its_a_doozy

Nope, needs to be all the way up. Might have to get busy under the car one weekend and see where the switch is. It may be a bit more smarter than that though and be based on the fact the wheels are moving, plus handbrake.....

I think the "tyre roar" or noise from the road is exagerated because the car is generally so quite in the cabin due to the soundproofing and lack of wind noise. I bet if you put a gauge inside th cabin and measured the dB's you'd find the IS250 one of the quietest in its class. Middle age? I think it's more mature than the old version, and this shows, because it is unlikely that boy racers are going to be buying copy cat IS250 rear light clusters for their pocket rockets. The old IS was a boy racer icon, and is that really a good thing? The only thing that made the old IS a little bit middleage was the fact that Alan Partridge (a ha!) had one. That was the biggest blow to most IS200 owners at the time. "Its a Japanese mercades, back of the net". As for buying an Audi A4, what can I say :P

Yes, the IS250 SatNav allows postcode entries and also telephone entry. So if a business is registered with the system, you can find it by it's postcode or telephone number. It is very smart and is a bit like predictive txt on a phone, it know the available next numbers and letters so only allows you to type those in next. all other keys are greyed out. So if you are in a town and you only know some of the postcode, you can also search on the firts parts, and you can list such things and cinemas, restaurants, garages, hotels etc in that area. It's cool, and give you only one excuse to ever be late again..."I was programming my SatNav". :winky: Bit problem with the SatNav is the saftey feature of not allowing you to change or enter anything whilst on the move. This renders your passenger (co-pilot) useless. So if you are on route and want to search nearest places to stop for a meal, you have to pull over ( a pain on motorways!!) and then search. Would be good to get the hack/crack codes to turn safety feature off. Then at least Lexus would be treating drivers as responsible adults able to control their own toys.

My car started to rattle on Saturday as I set off from Manchester to Cardiff for the Oasis Noise and Confusion concert. The rattle is beneth the the dashboard middle speaker grill. If I push down while driving the rattle goes. It comes back when you release the pressure. Goes when the car warms up. Still doing it today, so will call Lexus dealer tomorrow to get it checked out. I also have the SE with MM. The rattle sounds like something loose on top of the actual speaker. Other than that I have no other complaints about the car. If anything the rattle is made worse by the excellent cabin sound proofing which makes such noises all the more significant.

Perhaps you should start wearing some pants :P then you won't have the cold/heat of leather on your naked buttocks

As previously stated the Motorola V3 RAZR can only download the contacts one at a time and is a very long process. After each number has been transfered the phone re-connects to BlueTooth. You then have to go to the next contact in the phone and select send, after first going to the phone menu on the car vdu, selecting transfer numbers etc... takes about 4 steps to do each number. Not as bad as trying to make a voice activated (TAG) call from a recorded tag. That is the worst part of my Lexus!! Quicker to stop, and release the pigeon from your boot. Lexus dealer did attempt to download by swapping my SIM for his Erricson, but my SIM can't hold all my numbers so a copy was only partly effective. Good service tho' from Lexus of course.

You can play DVD while driving, but as soon as you take the parking brake off the picture switches off and you can only hear the audio. Great for listenening to live concert DVD's. Don't know what would happen if you loaded a DVD full of MP3's. I assume it will still play them. Will need to give it a go. While on the subject of the DVD system, does anyone know how to overide parking brake safety cut out on the DVD system, as it would be nice for passengers to be able to watch DVD's when driving. ← I've been led to believe you can load MP3s to onto a DVD and play them on the Mark Levinson. I also think you can play DVD-Audio discs. Need to wait till I get mine to try it out. ← I have managed to make CD compilations full of MP3s and WMA files, but have not been able to get a DVD-R or DVD-RW with MP3s to play...YET !! There are so many formats and options when making a DVD it is just a case of finding the one that the Lexus ML DVD system will read. The manual states that it WILL play DVD Video and DVD Audio which show up as DVD-V or DVD-A respectfully. A DVD with MP3's is a different case, and the manual doesn't mention this. It also states that DVD-R, DVD+R, -RW & +RW may not be supported. That said, I was given a DVD-R with series one of LOST done in DivX and that played perfectly OK. I am still trying with the DVD full of MP3 & WMA files :winky:

It's now been 1 week that I have had my IS250 and I am still smiling :D The AUX input in the armrest is a standard 3.5mm Jack, same as stereo headphone sockets on most audio equipment. So you only really need a double ended jack lead to connect an MP3 player. In fact you can connect any analogue device to this jack. You could attach a Mic or a Tape deck, whatever takes your fancy. Put in a Microphone and it's ideal for election time or announcing the "Water Supply Is Being Turned Off" with the stereo on full blast Spent a few hows making MP3 CD compilations for playing in the 6 CD/DVD changer. Getting the format correct wasn't too difficult until my I.T brain started to think whether I could blow a DVD full of MP3's. Turns out the DVD player has some limitations on the format of the DVD it will read. I have managed to play DVD-R and standard DVDs. Not been able to get it to play a DVD-RW or +RW yet! ! Tried a few different formats of DVD-R will MP3 and WMA files, but the disc would not read. Still trying!! What I am trying to achieve is a set of DVDs full of WMA and MP3 songs/albums so that I have more free slots for films or original CDs. How much music can one Lexus truly hold? I don't know but will find out

