Northern Boys Luv Gravy

Mine's done 20k miles and the leather seats are still like new. All I do is vacuum them regularly and then give them a rub over with a damp chamois leather.

I can kind of see where you are coming from, having owned an Audi previously and having a wife who works for Audi and has their company cars. Of all the German brands I think Audi interior quality and fit and finish is the best. However, we have a brand new 2.0T A4 S-Line with full leather interior and when it arrived I was fully expecting it to taint my feelings towards my year old IS250. Actually, the opposite is true, and every time I go out I find myself reaching for the Lexus' keys. Yes, the A4 feels solid and the interior plastics are a bit better, but I find the keyless entry, the smooth V6 with Auto, the soft leather, heated seats of the IS just far more satisfying. The Lexus also rides better, handles better, has a better stereo, and feels equally solid on the road. There are certain things on the Audi that make you think "hey this is a well engineered car" - the door hinges for example, but then again you look at the fit and finish of the Lexus exterior and the technical specs of the engines and you see that they are actually superior to the Audi. I think Audi have a done a tremendous job over the last 20 years distancing themselves from VW while using a box of the same parts. It has certainly helped that they have "halo" cars like the RS4s and S3,4,8s, quattros etc, and I really think that Lexus need to look at this side of the business a bit more. Having said which, Audi have admitted that the headlong rush for sales has wrecked their customer service scores and look enviously at Lexus with their low volume, high satisfaction ratings.

The best autostart systems are the ones in dressing gown and slippers who nip out start your car, then serve you a full fried breakfast and a mug of tea to send you on your way. In colder weather you may have to exert more force to push them from under the duvet though.

The S4 gets universally panned by the motoring press compared to the RS4 which can do no wrong. Strange that Audi can get it so wrong and so right at the same time.

As far as I am aware the manufacturer's warranty would not be valid as it will not have been purchased inside the EU. LHD can increase premiums slightly and of course you would have to pay 17.5% VAT - is it worth it?

He's doing well, our last three 2.0Tdi A4s have never averaged more than 43mpg.

If Lexus were as good as they say they are you could press it at night and by the morning you could ski to work!

I think we should do it, also they allow it they shouldn't charge us for it! Lexus Leicester wanted £95 per hour to re-program it. I'm like eunos800, I've ruffelled a few feathers at LGB too. We need a virgin to take up the query... I'll be speaking to Leic Lex tomorrow and will confirm this... Did someone order a virgin?

Thats not right....i have a protectected NCB (9yrs) i had a small accident resulting in £1200 of damage,it was fixed and the following year i still had 9yrs(fact) It is right, as I said you don't lose the NCB but they can try and claw some back by upping the starting premium.

Protected NCB is one of the biggest cons going. Sure you can have a protected 60% NCB on a premium of , say, £1000 meaning you pay £400 a year. Then you have an accident and make a claim. Come renewal time you still have your protected 60% NCB but now the premium is £1500 meaning you pay £600.

I've no idea what you are doing wrong or what tone you are applying to your letters, but when I had need to contact Lexus Customer Care via email they came back to me within 48 hours and couldn't have been more helpful.

If you are going for mudflaps make sure you go the whole hog and get the tartan rug for the back seat and the string backed driving gloves. If you are feeling particularly racy get a nice shiny "rally style" anorak.

This happened to me once at an Audi dealership. Mind you I was sleeping with the Service Receptionist at the time. And we were married. Come to think of it, taking into account the last 18 years, it probably wasn't that cheap.

I think even MINis are talked up too much though. I had a one year old Cooper with Chilli pack, air con, all the right extras etc.. It was in immaculate condition and had done 18,000 miles. It cost £14,500 new. Come to sell and I had no offers privately and a stream of traders telling me MINIs don't hold their value anymore and could only offer £10k. Eventually I got £11,250 from a MINI dealer cash. Not a bad result but not as good as they'd have you believe. I have decided to hang onto the Ferrari for the moment.

I'm not worried in the slightest. Early valuations like this are notoriously unreliable and you have to look over the longer term say 2/3 years when most sensible people would think about changing. The Lexus is currently predicted to hold more of its value over 3 years than either the 3 series or the C class. Secondly, BMW and Audi residuals are always quoted as been good until you actually come to sell. Then you find out that either you don't have the right options for the secondhand market or the options you have paid for are not taken into account when pricing for trade in. Also, given the discounts available on 325 SEs, that trade figure is way over priced. Finally, in my opinion, no cars offer good residuals, some are just less horrifying than others.

Unfortunately no US Lexus have windows that can be wound up by holding the lock button on the key fob. Something to do with US safety legislation. There has been discussion on this point on the US Lexus owners' site Club Lexus.

Obviously a nut job...

I'm up to 14000 miles. MPG is now 31mpg. Car seems smoother and faster than ever.

Depends where you are - the windows up via the fob doesn't work in some markets due to legislation (the US for example). If you are in the UK it should work on all models.

Hold down track change buttons on the CD/Radio itself and it will fast foward/rewind through CDs.

I think he meant to say; "ALL Lexus dealers give discount on the new IS250". Certainly I got discount when I bought mine in December and I didn't even have to ask.

New one all the way for me - you can't beat being the first to drive it off the forecourt. Anyway the extras that the SE-L has over the SE are mere fripperies and you won't miss them! :)

Probably not and even if they had we would never know if they ever acted on something they read on here. What would be the point of operating a dealer network and Customer Care Centre if someone from Lexus was going to circumvent the whole process and act ad hoc based on scribblings on these forums. A dealer may be in the middle of resolving our complaint only for someone from Head Office to stick an oar in without knowing the full story. Complaints should always be first made to the dealer and if there is no satisfaction there, to Customer Services. That way the matter can be logged and tracked through to satisfaction hopefully.

To be fair it is drilled into most prestige franchise salespeople now that if they: 1. Serve customers well, they will 2. Hit targets, and 3. Make money. The bonus schemes are set up in such a way that good customer feedback and positive mystery shopping scores impact as much as sales targets.

I don't know about Lexus but I know that Audi read theirs. I know of two people who had their cars booked in for warranty work only to have the claim rejected because they had boasted of tracking their cars on the website.