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Hello, So I've picked up another IS250 last year. I had one previously and I missed it, so here it is. Manual, black leather, sat nav with Mark Levinson audio system, air conditioned seats and the rest that's pretty normal for these cars. Bought it completely stock. Soon after I've done an oil change, I replaced a dirty air filter and put an HKS Super air filter in it and changed the oil cap for a Mishimoto aluminium one. I've replaced a dirty & damaged gear knob gaiter and disgustingly used gear knob that just pained me every time I drove it. Then the exciting stuff happened.. a set of RAYS Gramlights 57CR 18x9.5 ET38 paired with very average TOYO Proxes TR1 225/40R18.. I've used the older compound (T1-R) tyres and they were fine. Definitely a very noticeable upgrade over the previous 245/45R17 Continentals that someone put on it. 245s are just way too wide for the amount of power this car has in my opinion. It feels a lot more nimble now on the narrower tyres, but also much more grippy due to the Toyo's being just better in every way. The AVG mpg's have also changed after changing an air filter & wheels. I used to average 21mpg on my way to and from work (14mile one way mixed commute - dual carriageways, town and country roads). Now it's around 26mpg and strictly motorway driving - cruise control at 70mph went from 36mpg to 43mpg. Safe to say I'm very happy with it so far. Currently I need to get rear discs & pads all round as these are sh*t and very bad on dusting. Plans for the future are: TEIN Flex Z Fully adjustable coilovers to improve the handling. HARDRACE front LCA steering response bushes - that should stiffen up the steering wheel a little bit as it's way too sensitive for me at the moment. GT86/BRZ OEM differential & 4.1 final drive - will reduced the top speed, but will increase the acceleration which is something very noticeable, especially on A/T cars as they have 3.7 FD and M/T have 3.9 FD, but my Manual will benefit from it too. HKS HI-Power exhaust (currently on back order - should arrive in April) - unleash the V6 noises! Sound clip from someone in the USA here Rear diffuser Vland tail lights + lots more but I won't list everything..

I agree with Herbie regarding his comments regarding Lexus Teesside. It’s my nearest Centre and I’ve purchased my last 6 Lexus from them. CT, IS, GS, NX, ES and RX in that order. GS F Sport was the best my a country mile insofar as quality over the others whilst the ES was the most advanced and complete. I haven’t driven my RX much yet to make any useful comments. When dealing with Teesside I either speak with David, Tom or Chris on the sales side.

Gary, you should take an enormous amount of credit for the way in which you dealt with the matter. I understand that Lexus Carlisle is operated by the Border Motor Group which does not I understand, have any other Lexus Dealerships. A strong letter to the M.D. of the Group might be appropriate and should you so desire you can report that your report to the L.O.F was received with utter dismay by several long standing Members who might be of a mind to request Lexus.U.K. to carry out a formal appraisal of Carlisle`s suitability to retain the Lexus franchise. Many thanks for your candid assessment of Lexus Carlisle.

You just beat me to that Sunshine and I would have guessed Carlisle too.

Absolutely. The Genesis brand will be available as from next year but also here pricing is not available yet. Looks great, the Koreans have come a long way!

they are looking into taking it back / replacing it with another. And so they should. At least they don't do the " but it's only a flesh wound" nonsense.

Look forward to hearing about it when you pick it up. Photos are obligatory please 😀

The above answer is not actually fact, the reason i know this is because i own and drive a rx300 import 2.2 it is badged rx300,steering wheel is lexus,v5 is lexus rx300, so they do exist

These are the correct part numbers but sadly delisted. Before replacing (if still available) try cleaning out the vent/housing as fluff tends to accumulate in there blocking the thermistor sensor. Compressed out normally does the job around 30PSI.

That reminds me of a neighbour many years ago. I saw him get a new pressure washer out of his boot then wash all his slabs, then the car. When he opened his bonnet, I thought to myself "should I.....?" but didn't. I'm sure that the AA man complimented him on how clean and shiny his engine was.

I think that part number refers to the smog sensor that sits on the front grill it shuts the vents from the outside of the car when there is heavy pollution in the air around the car .

Perfect thanks 👍

So Lexus Leeds are doing more investigations, but general consensus is the head gasket has failed. They are just double checking the EGR cooler, in case I happen to have picked up a dud. They have been fantastic on the potential repairs, given me a very fair price. Will update once I get it back.

Quick update on the clutch. So the clutch has been changed now, got the Exedy kit in it, but kept the original DMF as it's still okay for a while. Couldn't justify spending £500+ on a new flywheel at this time of the year, but the good news is everything works as it should. I'm just going to bed it in over the next 250 miles or so. Moral of the story, if you have no flywheel issues, you don't necessarily have to change it. Garages will advise you to do it but they just want to make extra ££ on you even if the stock flywheel is still usable. The car has covered 145k miles on a stock clutch & flywheel, so I'm chuffed.