Yes you get parking assist in the form of rear view camera and guide lines with the Multimedia/SatNav system. No sensors on the SE, and who really needs those beeps anyway? Camera works a treat :D I did like the power steering adjust on the SE-L when you start the car the wheel shoots out to your preferred position whilst the dials whizz round and light up. Very plush and a nice touch. My SE only does the dial thing and the manual rake on the steering column is just fine. Just less of toy really. As for the illuminated scuff plates...nice cool blue glow...hmm a bit like the neon boy racer strobes !! Only saying that because my SE hasn't got them, but again, a touch of flash exuberance only. Not going to miss not having them. As for the other SE-L extras, I'm not too bothered about. Happy happy happy with the SE + Multimedia. It's the dogs B**** :D

Hi Guys, :D :D Just wanted to say I picked up my new IS250 SE (manual with Multimedia, in Cadoxton Slate, grey leather interior), yesterday afternoon. :D Can't stop smiling. Girlfriend says she feels like a fraud driving around in such luxury. :P I used to love my old IS200 Sport but this car is worlds apart. It blows the old model away, which is saying something, as the old IS is still a very desirable vehicle. I will be taking some pics soon to add to the great collection on here. Definately need to read the manual though, it would be a shame not to maximise on all the cars features. Got losts trying to find IKEA in Warrington last night.....Hadn't sussed out the SatNav properly, D'oh ! From the little I have played with the car, the SatNav won't let the passenger search for destinations while the car moves. I found this annoying, although I know it is a safety feature....can it be hacked, or reconfigured to treat the owners as responsible adults? We have 24hr drinking now, surely we can be trusted with our own SatNavs!! :P Also took my sister and 3 children to the airport last week, promised to collect them today (now in new car). The old IS only managed to get 3 large wheely suit cases in the boot, and the small case had to go in the passenger footwell with small child sat with legs crossed. A big squeeze. So this morning at 6am it was test/compare the new IS trunk space. Well you will be happy to know that after several attempts and getting the angles right I managed to squeeze all the cases in the boot, and the passengers could travel in pure luxury, watching some DVDs at the lights Well done to Lexus for improving the boot space, and no more hinges digging into your storage space, or damaging the shopping.

:D Excellent thread and the pictures are awesome. Thanks for taking the time out to show us all the details of your car. Keep up the good work. Can't wait for mine to come, just a shame Lexus can't give me a firm delivery date. How did you get yours so quick?

I paid my £500 deposit back in August and was told of a mid-Nov delivery date. 4 weeks ago I was advised the date would be more like early Dec due to the likely need for some retrofits when the cars land in UK. Dealer believed that the specs may not be correct from Japan. This might involve factory fitting any extras that were missed off the orders. Two weeks ago I saw the car in the flesh at the showroom and was told it was looking like the cars are to correct spec and will be with them late Nov. Called today and no joy on getting a firm date. I was told 8 cars are being chased, one of which is mine. Lexus dealer is calling me tomorrow with an update. Must say I am not impresed. My old IS200 Sport is going back to them when we exchange cars, but TAX disc runs out end of Nov. A late delivery will mean I have to pay road Tax for the car I am exchanging, therefore putting me financially worse off. I hope the call tells me the delivery date is before month end. Anybody got a good way I should get Lexus to pay for the road tax if their deliveries cause me extra expense?

Hi, I am an owner of an IS200 Sport. The 3 years purchase plan is now up and I have tested an new IS250 and subsequently ordered one. I should get mine within days. I ordered an SE with Multimedia pack. One feature that seemed a bit OTT was a light under the door mirrors. The car at the garage was an SE-L fully loaded, so not sure if mine has this. I was impressed by the blue illuminated silver scuff plates on the SE-L, but it's only a nice gimmick so not going to be too upset that my SE hasn't got them. The reverse camera feature is amazing and the VGA display has guide lines which you can use for parallel parking of straight reverse. Allows you to get within mm's of the car behind (as if you would want to!!). The down side I think is the lack of side door trims. I know the styling lines would not be as effective with them, but I can't help think my IS will get lots of door bashes at the local supermarket. My old IS hasn't faired too well in this department, and I think I'll end up parking across two spaces or getting the bus to the shops :duh: Great reviews on here, thanks guys.