Scarlet Pimpernell

From a ride perspective, the IS has a firm bouncy ride. Not as jittery as the pre LCI 3 series was (the non facelift) with those runflats, but just as hard....Sport suspension or not. It's the only way manufacturers can get a car wih a reasonably short wheelbase to handle well...I haven't yet driven an LCI 3 series, so can't say how much better it is, though they did tweak the suspension - widened the rear track etc... The bottom line is that the BMW is a different car to the Lexus. It looks bland, comes with less kit, but drives better and there are good reasons why there so many on the roads... Coming from an A3, you might be a little disappointed at the space inside the IS. The Beemer is slightly bigger inside, has marginally better visibility and a bigger boot. It'll be kinder on the wallet at them pumps and at VED time too. The IS isn't that much bigger in the back than an A3 IIRC...and the rear can feel claustrophobic to kids due to the waist line...especially if you have the sombre black interior... Ultimately you have to try them both and see which one takes your fancy. The Lexus has fantasitic looks and kit for the money, and if it's a private purchase it is seriously good value...just make sure you have the all important multimedia pack. It is awesome... If on the other hand you want something that drives really well, then a nearly new 3 series with some options on it might make more sense...try the 320i Petrol Auto and compare it to the IS250 Auto...4cyl v 6 cyl and see which one you like...a 325i will leave the is250 standing...and a 320d will seem too expensive... PS - there are loads of Sport models probably because they represent the best Value spec and so were over produced - it's almost an SEL without the cooled leather (which is not that important really...). and it means that you should be able to bargain....

It's trying to complete in a Market where the best car in this type/style is German (BMW 3 conv), so people will largely buy it for 3 reasons - perceived reliability, 'cos they would not buy german or rarity...pricing won't make much difference...unless it's dirt cheap...or much better than the saloon... It's also going to have fiercer competition from the S5 Cab http://www.leftlanenews.com/audi-s5-convertible.html I'm sure it will sell well in USA, which is Lexustera...

Why is it worrying you? image...

The biggest problem is that your savings get hit first, then the mortgage rates drop as and when the banks feel like it. Every day that the gap between base rate and mortgage rate remains high = £00000's profit for these banks who are against the ropes. Look at what it has taken to get the mortgage rates to start dropping, several days after the base rate cut. The bad news is that £ is slumping, which can only be good for exports really, but people will start moving money from banks and into other commodities - oil, Gold, Gems etc., and business's get some reprieve from interest on Busines loans. The outlook is bleak... Now is also a good time to see if you can get one of them Flexible "one account" type mortgages. People with those are the winners...assuming they have some savings! Also, what has been costing everyone is the cost of fuel. Evrything has to be transported or moved logistically at some point, and as the cost of fuels has gone up, food, cars, shipping, rail, air etc - everything goes up. Someones gotta pay, and it's us who work for a living!!

I think all manufacturers, other than those making small efficient town cars will get wallopped over the next 18 months or so, not just GM. Companies like Fiat, Pug, Honda and Toyota (not Lexus IMHO) will do OK in Europe, and Hybrids sales in the states will shoot up as the credit brunch snaps it's teeth and the governments push for green technologies... As you say, had they started to make decent cars they might be in a different place....the basic Cadillac "sedan" is garbage, but that one as featured on TG was well wicked. In some shots from the side, the rear quarters looked a tad like my IS, which was almost exactly the same shade of red...

What is with Lexus and Golf Clubs? The open boot shot looks like it has a set in a Lexus branded bag. It needs bigger wheels and maybe a tad lowered, other than that I am beginning to like the look of it now I've seen more shots...

Vids like that Youtube one are brilliant. The dial one is a bit obvious. Mine never made that noise thankfully - one issue itnever had, but several have had. I took a vid of the rattles in the car and gave the dealership one last go. It made painful viewing and the dealership kept the DVD...they failed to fix it and the car soon went... As far as JC's comments are concerned, there are plenty of female drivers of IS's in and around my neighbourhood...my neighbour and his wife for one!! slightly off but the G1 IS is becoming the rich yob's Pug 106/Cit Saxo where we are - so many now with loud exhausts and big wheels, LED's etc...quite worrying what trend that is setting!!

