, and the tyre temperature in C or F. John

I'd install the standard ashtray and use it as a coin holder with 12v supply .

If you do a search on the forum you will see very very quickly that your choice is an absolute no brainer. The 250 wins hands down. Good luck with your purchase, I'm sure you will buy the right one P.S. I have had both cars.

Yeah something like that...11 years of dust :/ :)

I'm really looking forward to him getting one, hopefully this year some time. You've done a great job there, looks brilliant.

I have a box full of various sizes of "O" rings. These are slightly softer than the OEM sealing rings, but seal better, and allow a small amount of movement of the valve. This helps prevent the valve being snapped off if it gets knocked. These rings are a left over product from my working days as a electronics service engineer on industrial robots. The rings were used for sealing joints on both pneumatic, and hydraulic systems at pressures up to 10,000 psi on the robots. The seal kits are available on Ebay for about £6 each. John

Thanks John - that's good to know, I didn't realise this was the case with soot/ash. I'll run the regen anyway and see how long I get out of it. Otherwise I'll buy a new one. Thanks Lee - yeah, it's mostly motorway or primary roads at 60mph. Every fuel tank I run at 3,000rpm for about ten minutes. Thought that would help but doesn't seem to be the case! I gave up on sixth gear after the last forced regen around 5,000 miles ago. I think as John said above, 155k miles might just be the tipping point for a new one.

Peter, how is your mileage split between highway and town use? From reading the experience of other IS220D owners then say 6th gear is pretty useless in the UK. Instead they hold in 5th on the highway to get heat in the DPF which helps keep it from clogging up. Good luck getting this sorted.

Thanks for the input Alex, interesting to hear that you're leaning away from Beemers. Hopefully the Lexus won't leave you stranded. I've heard many complain about DSG boxes after they've used them for a while especially when parking. It's a shame as initially they seem really slick. They're costly to fix too. Great pic's btw, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the kind replies gents. I think I've cracked this for now, and predictably the fault was (I think) based on my own ignorance/stupidity. I believe the software that controls the mirrors dipping when reverse is selected tells the mirror to return to the selected memory position for the last selected driver, rather than the last actual position of the mirror. I had inadvertently set the memory with the driver's mirror in the wrong place. Once I figured this out, everything was fine and both mirrors now return to the correct position. All this being said, should the motors start to become "lazy", taking the mirror to bits and lubing the mechanism is a really good idea and one I'll keep in mind should they start misbehaving.

There are two things which clog up DPFs - soot and ash. The regen only clears the soot - the ash just keeps on building. Eventually the thing gets too clogged up and you need a new one. That seems to be where you are - 155K makes it not too surprising. So a new DPF should (might?) solve the problem Good luck!

It's worth a try. As I said I've read it's because the motors get 'tired' so they don't reset properly. If my wife has driven the car when I reset my driving position from the memory button the mirrors don't always return to my setting. It doesn't bother me but a little light lubing may help. If you try it let us know how you get on please.

A crackin' write up John, thanks for sharing. Your car looks very smart and is a credit to you You're right that the build log is helpful to keep track of when you did what. It's also useful to look back and see how the car has evolved. Looking forward to future updates.

hi Noo Bie, is it worth asking the shop if they have cameras? or if it's a parking eye type of car park would they have a car leaving matching your pic at the same time with a clear reg?

Reality with damaged used cars is often like this ..............my indy car mechanic always has a few " older " cars for sale at silly low prices ...... he buys write-offs at auction for £00s, he is very picky, knowing that a simple bumper replacement will cost the insurers several £000s, he buys replacement bits from breakers for comparative " pence " , replaces the offending part, his nephew does professional bodywork respraying, sorts out an excellent finish and the car looks like new and up for sale .......... but not for long ......... his customers get excellent deals and he makes a very useful profit too. Some minor scrapes and dings can't often be satisfactorily sorted so they get left, most people accept little blemishes in a secondhand car ..... awaiting the next scrape in the supermarket car park eh ! Malc

Here it is in pdf form if that's easier ... sorry wasn't thinking, 1st one was in Word document. Headlight and Bumper removal.pdf

