Northern Boys Luv Gravy

The SE-L has some nice frippery but none of it that important. Just get some good aftermarket reversing sensors added.

That 36mpg does seem low for that journey. The other day I went from Newcastle to Stockton and back , through the Tyne Tunnel, cruise control at 70 mph, a bit of pootling around and returned 41mpg - in my IS250 Auto.

It doesn't look any different externally to me - and maybe it doesn't have too - the IS still looks fresh to me. Having seen the new offerings from Audi with the A4 (very conservative styling more backward looking than forward) and the Mercedes C-Class (nothing new and arse end heavy styling), I'm pleased I stuck with the IS when I changed last year. Perhaps the mule is running revised engines (lower emissions?) or a hybrid powertrain?

I got mine from Lexus Newcastle - they had it in stock. All bodyshops use water based paints and have done for some years now. The missus used to work at a bodyshop and they went water based in 1995.

I just bought a new touch up paint kit for Cadoxton Slate a week or so ago. It's a new type. The old ones were like the Audi/BMW ones with a wire brush tip to the colour bottle. The new ones have a slightly abrasive pad instead that you use to flush down the dab of paint before adding the clear coat. I've not noticed any problems with it.

My IS250 is the only car I've ever had where it is never a chore to drive it even on the most mundane of errands. If you want sporty play with the paddles (and I'm finding I do this more and more, blipping down to 2 on the display as I approach roundabouts and then blasting out of them), if you want relaxation just sit back in the comfy seats and let the auto box do all the work.

Possibly a loose heat shield underneath. It could have been damaged by something on the road or when the springs were fitted.

It all depends whether or not it's deemed a manufacturing fault or fair wear and tear. I'm assuming the bit ot the seat that is worn is the bolster on the outside edge of the back of the driver's seat. This part of any seat always takes the most wear and is the first to show signs of damage from jeans, belts etc. A friendly word with your dealer will probably result in them doing something about it - either new seat cover or recommended repair.

The top of the bootlid is steel. The panel between the lights, holding the numberplate and badges is plastic (for cheaper repair bills in rear end shunts). In fact there are two types of panel, one has the hole for the reversing camera and the other doesn't. I know this since the bodyshop repairing my car initially fitted the wrong panel and then had to order a new one from Lexus to swop over.

I'm waiting for the photo of an IS200 with HIDs and IS350 badges on the back. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course! :)

The shark fin is for the satellite radio available in the States. It's funny how on the UK Lexus boards you get people asking how they can get the sharkfin because they like the look and on the US boards you get people asking how to remove the sharkfin because they prefer the clean look. Personally I think it looks a bit naff on Beemers so I'm not that interested in having one for the Lexus.

Both my IS250 autos have settled down to 29.6 mpg average over time. It bugs me actually because I just can't quite get it to average 30mpg.

I'm having a bit of a wild stab in the dark here, and someone may correct me, but I believe that if you lift off the accelerator when you slow down to lights and junctions, the fuel is cut off to the engine. When the revs drop sufficiently the fuel starts up again as you idle or press the accelerator once more. If you blip the throttle as you slow, or speed up and then brake sharply, there's a surge of fuel to the engine and then an abrupt cut off. Sometimes the engine revs drop right down to almost the point of stalling before the ECU send another shot of fuel to fire it up again, resulting in that shiver.

That doesn't seem a bad deal to me. Basically, he has come down £3425 with the deposit and payments over 35 months. He's offering you slightly less for your car and the final balloon payment has gone up slightly, so overall you are better off by £2542 against his original deal. Quite a good saving, plus you are geting free fitting on the spoiler. It's still £600 or so more expensive than the online site but for my money it's close enough to go with the dealer - after all a good relationship with your dealer can be priceless if anything goes wrong in the future. An internet site is really only interested in selling you one car, whereas a dealer will want to sell you your next one and the one after, so will go the extra mile. I'm not sure you could get free servicing as that would amount to another £750 being thrown your way, but good luck if you can get it!

I don't think he is correct in saying that Lexus won't supply the car at that price - if the online site is prepared to quote that figure then they must have a source who is prepared to deal with them, whether it is via the normal channels, grey imports or pre-registered. As a general rule of thumb you should be able to get 8% discount off a dealer, possibly 10% on the higher spec models. At this point a dealer is giving away much of his profit margin but hoping to make it back on bonus payments for monthly and annual targets. Often the dealer will not discount the price much but give you an inflated price for your trade in (psychologically we feel better about this than being given the , possibly insulting, true trade in value for our pride and joy). The true cost is the cost to change. My advice would to be really friendly to the dealer, tell him how much you want to buy from him, but apologetically say that the deal on the table with the internet site is too good to ignore. Go the internet route and I would wager before the end of the month your dealer is back on the phone offering you a better deal. I'd always preferto deal direct with a dealer so if you can get close on the figures I'd give them the business.