Welcome to the LOC Steve. I'm fairly new myself. What i understand from reads on the forum all Lexus vehicles are comfy. Hope you get sorted and best of luck to both of you.

since october 2013 i have owned an 61 plate luxury CT200h , a 63 plate luxury IS300h , a 17 plate IS300h F Sport and my current 66 plate GS300h executive in all this time the cars have been faultless not even an advisory at Mot time you've made a good choice enjoy the car.

Had a few hours on my hands between showers today so opened up a can of whup ***** and did a bit of tidying under the bonnet. No special cleaning stuff used, just a fine finishing pad, toothbrush, a damp rag and some paint I found in the garage. Not concours but good for a 3 year old car that has always lived by the seaside. Waiting for the ACF-50 to arrive so I can give everything a mist coat.

Thanks. I've got another video here

I came to my IS300H from a FWD Honda Accord. They occupy the same road space but the interior space in the IS300H is tiny, by comparison. That centre console is massive because of the IS300H's RWD layout. This also means a large transmission tunnel and combined with the batteries being under the rear seats, it means that the middle rear seat will not accommodate a medium sized adult with any comfort. I also observed a rather large friend of mine appearing wedged in the front passenger's seat on one trip - although he didn't complain! My wife has a Prius Plus (7 seater) which I guess would be roughly the same size as your Auris. The difference in space between it and the IS300H is night and day. Now, none of this bothers me because I don't need the room. If you don't, I would strongly recommend the IS300H - it's streets ahead of the Auris in terms of feeling special (You'll know what this means when you sit in it) and its also super reliable and very comfortable. The 2.5 litre engine also has lots more power than the 1.8 you are used to in the Auris, although you won't get the same economy: mine has averaged 40MPG over the last 3 years with a maximum of 62MPG seen once on a gentle 50 mile on mostly motorway with some urban driving. 50 MPG is possible with some restraint on longer motorway trips and my worst-ever was 32MPG on a tank where all journeys were short, stop/start and in the winter months. I would guess your Auris will be at least 10% better than the IS300H. (All my figures were calculated, and not from the readout, which on my car reports its consumption about 7-8% better than actual). I purchased mine from a reputable Car Supermarket - it was a typical X-Ronnie Rep, lots of motorway use, coming off its 3-year lease, car. It had a full service history and checked out ok. I wouldn't restrict your search to just Lexus Dealers but I always like only 1 previous owner, which mine was. Good luck with your search (mildly jealous ☺️ )

Update: I've been a bit slacking on here, so anyway. I've installed the new exhaust (HKS Hi-Power) a couple months ago and I've also put coilovers (TEIN FLEX Z) on the car a few weeks ago. Exhaust was a very very easy to install. Nothing special, just pop the hangers off, undo a few bolts, job done. Now coilovers. There were all pretty easy to do it, just a matter of WD40 and undoing bolts here and there. However, the rear left bolts that goes through the shock & lca was rusted in so bad I couldn't remove it. I ended up cutting it and putting a new bolt in. FIY, the bolt is M14 and around 80mm long.. I couldn't believe how difficult it was to find it. I ended up buying it online for £7 as B&Q, Screwfix and Toolstation had only M12 or M16 as alternatives... I needed my car, so I just put an M12 through it that I got from B&Q as I didn't have any other option, but it's all good now. The car is now sitting about 60mm front and 50mm rear lower than stock. The ride is actually more comfortably than on stock shocks, although the stock suspension was 135k miles old and tired. Here's a pic of the clearance on the front on full lock with 18x9.5 ET38 wheels. It looks fine, but it does rub on full lock when there are two people in the car. Only an issue when parking, and not a big deal at all. It just catches the arch liner, so no damage. Here's a few pics of how the car sits now. Also had to test the diff. The stock suspension had so much travel the diff just wouldn't lock, whereas now the rear end is a lot stiffer, the little Torsen LSD engages a lot better 🙂 Apologies for the poor choice of location, but it was convenient and nobody was around as this McDonald's is still closed now due to lockdown.

There was no such thing as a Lexus RX300 in Japan it was known as a Toyota Harrier there so the engine will be marked Toyota and the steering wheel will also be badged Toyota. Also look for a retrofitted rear fog light and switch as this is another import give away. Check the speedometer, if it is just one set of figures instead of 2 (MPH/KPH) this is another clue that it is an import. If it is an import from most other countries it will be LHD so easily spotable. If you do buy an import many mainstream insurer's won't deal with "Grey Imports" so you need a specialised broker, rates are generally comparable to a UK spec model. Road tax is calculated for the equivalent UK model of the same year so should be the fixed non emissions related rate of £220.00 a year at that age. The V5C logbook will also state "Previously Registered Overseas" on the front. I have an import LS400 and have had no problems with insurance or spares.