So, I have to tell a story. I live in a mountain and i have a european modell IS 250(RWD). 2006, with 165.000km with full extra and full service book so everything must be fine. But... It is in Italy, Meran. Hot summer days and yeah the road up to the mountain to my home is 13-14km from the city. I have this car since 2016 summer and no problem with it. I got this job in the mountain and since from the first time my car will every time overheating if i climb the mountain. It is always different. Sometime it is only 110C but sometimes if outside is too hot than 130C or almost in the Red line. I have to always turn on the heater core on full open(classic trick). So read many many topics and videos. I checked the leaks or maybe a bad head gasket or something. But nothing... - Changed the thermostat(the old was also fine, i have tested) - Nothing happend - Changed the oil(i read somewhere it could be also a problem) - Nothing - Changed the coolant - Nothing Than i realized, the radiator cap was broken so i changed it but always yet - Nothing happend Than i wrote a big comment in a topic somewhere and somebody said "get out the radiator and from outside or if its need than also inside wash it." Okay, let's try...why not... - I taked out the radiator and i got this what you see in the pictures!! My good...i haven't seen like this before... So, yeah 11 yeras old car, everything works fine in a normal road but on the mountain you become every little **** immediatelly. Might be never was washed this radiator... So i washed it. Put everything back and now works fine :) 36C is outside. I have found a way long road up to the mountain and nothing happens :) Max 96C and than the ventilators come on for 20 second and that's all :) So i prefer for everybody to check this out If your car is overheated!! And another featuer...Before i put it out i checked from the front bumper how it looks(really i must have it out or not...?) And from the front bumper it looks like clean! But not.... And another thing...the climate radiator is front of the normal radiator(picture) and the climate radiator has bigger holes than the normal one...thats why it looks clean and the thing is...it is clean! So dont be tired. Get it out and **** off overheating :) P.S.: The ventilator at working was so loud. Now are quiet :)

Ain't that the truth. The damage in the attached picture was enough to write mine off. It was back up on AutoTrader a few weeks ago as a Cat D. Whoever bought it got a pretty good deal based on it's service history/mileage and being an SE-L

Excellent write up, thoroughly loved reading your adventure getting your next project and having 'been there done that' it is great to get a good result although you do despair at times! can't wait for the next instalment....... paul m.

@Rebecca and @Flytvr you have to keep an eye on the south wales section of the pistonheads website. There probably won't be another for a few months but I'll post on here when something is arranged. @Farqui I don't think the laguna on the trailer was with us 😀

Hello and Welcome to the forum! Enjoy every second of the IS250 its such a good car If you have any intentions of completing any maintenance, modification or just general enthusiast type jobs on the Lexus now seems like the ideal time to start a thread on the Brand New build thread section to share you ideals and photos and hopefully get a few ideas and tips along the way.

Hello and a warm welcome to the lexus owners club. You've made the right choice in purchasing the IS250. It really is a super car to drive. I'm totally delighted with mine.😃. Pics please ☺

I read somewhere that the motors that move the mirrors get 'lazy' over time but you can try to 'free' them by moving both mirrors to their furthest positions. Press and hold the 'up' arrow until the mirror stops moving, then down, again until it stops. Bring the mirror back to central and then move it right until stops and lastly bring back full left. Then set them in the position you want and a press the memory button for the seating position. You don't have to move them in this order and you may have to do it more than once but you have to make sure you move them so the mirror stops moving before you release the control button. It doesn't work for all and some have said where it has it has only lasted for a short period, but for others it has worked. If it does work you may need to do it a few times over a year. I think the only other way to cure this problem is to get the motors replaced. However I don't think that will be covered under your warranty, but other people might know different and will correct me I'm sure. I personally don't bother with the dipping facility but give the above a go, it may work for you.

I'd never come out or see the light of day again...

My favorite ..

Linas p are you sure you would want to make the motorway journey in a 220d? At least in the 250 it's a certainly you will reach your destination.

Had the wheels refurbished today. I had them done in chrome effect powder coat and had all the wheels checked for buckles and cracks. All were good though. Nice eh? Not too shiny like chrome but more shiney than paint powder coat.