Oil is changed at each service, 10k and 20k. Incidently I had my 20k service a couple of weeks ago (20000 miles in just over 5 months) and was charge a very reasonable £480. Reasonable that is for the garage. This means I have paid £706 for scheduled serving over 20000 miles. More expensive than my previous Audi £480 for a 20k service??? Which centre was that?. I thought Newcastle was expensive at £380 - Teeside will do it for under £300.

I agree with all you say, but.. - I'm hanging fire on diesel though as it looks like the price premium over leaded petrol looks likely to increase further, possibly negating any fuel economy gains.

They only dip down when reversing on SE-L models, not on base or SE models (I'm not sure about Sport models though).

You're going to start you know who off in a minute... Shhh - you're right. Keep your head down, say nothing and let's hope this drops off the front page asap.

No, you're absoutely right, in everyday use around town and such I get 29.6mpg and our Audi gets 38mpg (I have been told that it will get better as it loosens up towards 10k so I would expect this to creep up to 43ish mpg. This gives a figure of 16p per mile for the petrol and 12p per mile for the diesel - as you say £800 a year better off over 20k miles. But I have to look at the cost to change and looking at it rationaly, with a bit of care in my driving style, I can still drive the car I want (petrol auto) with only a modest financial penalty. I think any savings to be made for me would be lost in the trade in price and new price difference. I know people say their Audis do 50mpg but the best VW/Audi car I had for mileage had the 1.9Tdi 115bhp engine and it averaged at 48 mpg mostly motorway so I would doubt a 140 or 170 bhp would better that.

I must admit with rising fuel costs I was looking at diesels but then decided to do an experiment on my everyday commute. I reset my average fuel and set off through Newcastle, down the A19, into Hartlepool and back, driving pretty normally, but setting the cruise control to 75mph on the dual carriageway. When I got home the reading was 38.2mpg average. The next day I did the same route with our Audi A3 170bhp diesel and returned 42mpg. Score one for the diesel I thought. Then I did the maths: Petrol @ 1.04p per liter equates to a cost per mile in the Lexus of 12.4p. Diesel @ 1.14p per litre equates to a cost per mile in the Audi of 12.4p And the Lexus is a far more relaxing drive with the auto transmission. I read recently that there is pressure on the shipping companies to switch from marine fuel to diesel fuel for environmental reasons which will increase the pressure on refineries already struggling to meet demand for diesel. It was stated that diesel could end up costing 50% more. For me to swop to diesel does not make financial sense at the moment.

We've got the factory fit iPod integration on our Audi (£175) and there is a nice mount in the glovebox with plastic adaptors to fit different models from nanos through to the latest Classics - all well and good - but you still only get up to 6 playlists which show up as CDs 7 through to 12 and it doesn't show playlist names or track names, which is a bit disappointing.

If I put a bike on a rack on the back of my Lexus does that make it a hybrid drive?

I think the problem here is that the dealership don't want to expend lots of labour hours (most of which they won't get back, unless they find a specific warranty issue) stripping out the dash etc, chasing rattles that they may never cure. They probably feel why should they as you didn't buy the car from them and they feel no loyalty towards you. This is a bad way to handle the situation but I see where they are coming from. However, there are certain known issue regarding rattles and there are quick and easy fixes - I'm talking about seat rattles that are fixed by removal of a couple of little lugs, the centre dash rattle, which just requires a small amount of packing etc. These are fixes known about and authorised by Lexus and and good dealership should know about them. I had a slight rattle from my passenger side airvent that was cured by the insertion of a small amount of foam between the A pillar and the dash and then tucked out of sight. I'd get onto Lexus Customer Relations and let them put pressure on the dealership to apply all known Service Bulletin fixes.

I had the black leather originally, thinking that it would be easier to keep clean. As it happened it showed the dust up more and the all black cabin was bit ordinary. For my second IS I ordered the grey Sussex leather and I much prefer it - the interior looks more upmarket with the two tone black and grey and the leather is not hard to keep clean - plus the carpets are still black so they don't show the dirt too much. I've had a courtesy car with the beige Oakham leather and it was far too yellow for my taste, almost American tan, if you know what I mean. Plus the carpets are beige too and are a nightmare to keep clean.