That's the facelift version. Which must mean that they'll be slashing the prices of the pre-facelift cars that they still have even more! You can get a bargain at the moment - SEL Auto with MM/Met for around £26.5k according to www.drivethedeal.co.uk, and a 220D SE with MM/Met for £23.2k! These are brand new UK cars...so resale values of 2nd hand will be hit harder than you'd hope. Having said this it's like that everywhere now... It's a good time to get a Gen2 IS if you want one...if dealer Pex prices are £10kish for mint cars, auction prices will be even lower this month - Ad the situation will be worse for accident repairs too - your pride and joy could have a lightish knock and get written off as they normally only consider trade values...I know it's all relative, as any car you buy to relace it with will be cheaper...

That is a bargain - especially as he'll know exactly how well it's been maintained and still under original manufacturers warranty......... I'm shocked that one of your relatives bought a 220d though - is it a cousin you never speak to? :o :P Shocking isn't it - I don't see them that often - that last time he saw me was when I had just got my Lexus. He doesn't like the "drive" as he put it :shutit:

My neighbour, on my recommendation has just bought a Black IS250 SEL Auto with MM from his company (owned and serviced by them). 45,000 mls, 2006/56 plate (with the side by side boot and fuel switches) - guess how much? £13770! At that price it's a bargain...without doubt the best VFM small exec around...You should be getting a newish one for around £25k TBH, I wouldn't pay much more than that all... Just checkout www.drivethedeal.co.uk - new one with MM and Met paint = £33k ish. DTD are offering a £6269 discount, largely 'cos of the Credit Lunch and the new 09 MY just around the corner, which means you should be bargaining for a new one for £26.5k. So a nearly new '58 shouldn't cost more than £25k! For that sort of money, there is only one choice...

This was heavily debated here about 18 months ago, and it really depends on whether you intend to keep if for the long haul or it's a leaser... I've always run diesels in, and never exceeded 2/3rd of the engine max RPM for the first 1000-1250 miles (3300rpm in the ISD), then gently increasing that to 4500RPM for the next 1000 miles, and then use max revs after 2500 miles - but not several times a week!! May be once a week!! The ISD engine is notoriously tight - I seem to recall that the car was uncomfortable in 3rd at 25mph and felt as though it laboured in virtually anygear other than 1st and 2nd...for the first 200 miles. So bench run or not, this engine needs careful running in - and it isn't fully run in until 7-8000 miles, from my exprience...dealers always say "...go fill yer boots...", but they only know how to sell... In fact I never really used 4th gear below 40 for the first 1250 miles and didn't even try 6th until the car had 2500 miles on the clock. The results were spectacular though - from 5000-7500 miles, the car was at it's peak, giving the best economy (30-35 in town, 40-45 on a run), smoothness etc...then just before the 10k service the oil consumption shot up. After the service the fuel consumption started to drop, injectors changed etc and the rest is a well documented history... PS - Motorways are OK as anytime during the day it's nigh on impossible to stick to a constant speed - but they are best avoided, povided you don't drive at a constant speed/gear...keep varying it between 2000 and 3000rpm, change gears etc. It's not too bad PPS - The HJ one sems vry conservative, and sems to site an example where the max RPM is 4500. Th ISD is 5250, so you can go a bit further...

Main dealers are selling M5's, 55 plate for £25-30k

Dunno if these Hoshi's corrode, but I'd leave it until near the warranty expiry - if it starts to corrode anywhere Lexus will replace it - scuffed or not...so rest easy buddy...!

Oh yes - it is superb! That's where it feels like a GS in many respects...sublime...something that the germans aren't very good at unless you get a S Class, 7er or a CLS possibly... May be I'm getting old but I've lost the boy racer passion...I just like to be wafted around now - my new car does just that... but the gearchange is not as smooth as the GS's... Incidentally, I managed to get a drive in the new Honda Accord - it was a 2.0 Auto...I was really impressed overall - not terribly quick but a very good car at the price!! A lot of road noise compared to Accords of old, but it is seriously good. Just too many buttons on the dash...and dare I say it I thought it was marginally better than the new A4...

Car sals are down >23% in Oct compard to last. Now is probably a good time to do it - there are a plethora of nearly new exdemo's and management cars everywhere and November is normally a very quiet month....which means you get a huge choice... Porsche - history has shown that brands like Porsche will not get hit-overall-so they might offer you a crap deal. Audi too are seeing a sales bonanza - so again you might struggle on an A5 which is in demand... the longer you leave it, the less interested dealrs will be in taking a Lexus...which they have to pass on again through the trade...so you will be offered £500-1000 less than CAP to cover any losses they incur, unless they can pre-sell (which many can and do). Like I've said - best to go to a dealer (any make) who have Lexus within group... Good luck

I have tried the Garmin BT HF and that was a bit pants too...separat MIC ires, white noise (crackling) etc, and the other party struggled to hear half the time....nothing beats a proper integrated BT, but the newer visor clip type are pretty good. They have DSP and Noise Canx. You can take them from car to car, or use them for HF at home too...and they don't look CHAV on the windscreen either !!

Tash - mine was like that all the time at the end...but it had never had the EGR valve changed AFAIK - it wasn't rcognised as being a "consumable item" whilst I had the car (2years 4 month, 20k from new). One thing about the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) to note: It traps pollutants, but is self cleaning - and should therefore last the life of the car/engine (in theory). However, in order to clean itself, it has to run at very high temperatures. You'll probably find that the car "misbehaves" when it's doing this, and that could be one reason why you get inconsistent performance...I was always perplexed about this for the first 10 months of onership when my car ran relatively well (consistently 39-45mpg)...and then read up on it by chance on a website.

I think it was a brilliant race, and had it been anyone other than vettel in those conditions, Lewis would have finished 4th. I don't think it was fixed either - Toyota would never give up championship points like that...else they would not have gambled on staying out on grooved tyres... I also don't think the mcLaren was all that good on that track. It din't look quick enough- and I don't know if they had detuned it slightly to conserve the engine and mak sure it didn't go POP - it was on it's 2nd race in Lewis's car...dunno if they do things like that, but only once did he lap anywhere near to Massa's time - so may be he was driving carefully... One thing I noted was the Hamilton's rear light flashed throughout the whole race (regardless of the tyres), and as we watched him going round, my son and I were wondering at point he would get a stop go penalty, or lose his points LOL for dazzling The Ferrari pit crew... I suppose he must be kicking himself -had he won it last year he would have had 2 in a row...at the age of 23! PS - I know that they move to all slicks again (yipee) but what other changes are a comin'?

Thanks for the advice. Got any images of what this looks like? Had first drive out yesterday and the car was a very pleasant drive. Only complaint was the bloody TomTom, which at one point failed to have audio for a telephone call I made, and then when I tried to make the call again, it got stuck in ringing, making a ringing noise, yet the phone handset had answered, and had the person on the other end hearing me shouting at my TomTom, and then it falling to the floor.... Girlfriend thinks its user error, but I'll wait to see if it happens again. Reset the unit and it made calls ok after that. It'll be interesting to see how much you miss the factory Satnav. I only miss the rear camera I think it should be mandatory on all cars!! I don't miss the touch screen, or electric seats at all. Looking at things now, the best spec has got to be the 250SR Auto.

Tax is around £90 more expensive per year than the standard 220d. However if you get a new one (facelift version), apparently the CO2 emissions have dropped considerably in the Sport version (so has the final gear ratio) and it will be the same as the standard model (can't confirm this). Economy in town is around 30-32 mpg, and 42-44 mpg on the motorway. The Co2 will be 264g/km on the 2009 model, I believe on all variants. Current Models 220d 220dSport Urban (mpg/l/100km) 35.8/7.9 29.7/9.5 Extra urban (mpg/l/100km) 52.3/5.4 45.6/6.2 Combined (mpg/l/100km) 44.8/6.3 38.2/7.4 CO2 Combined (g/km) 168 195 The figures say one thing, but you HAVE TO drive them to appreciate the differences for yourself... 264? Do you mean 164? I am pretty sure I read a brochure that said the Sport version will still have higher CO2 emissions as usual, but much lower than the current one. Basically I think they tweaked the gearbox again to improve economy, seeing that the Sport version was never an option as a company car due to excessive tax. Sorry - meant 164 and not 264 - typo. They have probably settled for a different final drive (Diff) as they were different between Sport and non-Sport. Gearbox's were the same AFAIK. May be a new engine Map too? Who knows...

Tax is around £90 more expensive per year than the standard 220d. However if you get a new one (facelift version), apparently the CO2 emissions have dropped considerably in the Sport version (so has the final gear ratio) and it will be the same as the standard model (can't confirm this). Economy in town is around 30-32 mpg, and 42-44 mpg on the motorway. The Co2 will be 264g/km on the 2009 model, I believe on all variants. Current Models 220d 220dSport Urban (mpg/l/100km) 35.8/7.9 29.7/9.5 Extra urban (mpg/l/100km) 52.3/5.4 45.6/6.2 Combined (mpg/l/100km) 44.8/6.3 38.2/7.4 CO2 Combined (g/km) 168 195 The figures say one thing, but you HAVE TO drive them to appreciate the differences for yourself...

With the diesel, you don't feel like you're thrashing it's horlicks off all the time... In the 250 Auto, it can take some time before you hit 4000rpm, having floored the pedal, waited for it to decide what gear you need etc etc. unless you drive it at high revs all of the time...which means manual flappy paddle mode to get control....then the flappy gearchanges aren't quick enough and it ruins the enjoyment.... the manual 250 just feels lethargic, unless you keep at 4250+RPM...then it feels quick enough... In the diesel, you just squeeze the pedal and as long as you start at over 1850rpm in 2-4, the power just comes in a silky surge...you don't have to floor it like you do in the 250Auto to get anywhere...and you don't have to change cogs... Also, in the diesel, if you try doing this at revs lower than 1700 you can at times get nothing..zippo...no go at all...and at roundabouts in the rush hour it is almost dangerous...the boost is either on or off... You have to keep the revs up and drop the clutch. Towards the end I was doing that at busy intersections, and my clutch was starting to judder when warm...it couldn't take it...only after 20k on the clock... Like I've said, these are not performance saloons - they need to be driven with a gentle style, in which case the 250A wins - it's a proper Lexus...

That's TG all over isn't it? Childish pranks, costing loads of money, but "uniquely funded" I think it's a great programme...it sells worldwide now... I do think that the Brand/Ross thing was risque...the fact they apologised says it all...if some joked about doing that to my daughter or grand daughter I'd 'ave 'em...especially it was on national radio...

You need a go in a 430 mate.... ;) Why shouldnt you? - the bhp quoted is available at a defined point - therfore you are only going to hit it at those particular revs.... I did drive the SC430 which was vry nice :-) - loads of kick... As far as the 100bh/ton is concerned - it would be Ok if the defined poiint was at 3000rpm...but in an IS250 it is too far up the range - so you find yourself thrashing it to make good progress...true VVTi style...

I've always been a diesel fan - there's nothing quite like a good torque "shove" in a RWD car...however, the Lexus one is beginning to look even more aged and compromised...The forces that are put onto the ISD engine and gearbox must be pretty fierce - all 400NM within a narrow band...and IMHO only the Sport makes any real world sense. But then you pay with high Co2/Company and VED taxes. I never took mine beyond 3600rpm, as after that it was definitely more noise than momentum... The ISD non Sport power delivery is just too narrow - if you take a look at some of the new Variable vane turbo D's (Audi and BMW) you see that the power deliver is more linear - from lower rpm and less abrupt. The ISD is just no match for them IMHO. Hopefully the facelift will be better, but we don' t know what they have changed - just that the Co2 drops by 4g/km...it is seriously lagging behind. As mentioned above, the IS250Auto is better, but it does feel lethargic below 4000 - true VVTi style - ECT or not. You do have to keep your foot down to make any rapid progress...ECT helps, but you shouldn't really need it if you have >100bhp per ton... The 250 is a wafter car, not a racer... The GS450h on the hand gives you both